Loading details…
Artist
Effie Smith
12+ albums
r&bsoulFunky 16 CornersAlldouble-ender 11
about
Biographyby Eugene Chadbourne Live in a house with someone who never gets off the phone? The ideal gift would be to find a copy of the mid-'60s Jubilee disc Dial That Telephone, in which this ace '50s rhythm & blues and doo-wop veteran chatters and testifies up a storm in the process of lampooning heavy telephone yakkers, complete with funky blues grooves for a backing track. The album was part of a series of novelty releases on Jubilee that were known as "adult listening," although by the standards of 21st century rap, this material by Rusty Warren, Autry Inman, and the like seems more corny than obscene. Smith, who proved she could talk a blue streak around any of the Jubilee artists, was actually best-known as a blues singer from the West Coast scene of the '50s, which is where the satirical telephone recording actually originated. Effie Smith was particularly active from the middle of that decade on, often collaborating with artists such as her husband John Criner and two different doo-wop groups named the Squires. One of these Squires featured Don "Sugarcane" Harris and Dewey Terry, later known as Don and Dewey. And Harris, of course, later went on to instrumental glory with Frank Zappa and others. "Dial That Telephone" was originally recorded in the '50s for the Alladin label as part of the "4000" series -- the next item in the catalog, Ritchie Valens' recording of "Donna" with a little Mexican folk song called "La Bamba" on the other side, obviously made much more of
top songs
albums
▥
Music For Mad Men - Robust Blues
▥
The Best Of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Vol 2
1945-1953
Lady Sings The Blues
▥
The Best Of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour Vol 2
▥
Mellow Cats 'n' Kittens: Hot R&B and Cool Blues 1946-52
▥
Blues & Rhythm Series Classics: the Chronological Effie Smith 1945-1953
▥
Roots Of R'n'B Volume 4
Laughin' at the Blues
▥
Let Me Tell You About The Blues: West Coast [Part 3]
▥
Roy Milton's Miltone Records Story
Blues & Rhythm Series Classics 1945-1953