The Foxfire Sound Vol. 1
Digital Liner Notes
Side A : Saturday Night Soul
A1. Remember Me - The Trinikas
Original Label: Pearce
Songwriter: Debbie Sheffield
Originally Released: 1969
Song Reissued by Numero: 2012
What started out as an obscure b-side from a short-lived singing group from Oklahoma has now come to be celebrated and sought after by crate diggers around the world. The sample-ready backbeat slaps along at a steady clip, leaving ample space for the endearingly out-of-tune horns to sizzle. The energetic group vocals blend into a vibrantly cohesive whole, backing up a stellar lead vocal performance by Debbie Sheffield that feels powerful and confident, with the right touch of longing to bring the song’s message home.
“Before adopting the Trinikas name, Marsha Bratton, Debbie Sheffield, Georgetta Dixon, and Lenise "T-Bird" Morgan sang to hospital patients as part of their junior high school's Paramedical Career Club. Debbie's father, Leslie Sheffield, had been a pioneer on the outer-west jazz circuit, and his insistence that Debbie learn to compose and play the piano ultimately gave her singing group a leg up over their peers.
In 1962, they met Richard Gilleland, who had opened a local franchise branch of Saugus, California-based Century Records and planned to release high school music program fundraising albums. The Trinikas and Gilleland journeyed to Independence, Missouri's Cavern Studio to record "Black Is Beautiful," b/w "Remember Me" in 1969.
The Trinikas' recordings at Cavern would be their last: Marsha Bratton, the daughter of a stern minister, was on restriction the night of Douglas High's talent show, but she snuck out and performed. On the way home, Bratton's car was struck by an oncoming vehicle, killing her instantly. Douglas High's fundraising album was released by Century in the spring of 1970, carrying a dedication to Marsha Bratton.”
A2. Forever Is A Long, Long Time - The Voices
Original Label: Penny Record Co.
Songwriter: Richard Pegue
Originally Released: 1967
Song Reissued by Numero: 2011
This track transports us to a teenage universe of high-stakes melodrama where the end of romance is tantamount to the end of the world. The Voices play up the naivety of their girl-group indebted sound but also manage to communicate a true depth of feeling that sets them apart from their contemporaries. There is a clear Motown influence on the track in the chugging tempo and the wall-of-sound production, but it also points the way to the syrupy, string-heavy sound of the Philly soul to come.
“The Nickel and Penny record labels are twin sides of the same eccentric coin, and in the ’60s and ’70s that coin was being flipped by Chicago’s #1 Dusties DJ Richard Pegue. When he wasn’t busy as a mobile DJ, a jingles writer, or an enduring on-air personality at WVON, Pegue could be found in the studio working out the epic songs swirling around in his head. Wood block, castanets, and timbale are layered over thin-as-carrot-shavings strings and girl group “aahs”—his signature sound…”
A3. My Thing - Wilfred Luckie
Original Label: Luckie
Songwriter: Wilfred Luckie
Originally Released: 1978
Song Reissued by Numero: 2018
This tropical slow cooker seems to be the only commercial release by the enigmatic Wilfred Luckie, a musician and producer from Trinidad & Tobago. The loungy vibe falls into place effortlessly, relaxing you into the smoky, low-lit room where this song plays on a loop. Luckie layers his vocals into a hazy one-man street choir, applying a thin layer of smooth synthesizer to top off the laid-back groove. The lyrics are more than a little suggestive, but the genuine feeling of this tune is undeniable.
A4. I’m So Happy Now -
Willie Wright
Original Album: Telling the Truth
Original Label: Hotel Records
Songwriter: Willie Wright:
Originally Released: 1977
Album Reissued by Numero: 2011
One of the standout tracks on his incredible Telling the Truth LP, this song exemplifies the highly original combination of spiritual folk & soul music that defined Willie Wright’s musical legacy. His wonderfully loose jazz-inflected arrangements reminiscent of Van Morison’s Astral Weeks mix beautifully with his introspective, soulful lyrics that rival Marvin Gaye at his peak. Sadly, Willie Wright passed away this year in August, 2020. We thank him for his incredible music and honor his memory with this release.
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“Born of Harlem doo-wop roots and refined by Boston’s counterculture scene, Willie Wright arrived in Nantucket in 1976 well worn by two decades of street corner and club performing, eager to make the easy money only a private yacht clientele could guarantee. Trapped on the island over winter, a set of original songs poured into his cover-heavy set. Tales of Wright’s native roots, straight life, his abandoned four children, and the many women he had known flooded his loose leaf notebook before finally being set to tape in New York the following spring.
Tracked with George “Buzzy” Bragg and Herry Jensen (of Skull Snaps and Jimmy Castor Bunch fame, respectively) in one day with minimal overdubs, Telling The Truth was, and would remain, Willie Wright’s brightest and most inspired moment. Sold from the trunk of a car and from a handful of resort stages, the humble album disappeared into the collections and garages of Nantucket tourists, taking what was left of a near-30-year career along with it.”
A5. I’m Controlled By Your Love - Helene Smith
Original Label: Lloyd Records
Songwriter: Clarence Reid, Johnny Pearsall, Willie Clarke
Originally Released: 1966
Song Reissued by Numero: 2006
Miami’s First Queen of Soul, Helene Smith recorded an impressive amount of music in a few short years, and none better than this sultry pleading ballad. Written in part by her future husband Johnny Pearsall, the song also features southern soul pioneer Willie Clarke and future party-record kingpin Clarence Reid aka Blowfly. Helen’s vocals are front and center here, surrounded by a cinematic arrangement that accentuates the singer’s desperation. The seductive sound of her voice lulls you into Helene’s headspace, controlled and manipulated by an all-consuming love.
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“Toiling in Floridian swelter for just a few years, the Deep City label and its sound would permeate the Miami-metro area and dress the set for disco powerhouse TK’s impressive 1970s run. Before “Rockin’ Chair,” “Rock Me Baby,” or “Clean Up Woman,” a few roguish cats from Florida A&M University’s Marching 100 band were blending their flams and paradiddles with the island sounds drifting into Miami’s airwaves from points unknown. Willie Clarke, Johnny Pearsall, Clarence Reid, and Arnold Albury set up the city’s first black record company, pumping out brassy proto-funk and echo-laden ballads by future hitmakers Betty Wright, Clarence “Blowfly” Reid, and Paul Kelly, plus a dozen can’t-miss/did-miss sides by Helene Smith, as well as a slew of 45s bearing Deep City, Lloyd, and Reid labels.”
A6. Am I A Good Man - Them Two
Original Label: Deep City Records
Songwriter: Clarence Reid, Willie Clarke
Originally Released: 1967
Song Reissued by Numero: 2006
From the first few notes of slippery guitar, you know this is going to be a banger for the ages. When the drop finally hits, you’re in soul music paradise. We end Side A with another Miami soul classic, highly sampled and sought after by DJs everywhere. The central question of the song remains timeless, and the self-probing protagonist seems lost in the deep caverns of epic sound. The perfect song to curl up with by the fire and contemplate love’s mysteries.
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“A sinewy guitar, a throbbing bass, and a chorus of haunting females oohs… Eccentric Soul: The Deep City Label started with one unrelenting pleader of a track: Them Two’s “Am I A Good Man.” Since its 2006 re-release, “Am I A Good Man” has appeared in dozens of films and television shows and has been sampled by the likes of Ghostface Killah and 50 Cent. Ten years later, this deep soul classic from Miami returns to its original format with it’s long-vaulted B-side “Love Has Taken Wings” on the reverse. Both songs were co-written by Clarence “Blowfly” Reid and produced by Liberty City wunderkinds Johnny Pearsall and Willie Clarke.”
Side B : Sunday Morning Country
B1. One Way Train - Mark Jones
Original Album: Snowblind Traveler
Original Label: JRM
Songwriter: Mark Jones
Originally Released: 1979
Album Reissued by Numero: 2018
A slice of earnest country rock that traces the journey of a man in search of all the things he’s lost along the way. The pedal steel shines as bright as the California sun and the steady rhythm of brushed snare rolls along like a cross-country train ride. Like so many of his fellow cosmic travellers, Jones has fallen through the cracks of music history, but his well-worn vocals and unique songcraft still resonate years later.
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“Snowblind Traveler resembles a lost classic of the early 1970s LA country rock scene. But it was recorded in 1979, 2,460 miles east, by a 26-year-old who’d never been to California, a man out of place and time. Jones self-produced LP expresses a deep desire to be anywhere but here.
The LP is rough around the edges, with an appealingly ragged, down-and-out vibe well-suited to Jones’ first-person accounts of small-town decay, confinement, longing, escape, failure, and survival. Jones takes production and engineering credits on the sessions, which took place at JRM Recording Studios in Salem, VA, and his inexperience shows. But what the record lacks in polish it more than makes up for in songwriting prowess. Like the best songwriters of the era, Jones conjures complexity and ambivalence with seemingly straightforward lyrics and arrangements. One moment he’s the reckless young man at the bar talking too loudly about getting out, now, tonight; next verse he’s the regretful old timer who knows all too well--the kid’s going nowhere.”
B2. Mountain Roads - Allan Wachs
Original Album: Mountain Roads & City Streets
Original Label: True Vine Records
Songwriter: Allan Wachs
Originally Released: 1979
Song reissued by Numero: 2015
The rough and ready guitar riff that leads off this haunting track settles you into the driver’s seat of a dusty old pickup weaving through the dark forests of Anywhere, USA. Wachs composed this song while living in an abandoned logging town, and his plaintive vocals and the ghostly wail of his steel slide guitar offer a vivid portrait of the ecological and economic desolation that the industry left behind.
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“Allan Wachs’s 1979 LP Mountain Roads and City Streets has a justly acquired reputation among seekers of lesser-known folk, country, and singer-songwriter records from the 1970s and beyond. As its title and cover art suggest, the album is a study in contrasts: the city and the country, solitude and community, and innocence and experience are but a few of the vital tensions animating a song cycle that, 40 years on, still feels as sturdy as the Northwest timbers under which it was composed.”
B3. Houses - Elyse Weinberg
Original Album: Greasepaint Smile
Original Label: Unreleased
Songwriter: Elyse Weinberg
Originally Released: Unreleased
Album Released by Numero: 2006
Though it sounds like a cut straight out of the Canterbury folk scene of England, this beautifully original tune is actually a strictly Canadian affair. Born in Chatham, Ontario, Weinberg went on to become a fixture in the Toronto folk music scene, playing with the likes of Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and the great Neil Young, who takes lead guitar duties on this enduring tale of star-crossed lovers.
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“The unreleased second album by an original lady from the canyon. Recorded and recanted in 1969, Greasepaint Smile is more assured than its self-titled, Tetragrammaton-issued predecessor. Weinberg’s finger-picked acoustic is layered over distant drumming, while her gravel-pit voice evokes life, love, and mortality. Fellow Torontonian Neil Young sears “Houses” with his signature fuzz-tone, casting chaos over the beautiful ballad, while J.D. Souther, Kenny Edwards, and Nils Lofgren, pick up the slack. Masterfully produced by David Briggs, Greasepaint Smile has climbed out of the canyon and is bound for every turntable east of the 405.”
B4. The Spirit Of The Golden Juice -
F.J. McMahon
Original Album: The Spirit Of The Golden Juice
Original Label: Accent Records
Songwriter: F.J. McMahon
Originally Released: 1969
Song Reissued by Numero: 2015
F.J. McMahon wrote his first and only album mere months after coming home from the Vietnam War. Its status as a cult classic has become solidified over the years, and it’s clear why. This song is a testament to his clarity of vision, a radically personal take on the darker side of folk music. His low resonant voice is immediately captivating and the psychedelic hard-panned instrumentation on this sedated ode to one-too-many whiskeys sets the perfect mood for an evening trip to the local saloon.
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“Fresh out of the Air Force, McMahon recorded Spirit of the Golden Juice in 1969 for Accent Records, a small L.A. label that had few ideas how to market a folk-rock singer/songwriter. No one heard it. No one cared. (The title, it should be noted, refers to whiskey, McMahon’s favored intoxicant at the time.) Decades later, it became a crate-digger’s treasure: one of those small-press releases that never finds an audience on its initial release and ends up at estate sales and dollar bins. Passed around from one vinyl collector to another, Spirit inspired an obsessiveness among fans who had no idea who F.J. McMahon was.
The renewed interest led to small reissues, but those pressings have become almost as rare as the original. That makes the new version by Anthology Recordings such a godsend to fans, new and old. “It’s very bizarre,” he says of his revived career. “The number of people I’ve run into, musicians and people in the music industry, they just look at me wide-eyed, shake their heads, and say this never happens. I don’t know what to make of it. It’s incredible.”
B5. Lucky Strikes And Liquid Gold -
Jeff Cowell
Original Album: Lucky Strikes and Liquid Gold
Original Label: None
Songwriter: Jeff Cowell
Originally Released: 1975
Album Reissued by Numero: 2015
Cowell cut his teeth in the bars and barns of Northern Michigan, crafting a surreal and often humorous take on Cosmic American Music. The song starts off on a mystical trip, channeling Ruby Tuesday-era Rolling Stones, and the back half is pure psychedelic country bliss. If you’re not careful, you’ll be smoking cigs and hitting the bottle by the tune’s end.
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“Jeff Cowell may have huffed the same narcotic air as Townes Van Zandt and David Allan Coe, but hunkered far from the Nashville city limits, nary a Cash or Paycheck would drunkenly slur through his tunes. Recorded in 1975, Lucky Strikes and Liquid Gold is an isolated, backwoods loner epic, top-loaded with odes to hitch-hiking and rambling the crumbling Michigan countryside of Cowell’s hard-drinking youth. Previously available only out of the backs of borrowed cars, truck stops, campgrounds, and country-western bars between Algonac, Detroit, East Lansing, Cadillac, and Manistee, this LP now finds new life in similarly detached environs: the last remaining record stores.”
B6. Keep On Dreaming -
Hub Reynolds
Original Label: Unknown
Songwriter: Hub Reynolds
Originally Released: Unknown
Album Reissued by Numero: 2019
“Everybody’s got a dream,” and this simple but heartfelt song personifies the Foxfire spirit of dreaming big. Imagine this tune drifting from an old AM radio, somewhere in rural Nashville, debuting on a broadcast of the Grand Ol’ Opry. The classic country influence is clear, but it’s Reynolds wide-eyed innocence that makes this song a cut above the rest.
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“Somewhere between growing up on a Georgia farm and cutting half an LP of songs inspired by Evel Knievel for Pickside Records out of Jackson, Alabama, Hub Reynold's journey as a country troubadour led him to Sommerville, New Jersey where he met barber turned record man, Eugene Viscione. Hub’s 8 song demo of croon’d out lo-fi country songs is a handsome outlier among the hundreds of reels of garage rock, novelty, and pop in the Viscione archive. Steeped in Hank Williams influence, Keep on Dreaming covers more country tropes than you can shake a stick at!”