Shake Your Hips: The Excello Records Story
By Randy Fox
2018: BMG: 184 pp.

This is among two the first in these pocket-sized paperbacks devoted to various independent record labels that have played a significant role in the recording industry of the past 75 years. While subtitled The Excello Records Story," this volume is devoted to the various labels that Ernie Young established including Nashboro, Abet, and others in addition to Excello. While Excello is the best known of these labels, it was not the only significant one.

The story begins with Nashville after the Second World War. While viewed as a country town, there has always been a vital African-American music scene perhaps best manifested by Cecil Gant, whose recordings included one "Nashville Jumps." Fox introduces us to Ernie Young, who got into the jukebox and pinball business and eventually, the record business. Then there is the legendary radio station, WLAC. Late at night after the network broadcast ended. Deejay Gene Nobles would broadcast. Students from Fisk University brought some boogie-woogie and jump blues records to Nobles, which he played and got a great response. This response led to local stores that sold records purchasing blocks of time to advertise mail-order sales Stores included those owned by Randy Wood from outside of Nashville and Ernie Young. They would offer packs of records that included some of the favorites played on WLAC. Eventually, to help fill out these packs of 45s (that they sold C.O.D.), the store owners set up their own record labels. Randy Wood established Dot Records, while Young started the Nashboro group of labels.

Young had started his Record Store in 1945, before establishing the Nashboro label in 1950, and it had quite a business catering to African Americans. Nashboro focused on gospel music. Fox observes:

 Through mail-order sales, the Record Mart sold thousands of discs. A few indie R&B labels—Peacock, Specialty, Savoy, Apollo, Old Town—released black gospel records, but many others ignored the field. … Young believed starting his own gospel label was a win-win—increasing the supply of new gospel titles meant more sales of gospel packages and, by cutting out the middleman, the Record Mart's share of the profits would increase.

The lack of competing gospel labels worked in Young's favor in other ways, as well. Many popular touring gospel groups were eager to secure recording contracts.

Young first recorded other gospel acts before recording Nashville based acts. He first recorded at the WLAC studios, but the thrift-minded Young purchased a recording machine and eventually constructed a studio in the building with his store. He hired a scout for gospel and other talents. He added some hillbilly releases to the label, but this was a short-lived addition. Fox then details the recording of blues and R&B starting with the blues pianist Sherman Johnson, and then Young purchased some J.O.B. masters, including one by Alfred' Fat Man' Wallace.

In 1952, Young started the Excello label, and its acts included Skippy Brooks, a member of Gatemouth brown's Nashville band, Thomas "Shy Guy" Douglas,  Louis Brooks & His Hi-Toppers, Louis Brooks & His Hi-Toppers, Ted Jarrett, Earl Gaines, Kid King's Combo, Larry Birdsong, Arthur Gunter, Jerry McCain, and others. Ted Jarrett, of course, also was important as a talent scout and a songwriter.  This is a lead-in to Ernie Young's agreement with Crowley, Louisiana producer Jay Miller that started with a 1955 agreement that was described as "Excello Signs Lightnin' Slim." Fox provides, in this book, a condensed history of the relationship between the Excello and Miller.  This history previously had been discussed by John Broven in his book "Record Makers and Breakers: Voices of the Independent Rock' n' Roll Pioneers," and Martin Hawkins in "Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge."

The arrangement between Young and Miller is described;

The arrangement established between Young and Miller became the standard for all artists Miller brought to Excello. The artists were technically signed to Miller's production company, not Excello Records. Miller delivered finished master tapes to Young. Excello owned the completed masters, and Excellorec administered the publishing rights. Young paid Miller the negotiated royalty rate for each record sold to cover both record sales (for the artist) and publishing (for the songwriter). Any further royalties due to the songwriter for cover versions of the song were also paid to Miller. Miller was then responsible for passing the appropriate amount on to the individual artists and writers.

Fox provides short bios of Lightnin' Slim, Guitar Gabriel, Lonesome Sundown, Lazy Lester, Slim Harpo, Carol Fran, and others as well as an overview of their recordings. There is also a discussion of Miller's role as a songwriter and a producer, such as his urging Slim Harpo to sing more nasally such as country stars Hank Williams and Webb Pierce.

At the same time as Excello was providing a steady stream of blues releases, Morgan Babb brought both gospel artists and R&B talents like Lillian Offitt ("Miss You So"), the Marigolds (formerly known as The Prisonaires, and The Gladiolas ("Little Darlin'"). Young also started the Nasco label, which released some Jay Miller sides, as well as recordings by Cliff Curry, The Crescendos, rockabilly platters from Excello hillbilly stalwart Jack Toombs and hillbilly bop brothers Bob & Ray Wicks. Fox also details issues arising from Young succumbing to the payola practices prevalent at the time.

There is also discussion of some of the more significant recordings such as Gene Allison's "You Can Make It If You Try," and those by Roscoe Shelton. While Jay Miller's Crowley studio continued to supply much of the Excello output, Young "had accumulated a stable of versatile local musicians he utilized for various types of sessions: downhome blues, rock' n' roll, and soul." Slim Harpo became a major selling artist at the time, and with the prospering record labels, Ernie's retail and mail-order business continued to be a vibrant business.

But of course, this success did not continue. Fox chronicles the decline in the Excello's business, the impact of The British Invasion, and Young's declining interest in the record business that led him to sell the Record Company and the record store. The acquiring company, The Crescent Company, initially opened movie theaters. Crescent's holdings included chains of movie theaters, bowling alleys, and skating rinks throughout Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Mississippi. It was after Crescent acquired Excello that a dispute with Miller involving Slim Harpo signing directly with Excello ended the longstanding relationship between the two. Slim Harpo's subsequent recordings and early death are discussed as well as the new owner's efforts at recording soul music such as The Kelly Brothers and Kip Anderson, gospel on the newly named Crescent label, which changed to the Creed label because of trademark issues.

There were further gospel recordings and some albums directed at the pop market. Licensing of some of the classic Excello recordings to the British Blue Horizon label foreshadowed later rises of the Nashboro-Excello label's recordings years down the line. Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams was brought in as an independent producer with his releases on the new Mankind label, including Freddie North's "She's All I Got." Williams also produced a homecoming project for one of Excello's biggest stars. Lightnin Slim's "High and Low Down," as well as Z.Z. Hill's 'The Brand New Z. Z. Hill."

Times were changing though, as WLAC changed its format, which impacted the evening R&b shows, which in turn affected Ernie's Record Store and by 1977, the Excello and the A-Bet subsidiary, and issued their last singles. Eventually, the body of recordings would be mined for reissues over the years by AVI itself and Ace Records in the UK. 'Between 1994 and 1997, AVI reissued over thirty CD compilations of Excello, Nashboro, and Nasco recordings. While some were domestic reissues from Ace Records, the majority were original compilations featuring extensive liner notes and previously unpublished photographs." Then in "1997, AVI was purchased by Universal Music, and a significant amount of Excello material was released on Universal's Hip-O reissue imprint." Other reissues included a box set of gospel recordings and Bear Family's Slim Harpo box set. As Fox observes, "After more than six decades, records with the magical blue and orange record label shipped from Ernie's Record Mart to eager customers around the world continue to excite music fans."

Fox weaves the threads of the Excello story in a concise, well-written manner. This writer wishes a bit more space had been devoted to the gospel recordings, including how such artists as Brother Joe May ended up on Nashboro. However, I suspect that Fox expected the focus on blues and soul to be of most interest to his readers, and there is only so much space he had available. In any event, "Shake Your Hips" is a very welcome history of a very significant independent blues, soul, and gospel label.

I received a pdf download of this book from a publicist. Here is the late Lazy Lester, one of Excello's major blues artists.

Some Bluesin' By The Bayou

Pictured on the cover is Lazy Lester

The English Ace label has just issued one of a series of anthologies of recordings from legendary Louisiana record producers J.D. Miller and Eddie Shuler, Bluesin' By The Bayou. Half of the 28 selections previously were not released and the remainder were issued on small Louisiana labels like Rocko, Zynn, and Folk Star as well as Flyright LPs from the 1970s. 

There is a fair amount of what is now known as "Swamp Blues" along with several selections of zydeco. The performers range from the more famous swamp blues performers such as Slim Harpo, Lightnin' Slim, Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown, Silas Hogan and Whispering Smith as well as zydeco legends Clifton Chenier and Boozoo Chavis to obscure artists such as lies Boy Dorsey, Thaddeus Declouret, Talbot Miller and Joe Rich. 

There are some exception blues here including Lightnin' Slim's doomy, Stranger In Your Town, Lazy Lester's moody Late in The Evening, Silas Hogan's Sitting Here Wondering Jimmy Anderson's channelling of Jimmy Reed on I Want You, I Need You. There is an alternate of Slim Harpo's Excello recording That's Alright, as well as Clifton Chenier's Worried Life Blues, with somewhat chaotic backing. 

As usual with Ace reissues there are copious liner notes in the wonderfully illustrated accompanying booklet, with an overview and comments on the various performances by Ian Saddler.  It does have one incredible gaffe in the comments. He mentions that he thought that Big Fat Woman was previously unissued gem by Lightnin' Slim, but in fact had been issued on a Flyright vinyl LP as I'm Him. One minor point is that the vocal is clearly not that of Lightnin' Slim as it bears no relate ship to the voice on the two other tracks credited to him. Probably the singer on this tracks was Schoolboy Cleve.

The music on Bluesin' By The Bayou is at never less entertaining and there are, as indicated above, a number of exceptional examples of swamp blues that is readily recommended to anyone who loves fifties and sixties, southern down-home blues.

I purchased this CD.

Jerry McCain Still Got The Blues All Over Him

Harmonica player Jerry McCain who first recorded for Trumpet Records in the early 1950s continues to record today with recent efforts under the Music Maker Foundation’s rubric. Here are three reviews of albums by hot dating from 1993, 2000 and 2002 to showcase what a superb blues artist he has been and continues to be.

From Jazz & Blues Report December 1993 (Issue 187).

I Got The Blues All Over Me (Wild Dog Blues / Ichiban). [Ichiban issued several albums by him, and while this might be hard to find on a physical CD (Copies of unopened copies of this can be expensive), it is available for download.]

Harp legend Jerry McCain’s four decade career included sides on Trumpet and continued with a variety of labels. His recording, Steady, is a definitive harmonica instrumental, displaying his full-bodied tone, and subtle phrasing. While he has recorded quite a bit over the years for a number of labels, it often has been in spurts. This is at least his fourth album for Ichiban and may be the best yet, with the instrumental Tumblin’ in the Sea, showing that he still can play with the fat tone of his classic 45s, while other songs have him playing in a Sonny Boy II manner, as on Lucy Pearl, where he is backed just by acoustic guitar. He contributes original, oft witty songs, which he delivers in a slightly raspy voice. The studio band occasionally comes across as stiff, but this is a minor complaint. This is a solid effort, full of good songs, great harp and solid singing.


From Jazz & Blues Report September-October 2000 (Issue 247).

This Stuff Just Kills Me (Cello / Sire) [When this was issued Ichiban had stopped producing new CDs so the Music Maker Foundation picked up the slack. Unfortunately this seems to only be available as a collector’s item and not even as a download.]

One of the harmonica masters who probably has never received his due, Jerry McCain has a terrific new album on Cello/Sire that is part of the series of albums associated with the Music Makers Foundation. Since first recording for Trumpet in the fifties, McCain has produced a body of recordings that feature stellar harp, strong songs and fine vocals. Possessing a full-bodied tone and an irresistible swing in his playing, McCain’s instrumental Steady, has to be regarded as one of the essential blues recordings, while the flip side, She’s Tuff, may be best known from the Fabulous Thunderbirds rendition, but his original is equal to any cover. Madison Mood on this release gives full spotlight to his commanding harp tone and technique, being a wonderful atmospheric slow blues. He has remained a witty, contemporary songwriter who is not afraid to touch topical themes as he does on such tracks here as his anti-drug song, Ain’t No use For Drug Abuse or Mama’s Gone, where he comments on the effect on the kids of Mom not being at home. In contrast, on the title track McCain is celebrating his woman whose love is so good it drives him out of his mind. In addition to McCain’s soaring sax-like harp there is some terrific piano here, perhaps from the legendary Johnny Johnson, although Carl Sonny Leyland, heard on much of this is no slouch. (I am working from an advance copy without the personnel on each track). In singing about his own virility, McCain wryly notes he ain’t worrying about getting up or falling down as he is the Viagara Man. Producer Mike Vernon assembled a great band that includes Leyland, Leroy Hodges and John Primer with guest appearances from Johnnie Johnson, Jimmy Vaughan and the Double Trouble rhythm section. McCain is at top of his game here and the result is This Stuff Is Killing Me may be his most consistent and strongest album.


From Jazz & Blues Report September-October 2002 (Issue 259).

Absolutely The Best (Fuel 2000) [This reissue of his Jewel Recordings from the sixties will unfortunately be hard to find, but you may be able to find this used for a reasonable price. New copies on amazon from third party sellers go for about $40 or more. I do note that bluebeatmusic.com lists a CD by the late Jelly roll King, Frank Frost and McCain, Southern Harp Attack!! that is on the Japanese P-Vine label and contains 13 of the 15 recordings on Absolutely the Best along with 13 recordings for Frost for a price of $21.50, relatively reasonable for such material.]

One of the post war masters of blues harmonica, Jerry McCain has recorded steadily since the fifties when he first sent some demos to Trumpet Records. If he had only recorded Steady/ She’s Tough, his status would be assured because of the wonderful harp tone, his swinging playing and his wry, soulful singing. Somebody’s Been Talking, The Complete Jewel Singles on England’s Westside label, and available on Fuel 2000 in the Untied States as Absolutely the Best in the United States, brings together the six 45s that were issued on Stan Lewis’ Jewel label between 1965 and 1972 along with previously unissued renditions of Bill Doggett’s Honky Tonk. The material here is varied, including the wry She’s Crazy About Entertainers, a slow stop-time blues about his woman who would rather be with James Brown, Otis Redding or some other big star of the time, while Somebody’s Been Talking focuses on a nosy next door neighbor who is blabbing all over town. Toss in several New Orleans flavored numbers like I Don’t Care Where I Get My Loving, and Love Ain’t Nothing to Play With, some harp showcases like Midnight Beat and 728 Texas (Where the Action Is), named after the Jewel Records street address in Shreveport) and one has an entertaining collection. He does not play harp on all the tracks, and if his playing tone is not as tight and fat sounding as on Steady (perhaps he was not playing his harp through an amp), he shows his fertile musical imagination throughout. While not the best collection of his early recordings, it is welcome to have this available.


This reviews are so old but likely received review copies from record company or their publicity form.

Roscoe Shelton's Soulful Legacy

Fred James has played a substantial role in documenting and getting recognition for Nashville's R&B scene. One of the artists whose careers Fred James helped to revive was Roscoe Shelton who passed away in 2002. Originally Shelton was on the Excello label for whom he made many fine blues and soul recordings, many of which were his own songs. Later he recorded for Sound Stage 7 where he had two national hits, appeared on the legendary The !!!!Beat TV show and then found himself burned out. He did record some for local labels and performed in local clubs and then semi-retired from music, working at a medical hospital. James recorded fellow Excello artist Clifford Curry in 1992 for an Italian label, and Curry told him many of his label mates were still around, leading to Shelton's career being revived which led to albums on Blue Moon, Appaloosa, Black Top and Cannonball (with Earl Gaines). "Save Me", the present set, is comprised of recordings from a variety of dates. One is a duet with Mary Ann Brandon is from her album "R.O.A.D.", while a track with Earl Gaines is an alternate of what appeared on Cannonball. A terrific singer that grew up in the Church (he was once a member of the Fairfield Four), he was very at home with the blues. Highlights include the terrific title track, the cover of Ivory Joe Hunter's "Blues at Midnight," the shuffle, "Why Didn't You Yell Me (For So Long)," and the belly-bumping blues, "Think It Over." Not a bad track here as Shelton never received the recognition his talents and music deserved. Highly recommended.

This is slightly edited version of review that appeared in Jazz & Blues Report