A House by the Side of the Road - Lee Martell

Up this week is another single out of Nashville, Tennessee...

A House By The Side Of The Road - Lee Martell - Renegade



Much like Eddie Mobley last week, there isn't a whole lot of information available on Lee Martell (a.k.a. Lee Bynem). What I do know is that he recorded two very soulful 45s for the Renegade label under the name Martell, A House By The Side of the Road* (1970) and A Good Woman (1971) as well as one 45 under the name Bynem for the True label, Two Warm Bodies. As a whole, the Renegade label only released four 45s in all, the two credited to Martell listed previously, one from Lattimore Brown that is supposedly relatively easy to score, and one from Jimmie Baker that's considered to be fairly rare. The soulful nature of the Renegade 45s is somewhat surprising based on the label credentials, as the label was run by Chuck Chellman, a Nashville-area country music promoter and producer (who is also credited with starting the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1974).

*While Bynem is credited with writing his later Renegade single, A Good Woman, today's selection is credited to Gloria Shayne and Pearl Bender. I haven't been able to dig anything up on Pearl Bender. What is still leaving my curious is if the Gloria Shayne credited with writing today's single is the same woman credited with the Christmas classic, Do You Hear What I Hear?

P.S. For more Renegade records coverage, head over to Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven

Stick It In Your Ear Hole - Eddie Mobley

Well, here we are, back again with an all-new single for your listening pleasure...

Stick It In Your Ear Hole - Eddie Mobley - Sound Plus



I picked this record up a fair bit ago, but have waited on adding it to the old blog in an attempt to find any relevant information on the artist. However, a good deal of searching using the traditional avenues has yielded nothing pertinent to date*. The little bit I can provide you with is taken directly from the 45 label. Of note, the song is credited to a fellow by the name of Robert S. Riley, Sr.; Sound Plus is the product of JR Enterprises of Nashville, Tennessee, so presumably, Eddie Mobley was from the greater Nashville area; and the record was distributed by T-K productions of Court Hialeah, Florida (the T-K label was home to K.C. and the Sunshine Band, among many others). Like a good bit of the other work on T-K, this track has a refined sound thats not quite disco (maybe more appropriately classified as "pre-disco"?) with a fair amount of hand drumming and heavy brass worked into the mix to give a really full sound.

*If anyone out there has any additional information, it would be appreciated if you could pass it along.

From The Jazz Stacks

Another few weeks have passed, which means it's time for another mix. With the current schedule of a new mix every ~2 weeks (sometimes needing an extra week to tend to real-world moves), reaching number 13 means that I've been doing this for just over half a year. I'm always amazed at how quickly time seems to pass by lately, but I guess that's just a sign of growing up and taking on new responsibilities. Regardless of how quickly it's come and gone, these last 6 months have been pretty great (both in real life and at this here blog, where I've learned a lot, while also making some new e-quaintances), and it was this rare feeling of positivity that initiated the concept of today's mix...

From The Jazz Stacks - Trunk of F.U.N.K. vol 013

Title - Artist - Label

Hip Walk - Cal Tjader - Verve
Soul Power - Richard "Groove" Holmes - Prestige
Grazing In The Grass - Hugh Masekela - Uni
Groove Grease - Jimmy McGriff - Groove Merchant
Them Changes - Ramsey Lewis and Co. - Cadet
BO Ghana - Lonnell Dantzler - Met
Booty Butt - The Ray Charles Orchestra - Tangerine
Soulful Strut - Young-Holt Unlimited - Brunswick
Express Yourself - Idris Muhammad - Prestige

Enjoy, and I'll be back in a few days with a new single for your listening pleasure.

Save That Thing - Rimshots

Here we are, back with the first post of the new year. Hopefully things have been as good on your end as they have been here at the Trunk of F.U.N.K. compound. Back around Christmas (if you can remember back that far...), I provided an example of a house band, Motown's Funk Brothers to be exact, stepping out on their own to record a fantastic little slice of funk. More recently, when going through the records to be blogged pile, I realized that I had another great side that was the product of a similar situation...

Save That Thing - Rimshots - A-1



In the 1970's, The Rimshots worked alongside Wood, Brass and Steel as the house band for Sylvia and Joe Robinson's family of labels, including Stang, All Platinum, and Vibration. During this time, the Rimshots backed artists like Hank Ballard, Brook Benton, and Chuck Jackson, as well as also being credited with providing the music for the great disco-funk collaboration, Girls, recorded by the Moments and Whatnauts. When the Robinson family of labels started moving towards the more refined disco sound, the Rimshots started recording funkier material under their own name. In 1972, the group released an LP, Soul Train, as well as two singles, today's selection and Soul Train pt. 1&2. Some readers may be familiar with the Rimshots song, Soul Train pt. 1&2, which served as the theme song to the TV show of the same name somewhere in between the versions provided by The Ramrods, Blue Mink and MFSB. Later in the decade, the Rimshots recorded an additional staple of non-LP singles, such as Dance Girl, and Who's Got the Monster, before firmly planting themselves in the disco-sound in 1976 with a series of singles that included, Super Disco and We've Got You Singing.

Today's selection starts off with some heavy electric piano work from keyboardist Bernadette Randle, which prompts the vocalist to ask the question, "Ain't it funky now?". The answer to this question is a resounding YES, as the whole band comes in chugging along in a groove much like that of the Isley Brothers classic with a strangely similar name. Things then cool down a bit to open up room for additional electric piano work from Randle and a wailing saxophone from an unknown player, until the groove is finally resolidified by the rest of the group and carried out through the end of the side.

Enjoy this single over the rest of the week, and be sure to check back in this weekend, as I'll have an all-new mix available for your listening pleasure.