Rick Clark's Music I Love Blog - Artist: Eddie Hinton
Eddie Hinton at the keyboard
Eddie Hinton
Eddie Hinton is truly one of the great lost Southern soul artists. He was a triple-threat as a great musician on guitar and keyboards, a songwriter whose music was covered by artists ranging from Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin and Alex Chilton to UB40, Drive By Truckers and Shirley Bassey among others. Finally, Hinton was one of the great soul singers who laid it all on the line.
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Track: “Dreamer”
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Album: Very Extremely Dangerous
I first learned about Eddie Hinton around 1978 when his Capricorn Records debut Very Extremely Dangerous came out. Memphis-based independent record promoter Tim Riley was handling the Capricorn Records account and I think I must’ve gotten my copy of the album from his office. It was was straight up old school Southern soul and I immediately liked it.
Eddie Hinton
When I started regularly recording in Muscle Shoals around 1980, Hinton was playing in town and whenever his name was mentioned, there was this kind of “he’s the real deal. You’ve got to catch him at this club.” By the time, we’d finish recording and loading up on abnormally-sized stuffed potatoes at the El Biscuit Village, we’d be too tired to make it to his gigs. That is one thing I really really regret missing.
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Album: Dear Y'all - The Songwriting Sessions
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Track: “Dear Y’all”
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Track: “You Got Me Singing”
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Album: Letters From Mississippi
That said, I continued to follow his music and would get my hands on his music by hook or crook. His demos and one-off recordings were my favorite and you can find many of them on the excellent Zane Records collection titled Dear Y’all: The Songwriter Sessions. If I had to pick one album as an introduction, I would go there. That said, Letters From Mississippi, which features my favorite song of his “Everybody Needs Love” is probably the next Hinton album I wear out. I love everything about “Everybody Needs Love” and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve repeatedly listened to just that one song. Very Extremely Dangerous and Hard Luck Guy are great, too. I personally prefer the rawness of Dear Y’all. His later albums, Cry & Moan and Blue Highway have their moments, but I feel Eddie’s decline in the tracks.
Artist: Eddie Hinton - Album: Hard Luck Guy
When I started producing The Oxford American Magazine music issue CDs, I lobbied for years to get Eddie Hinton and Fred Neil onto those compilations. For some reason, the editor of the magazine simply didn’t get those artists and it became an annual rite-of-passage locking horns over those two artists. After I left The Oxford American, I think Hinton finally got a track on a music issue CD, probably the Alabama collection.
When I began getting into the mix with music supervision for film and tv, I always looked out for productions where Eddie’s music would be appropriate. I spent some time with Cameron Crowe during the making of the film Elizabethtown and when he asked me whose music I would recommend for a scene at Ernestine & Hazels in Memphis, I mentioned Eddie Hinton. Cameron wasn’t familiar with Eddie’s music, but he evidently dug what he heard enough to put “Yeah Man” in the movie. There have been some other opportunities,, but it was the Sundance TV show Hap and Leonard, based on the Joe Lansdale Hap and Leonard series of books that gave me a perfect placement window.
There were a couple of Eddie’s songs I got into the show, but it was his song “Dreamer” that essentially became the theme song for the third and final season of the Hap And Leonard. It appears it the first and last episodes of that season and it totally works. I’m so thankful for showrunner John Wirth and show creators/producers Jim Mickle and Linda Moran for bringing me on board for getting Eddie’s music.
I’ve assembled a sampling of Eddie Hinton numbers, including “Dreamer” from Hap and Leonard and “Hey Man” from Elizabethtown. Also there is a cool little instrumental Atlantic Records 45 of Duane Allman and Eddie Hinton (under the name The Duck & The Bear) trading off on “Going Up To Country.” Thanks to Peter Thompson at Zane Records for always working with me to spread the Eddie Hinton gospel.
Thanks for checking this out. Hope you love what you hear.
Eddie Hinton and Duane Allman in Muscle Shoals
