There's Always One More Time

July 6, 2008 6:36 PM

September 14, 1998 "the Tan Canary" passes away. He started out as a gospel singer but went on to perform blues, soul, county, and jazz. In 1968 he covered the country standard "Release Me" and it became a hit. His audience grew, but stardom outside of his home in New Orleans was not to be his.

Tom Surowicz pointed out in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Adams could sing sophisticated jazz. He could sing sentimental pop, or stirring gospel. He had precious few peers when tackling Southern deep-soul classics. And on the right night, with the right band, he all but owned the blues."

I Won't Cry was his first hit 1959, and from the same site Part Of Me

His song Hell Yes I Cheated is featured on an interesting compilation called More Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country

Myspace

posted by nola (4 comments total)

Yeah and did a little performed also, like this other hit he had in 1969 Reconsider Me
posted by nola at 6:42 PM on July 6, 2008

There Is Always One More Time
posted by nola at 6:45 PM on July 6, 2008

Yeah, nola, damn! Andre Williams the other day, and now Johnny Adams... you're hipping me to some great stuff lately. That rendition of "There's Always One More Time" at his MySpace page is simply gorgeous. Gave me chills. Thanks so much for the post, man!

...but stardom outside of his home in New Orleans was not to be his.

You know, there's no shortage of other great NOLA musicians you can say the very same thing about. Somehow, as great as NO music is, as much as it's fed the wider world of music beyond its city limits, the New Orleans players and singers have just so often not had, I dunno, whatever it took to hit on the national level. Maybe it's not getting the right breaks, maybe it's that a lot of those folks just didn't want to leave NO and go plant themselves in NY or LA (which is what, say, Dr. John did). Or maybe it's just that their sound is often just simply too local. Too tailored to that hometown audience. Also, maybe it's because NO hasn't had a core of really great song writers, unlike the stable of writers at Motown in Detroit or Stax in Memphis. Probably all of the above and more, actually... anyway, it's long struck me as an interesting point about the Big Easy's music.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:17 PM on July 6, 2008

Oh, man - this is such great stuff, nola - thank you. If I could favorite this post 10 times, I would.
posted by madamjujujive at 5:03 PM on July 7, 2008