Additional information
Personnel: Rufus Thomas (vocals, trumpet, piano); Ellis Bartee (vocals, drums); Bill Morrow, Billy "Red" Love (guitar, piano); Floyd Murphy, Robert Carter, Joe Hill Louis, Tuff Green (guitar); Bobby Plater (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone); Willie Wilkes, Evelyn Young, Herman Green, James Wheeler (tenor saxophone); Willie Dee (trumpet); Evans Bradshaw, Luis Deveert, Rosco Gordon, Bill Johnson (piano); Red Davis , Jeff Greyer, John Murray Daley, Houston Stokes (drums). Liner Note Author: Rob Bowman. Recording information: Memphis, TN (1950-1957); Nashville, TN (1950-1957). If you know Rufus Thomas only as the Stax soul legend who turned out classic R&B tunes like "Walkin' the Dog," you're about to be schooled. Before he started pumping out those gems of Southern soul, Thomas had his finger in a bunch of other musical pies, including jump blues, boogie woogie, and even a little proto-rockabilly. BEFORE STAX: THE COMPLETE '50s RECORDINGS chronicles this developmental period of Thomas's career nicely, revealing largely unknown parts of his artistic personality. His recording of "Bear Cat," for instance, an answer record to Big Mama Thornton's "Hound Dog," came out on Sun Records just a couple of years before Elvis Presley made rock-&-roll history with his own version on the same label. And that's just the tip of the iceberg; forget what you think you know about Rufus Thomas and dig into some soulful American history.
