James Carr (Born 13/06/1942, Died 07/01/2001)

Carr was born in Coahoma County, Mississippi, on June 13, 1942. His parents brought the family to Memphis when he was quite young (too young for Carr to remember any details). Carr's musical background was the church. He listened avidly to the Jubilee Hummingbirds, the Pilgrim Travelers, Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers, and the Sensational Nightingales featuring Julius Cheeks.
In 1962, he met Roosevelt Jamison. By then Carr was married, had a day job as a labourer, and sang lead with a gospel group called the Harmony Echoes. Jamison worked at the City of Memphis Hospital and had a second job at the blood bank while managing two groups on the side. It didn't sound particularly promising!

In late 1964, Jamison got Carr signed to Quinton Claunch's Memphis-based Goldwax label (Claunch had previously been a founding partner in the Hi recording label but left around 1960 or 61 on fairly bad terms). Carr's first record, 'You Don't Want Me' sounded a lot like what B.B. King and Bobby Bland were doing at the time - uptown blues might well be the best description. Carr's first hit, in 1966, was 'You've Got My Mind Messed Up', written by O.B. McClinton who later became one of the few black country singers - it reached #7 on the R&B charts - he never went higher! (Carr was to record quite a lot of McClinton's material over the next 3-4 years). Early on, the label mixed up the styles and material and often recorded James in a style reminiscent of Otis Redding - 'Love Attack' from 1966 is a prime example.
By common consensus the recording of 'Dark End of the Street' is Carr's masterpiece. There have been any number of recordings but Carr's is the definitive version. (The writer Dan Penn confirmed the recording's status on his recent live collaboration with Spooner Oldham, when he asks if there is any other version!) A cheatin' song with no happy ending, you won't hear a finer example of southern soul. You can find 20 of the great Goldwax recordings on the wonderful Razor & Tie release "The Essential James Carr". The album is real evidence of Carr's singular artistic triumph over everything that at the same time conspired to prevent him from gaining any long lasting commercial success. For the uninitiated, there are some nice surprises on the album - a great rendition of 'Pouring Water On A Drowning Man', another fine McClinton song ('A Man Needs A Woman') and even the Bee Gees 'To Love Somebody'; plenty to justify Carr's reputation. There is another compilation on Kent - "The Complete Goldwax Singles" - which has the advantage of quantity (28 as opposed to 20 tracks). Either will do, so get the one you currently find available!

Goldwax folded in 1969. Carr ended up on Atlantic, who released one single on him in 1971. In 1977, Roosevelt Jamison put out one James Carr single on his own label. In 1979, Carr toured Japan but whether through the over use of anti-depressants or anti-anxiety pills he went into a trance on stage and the tour had to be cancelled. Very little was the heard of Carr throughout the early to mid 80s until the Peter Guralnick essay appeared in 1986 as a trailer for his wonderful book Sweet Soul Music. Soon after, in 1987, the Blue Side label released a compilation of Carr's songs.
In 1991, he recorded a new album called "Take Me To The Limit" for the born-again Goldwax label. Variable in quality and unjustly overlooked at the time, this is still a very fine southern soul album and worthy of investigation. In 1995, the Razor & Tie reissue label put out the aforementioned 20-song anthology, "The Essential James Carr". There was a further release "Soul Survivor", now out on the Ace label in the UK, which is another worthy attempt to recreate the glories of the earlier years. There are still those who believed Carr had the potential to reinvigorate himself and break free from the shackles of whatever troubled him.

When the soul era of the mid-'60s was in full bloom, for a period of three years James Carr was the maker of some of its warmest and most emotional music. He is also one of the mystery men of the genre (a little like Howard Tate), perhaps ill-equipped for the life of a professional musician. Music this special simply didn't appear to come without a personal price. But the music wins out, because personal problems aside, the music James Carr made is as deep as you will ever hear Southern soul music get.