JIMMY LEWIS (S4R20)

I Can´t Leave You Alone / Don´t Sit Around

The year is 1974 and I have taken receipt of Jimmy Lewis’s Hotlanta album “Totally Involved”. My brothers and I lie mesmerised in our soul music haven of a bedroom, drinking in what would soon become a pinnacle of real soul.

Having recently discovered albums by Bobby Womack and Joe Tex, this was their equal. Jimmy’s writing skills had earned him his fame, particularly his work with Ray Charles, but this was his artistic zenith. Cut in LA but sounding like a renegade from Muscle Shoals, soul music history had truly been made.

Jimmy wrote numerous hits for others and continued with his own successful record label “Miss Butch” until his death aged 64 in 2004. The two tracks featured had previously only been available on one of UK Ace records outstanding pair of Lewis’s Hotlanta period compilation CDs and are new to vinyl. Soul 4 Real indeed!!

(Jan Barker)