As the songwriter behind masterworks like “The Dark End of the Street” and “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” Dan Penn is particularly sensitive to the struggles of R & B stars. Many of the singers he wrote for during the 60s and 70s have faded into obscurity, and classic soul hasn’t enjoyed a revival of interest the way other genres have. “Everybody says ‘What goes around comes around’ and all that ol’ good stuff,” he says. “Well, we’re still waiting.”
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LaVette has an unlikely booster in 44-year-old producer Joe Henry, a white roots-pop singer-songwriter from LA who’s been leading a growing movement to revitalize the careers of veteran soul acts. Henry bristles at the notion that artists like LaVette are past their prime. “I’m sorry, but nobody’s telling Elton John that, or Aerosmith, or the Rolling goddamn Stones that,” he says. “They keep putting out records. I mean, the Stones are great, but I would trade every record they ever made for ‘Let’s Stay Together.’”
The album jump-started Burke’s career, and he’s not alone–contemporaries like Al Green and Howard Tate have made comeback albums of their own in recent years. But soul singers from the 60s, especially those who never enjoyed crossover success, remain a tough sell to major labels. “The mainstream music industry is so committed to the idea of selling ten million records that selling 200,000 records doesn’t even get their heart started,” Henry says. “Solomon Burke’s record, even if we hadn’t won a Grammy for it, was approaching selling a quarter of a million records worldwide. And we only spent $40,000 making it. You can do the math–it wasn’t a foolish enterprise on any level.”
Dan Penn, who produced Bobby Purify’s new album on Proper American, Better to Have It, argues that most older acts suffer from a lack of both solid material and quality control; because they don’t usually write their own music, they’re often at the mercy of their collaborators. “A lot of the trouble is that they either don’t get sufficient songs or they don’t get a good producer,” he says. “Or they cut a record but it doesn’t have any significance. It’s like nobody cares anymore. And at least with Bobby Purify, I cared. I felt like this guy needs some good songs, so we wrote for him just like we would’ve written for Elvis or Otis.”
Bettye LaVette, Kelly Hogan
More: See the Treatment, page 6
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