Junior Parker - Collection

After giving rockabilly fans something to talk about forever with his 1953 Sun Records single "Mystery Train" b/w "Love My Baby," Junior Parker moved on to Duke Records, his home for the next dozen or so years. This compilation is drawn from that period, and it contains some of Parker's best efforts, including fine reworkings of a pair of Roosevelt Sykes tunes, "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Driving Wheel," which was a huge R&B hit in 1961. With his smooth and whiskey-tinged tenor, a scratchy, edgy, harp style, and fronting a band with horns, Parker injected the Chicago blues sound with a healthy dose of Memphis cool, prefiguring in many ways the later hard soul sound of Stax Records. Read More