Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Sammy Johns - Sammy Johns (1973)



I first learned about Sammy Johns through Waylon Jennings' covers of Sammy's songs "Chevy Van" and "America". And then I ran into this album, which was a bit of a shocker for me at the time. It would be for you too, if you were expecting 70's Outlaw Country. Cause what it is, if anything can describe this properly, is something like Southern Outlaw Hippie Country Rock. Now, there's a big mouth full. But this album has really grown on me, and I still play it quite regularly. Sammy does not have the most memorable voice of all, but he does captivate. And the songs are all very well written, the kind of stuff that keeps hanging in your head. This album was released in 1973, though both Rate Your Music and Allmusic.com claim this to be released in 1975. I'd rather believe the back cover of my copy of the album (included here). I also included a rip of a 1988 MCA single, which had a re-recorded version of "Chevy Van". Get this if you like pretty songs. And "Chevy Van" is a pretty pretty song in my book. Early morning love...

3 comments:

Jason Odd said...

Thanks for the upload!

Billboard has the album in deejay pick lists as early as of December of 1973.

And outside the US, it was issued in December of '74 in Canada by some deal between Capitol Canada and GRC.

whiteray said...

Hey, Thanks! This is a great one, once again.

Lynn said...

Thank you! I always look forward to your uploads; great selections and memories.