music clip of the day

Yesterday he sang gospel; today he sings soul music.

O.V. Wright

“I Feel Alright,” live, Memphis, 1975

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“I’d Rather Be Blind, Crippled, And Crazy” (Back Beat Records, 1973)

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“Drowning On Dry Land” (Back Beat Records, 1973)

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“A Nickel And A Nail” (Back Beat Records, 1975)

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lagniappe

Soul is church. Just changing ‘Jesus’ to ‘baby.’ That’s all it is.

—O.V. Wright

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Somehow, someway, O.V. Wright continues to be a mystery. Though he spent his entire life in Memphis, recorded with [producer] Willie Mitchell and was a contemporary of everyone from Otis Redding to Al Green, Wright remains a largely unheralded figure.

Hardcore soul enthusiasts and R&B historians have consistently ranked him among the most evocative and powerful singers of all time, yet his troubled life and tragically early death at the age of 41 in 1980 have consigned him to the margins of music history.

“I remember Willie Mitchell saying, after we lost O.V. — and I never will forget this — Willie said he was the greatest singer that was ever on the planet,” recalls drummer Howard Grimes.

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Wright was revered by his peers, including a young Al Green. “Al used to come in and try and listen to O.V. record,” recalls Willie Mitchell, laughing. “And O.V. would see him and say, ‘Al, what you doing here? Get out of my session!'”

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“He just had more church in him,” says Howard Grimes. “That’s what touched people.”

[Otis] Clay recalls being in the audience when Wright turned a Miami nightclub into a revival meeting. “Man, he whipped that audience into a frenzy like I’ve never seen,” says Clay. “You would’ve thought he was a preacher passing out blessings. He’d say, ‘If you love the blues, come up and shake my hand.’ And, man, people lined up, just like they would in church. That was typical O.V.”

—Bob Mehr, Commercial Appeal (Memphis), 11/13/08