Download or Listen to Jake Wade & The Soul Searchers – Searching For Soul from the Mutt Records 45

Today’s post is going to be a bit short. You see, I’ve been working way too much. Along with my regular 9 to 5 gig, I’ve been DJing 2 to 3 extra times a week. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it’s been kicking my ass. This weekend I decided to take it easy a bit, and really do nothing except watch football during the day (my Liverpool played a horrible match against Stoke City, and the hopeful tie I wished for between Man U and Chelsea was dashed to bits by United’s 3 nil crushing of the Blues) and catch up on sleep. I’ve had this one on the burner for a while. Here’s Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers and “Searching For Soul” on Mutt Records.

I couldn’t dig up too much about the history of this record, other than Nate Dorr was the owner of Mutt Records, and it was located at 27316 Michigan Avenue in Inkster, MI. Jake Wade’s real name was Wade Washington. His band consisted of himself, JuJu aka Cornelious Johnson and an anonymous player on horns, and Miles Joseph and Chuck Middleton on guitars. Miles Joseph was not an original member, but was approached by JWATSS at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival around 1969 as he filled in for the missing guitar players for Albert King and Luther Allison. The band itself ran the Detroit circuit and backed up every major band that came through the area. Now this same band also went on to be another group, El Riot, after adding vocalist Roz Ryan. El Riot put out a side on the Mojo label called “Do It Right”. Originally called Riot, a not so smart manager had them put the “El” before it to avoid getting signed by Motown who had a band of that name already. Nice move my man. That’s how it goes though, and these two records will remain in the want lists of diggers and collectors for as long as breaks and rare grooves are collected. Some members of these bands went on to do some things musically. Cornelius Johnson still plays in Detroit, while Roz Ryan moved on to Broadway, movies, and television. Miles Joseph has also staye din music, playing as a sideman for notables such as Aretha Franklin. Now I know this record is not rare, and came to light recently when Beyonce sampled it on “Sugar Mama”. I was introduced to it a while ago, and was blown away by Short Kut when he massacred the record on the Brainfreeze DVD. YouTube that one, it’s nuts. Many thanks to Save 1 for selling me this thing a way back. Also shout out to the guys at Ubiquity for trying to help me out image wise, there are no pictures to be found of them. If anyone has a pic to contribute of this band or El Riot, feel free to contact me.

This record is a killer. Bangin’ drums, horns, a sweet bass line, Jake Wade and the Soul Searchers knew how to lay it down. Their DIY attitude was a great indication of just how much music that was under the radar at that time. Motown was a machine, but they weren’t the only ones making music. There is a great compilation put out by Luv ‘N Haight called Searching For Soul that illustrates my last point. Most of the music never really saw the light of day. It’s an unbelievable account of the Michigan music scene during the 60’s and 70’s. Highly recommended by FMF. Keep Diggin’!