Listen or Download to Soul Runners – Grits ‘N Corn Bread from the MoSoul 45

Here’s a quick piece I got on my trip down South. I was taking some photos of the massive amounts of 45’s, dividers and the like. I just started picking through the Soul divider and I saw this record. I didn’t know too much about it, but how could I pass this up? Here’s the Soul Runners with “Grits ‘N Corn Bread” on MoSoul Records from 1966.

Like I said, I don’t have a tremendous amount of info on this record, other than Number One, it has a version of the Watts 103rd Street Band’s “Spreadin’ Honey”, and Number Two it was distributed by Keymen. This led me to look deeper into that, which revealed that Charles Wright had a hand in this record/ band, even if he didn’t record with the band some of the time. Here’s where things are a bit weird. Apparently they were originally called the Wright Sounds, then the Soul Runners, and in fact were an early version of the Watts Band. They recorded mostly instrumental tracks, and were the backing band at different times for Billy Cosby and Dyke and the Blazers. Some of the personnel of the band is as follows:Bernard Blackman (guitar), Raymond Jackson (trombone), John Rayford ( tenor saxophone), Melvin Dunlap (bass), Al McKay (guitar) and James Gadson (drums). Please let me know if any of you out there have any other info and or corrections to this entry, as the info out there is a bit shaky.

“Grits ‘N Corn Bread” is a nice rolling piece of Funk. The jangly guitar is ever present, as well as the back beat and a nice touch of organ. It’s dirty and a bit sleazy, with very few grunts and groans, but a cool piece of LA style Funk none the less. This is the kind of record that keeps me going back for more and more of the gritty, grimey, dirty music we call Funk. There’s always a story and I hope I find out the whole thing on this side. Have a good weekend and Keep Diggin’!