Call Her Name

A forgotten R&B legend reborn on Bear Family! This comprehensive CD collection contains: All 15 songs originally issued on the Tennessee and Republic labels, including one with Little Richard backing her! Plus five unissued alternative takes of Republic titles. All eight songs issued by Champion, Vee-Jay, and Federal, and one unissued Vee-Jay song. One song issued pseudonymously on Hit Records and Spar Records. All sourced from master tapes wherever possible. Rare photographs and memorabilia. And a 40-page booklet by Martin Hawkins based on original interviews with Christine Kittrell, her producers, and backing musicians. Christine Kittrell made some of the best R&B of the 1950s and '60s without ever becoming a household name. She was the leading nightclub vocalist on the rocking Nashville scene in the late 1940s and '50s. A marvellous singer - far more versatile than most of her contemporaries - Christine Kittrell worked with Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Memphis Slim, Little Walter, Johnny Otis and even Count Basie. Her relatively few recordings, mainly on unfashionable labels, possessed rare expressiveness that could elevate a mundane song into something exceptional. She sang late night mood songs like Heartache Blues and Don-t Do It, and pounding rockers like Call His Name and Lord Have Mercy - where she is backed by Little Richard on piano and vocals. Her rerecording of Call His Name in the 60s, became a northern soul classic. She also recorded the original version of the anthemic I-m A Woman. Her biggest hit, Sittin- Here Drinking, featured one of her trademark spoken intros.