Sunday, April 17, 2016

Clean Up Woman - Betty Wright (1971)

Betty Wright is a great singer, and this cut is a good example of what the long-ago Soul guitar players could do. On this one the guitars are allowed to take the front line and carry it through the whole song. The horns come up sometimes, but in this case it's their turn to be subtle.

And three guitars, no less! Very intricate pattern, nice interplay. Clarence Reid ("Blowfly") played guitar and got half of the writing credit; Willie Hale ("Little Beaver") played the main lick (says Google) and number three guitar player might have been Patrick Jernagin (reported by a personal friend in a YouTube comment). The guitar section is very disciplined here. They stick to the pattern and honor the construction of the song, which I'd say was typical of Soul musicians.

Great cut all around.

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