1977 Joey Gilmore “Joey Gilmore” on Blue Candle

Well, after posting the mighty Snoopy Dean last week, here’s another righteous slab on Henry Stone’s great Miami groove label, a subsidiary of TK. Gilmore is sort of a Party Blues legend, an uptempo and positive-force 1-4-5 maestro unwilling to wallow in Delta Miasma. It’s a sound that really would only work in Florida, where its inherent contradictions somehow make perfect sense. He started as a club R&B bass player with Frank Williams & the Rocketeers, did a deuce in the army, and when discharged raced home to find out he’d been replaced by Little Beaver! On this particular solo action, given that we’re deep in 1977, Joey put out his only funk record, which is a blues/rock proto-disco heavy banger. Again, keep in mind we’re in Florida. Our man Snoopy Dean wrote the songs and was in the booth, and therefore, unsurprisingly, it has soul and groove to burn. Definitely WAY on the DL, but if you ever see this around, grab it!