Each week during Black History Month, JamBase will present a playlist highlighting an influential Black guitarist. Today’s installment features the Empress Of Gulf Coast Soul, Barbara Lynn.
.article-summary-wrap {
margin-top:25px;
}
.panel-article .list-posts > li {
border-style: dotted;
}
.panel-article .list-posts > li:last-of-type {
border-bottom-width:0;
}
.panel-article .list-posts .excerpt {
margin: 3px 0 0;
}
.panel-article .list-posts .btn-sm {
margin-top: 10px;
padding: 3px 10px;
}
!function ($) {
$(function(){ // document readyvar ga_event_args = {
hitType: ‘event’,
eventCategory: ‘Article Summary Shortcode’,
eventAction: ‘Show Article Summary’,
eventLabel: ‘https://www.jambase.com/article/elizabeth-cotten-playlist’,
nonInteraction : true
};console.log( ‘JB – Analytics Event’ );
console.log( ga_event_args );try {
__gaTracker(‘send’, ga_event_args );
} catch(err){}$(document).on(‘click’, ‘.article-summary-wrap a[data-guid=”8375640ae6e6b24-6ce8-497f-96b4-edb336e449bf”]’, function(e){
var ga_event_args = {
hitType: ‘event’,
eventCategory: ‘Article Summary Shortcode’,
eventAction: ‘Click Article Summary’,
eventLabel: ‘https://www.jambase.com/article/elizabeth-cotten-playlist’
};console.log( ‘JB – Analytics Event’ );
console.log( ga_event_args );try {
__gaTracker(‘send’, ga_event_args );
} catch(err){}});
});
}(window.jQuery);
Elizabeth Cotten – The Mother Of Folk Playlist
!function ($) {
$(function(){ // document readyvar ga_event_args = {
hitType: ‘event’,
eventCategory: ‘Article Summary Shortcode’,
eventAction: ‘Show Article Summary’,
eventLabel: ‘https://www.jambase.com/article/sister-rosetta-tharpe-godmother-rock-n-roll-playlist’,
nonInteraction : true
};console.log( ‘JB – Analytics Event’ );
console.log( ga_event_args );try {
__gaTracker(‘send’, ga_event_args );
} catch(err){}$(document).on(‘click’, ‘.article-summary-wrap a[data-guid=”83961386d0d7123-3d3f-48dc-8119-02b52b5726f0″]’, function(e){
var ga_event_args = {
hitType: ‘event’,
eventCategory: ‘Article Summary Shortcode’,
eventAction: ‘Click Article Summary’,
eventLabel: ‘https://www.jambase.com/article/sister-rosetta-tharpe-godmother-rock-n-roll-playlist’
};console.log( ‘JB – Analytics Event’ );
console.log( ga_event_args );try {
__gaTracker(‘send’, ga_event_args );
} catch(err){}});
});
}(window.jQuery);
Sister Rosetta Tharpe – The Godmother Of Rock ‘N’ Roll Playlist
!function ($) {
$(function(){ // document readyvar ga_event_args = {
hitType: ‘event’,
eventCategory: ‘Article Summary Shortcode’,
eventAction: ‘Show Article Summary’,
eventLabel: ‘https://www.jambase.com/article/memphis-minnie-playlist’,
nonInteraction : true
};console.log( ‘JB – Analytics Event’ );
console.log( ga_event_args );try {
__gaTracker(‘send’, ga_event_args );
} catch(err){}$(document).on(‘click’, ‘.article-summary-wrap a[data-guid=”8432389dd363842-2b0c-4a52-9510-f557f92511bf”]’, function(e){
var ga_event_args = {
hitType: ‘event’,
eventCategory: ‘Article Summary Shortcode’,
eventAction: ‘Click Article Summary’,
eventLabel: ‘https://www.jambase.com/article/memphis-minnie-playlist’
};console.log( ‘JB – Analytics Event’ );
console.log( ga_event_args );try {
__gaTracker(‘send’, ga_event_args );
} catch(err){}});
});
}(window.jQuery);
Memphis Minnie – Queen Of The Blues Playlist
Born Barbara Lynn Ozen on January 16, 1942 in Beaumont, Texas, she began playing piano as a child. After taking up the ukulele, Lynn was inspired to play guitar after seeing Elvis Presley on television and taught herself to play the instrument.
“I decided that playing piano was a little bit too common, you know what I mean?” Lynn wrote in the liner notes for the Light In The Attic reissue of Here Is Barbara Lynn. “You’d always see a lady or a little girl sitting at a piano. I decided I wanted to play something more unexpected, so that’s when I got interested in learning to play the guitar.”
In addition to Elvis, among those Lynn drew inspiration from included local blues guitarist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown as well as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Guitar Slim, B.B. King, Brenda Lee, Jimmy Reed and others.
In a 2018 interview with Texas Highway, Lynn described her initial stage as a guitarist:
I taught myself to play. It came easy. I’d hear something on the radio. In fact, the doctor told my mom I was just musically inclined. I could hear something and play it. And I did. I created my own style.
I formed my own style by me being left-handed. I play with a thumb pick. A lot of musicians, mostly male, they just use their fingerpicks, but I have to use a thumb pick. When I was coming up, I noticed the fingerpick kept slipping out of my fingers, so I just used my thumb pick. It stays on. It makes me feel like I’m playing the drums. I’ve got a beat.
In the 1950s, while attending Blanchette Elementary School, Lynn formed the band Bobbie Lynn & Her Idols. The band continued while she attended Herbert High School and around that time local swamp pop singer Joe Barry discovered Lynn, leading to her signing with her first manager Huey Meaux.
In 1963, Lynn released her debut album You’ll Lose a Good Thing, which was recorded with then-session musician Dr. John. The record featured 10 of 12 songs written by Lynn, including its title track, inspired by a breakup with a boy named Sylvester, that became a Billboard Top 10 hit and reached #1 on the R&B charts. Country singer Freddy Fender later had a hit with his cover of “You’ll Lose A Good Thing,” which was also recorded by Aretha Franklin.
Lynn’s next LP was 1964’s Sister of Soul that like its predecessor was issued on the Jamie record label. The album featured Lynn’s song “Oh Baby (We’ve Got a Good Thing Goin’)” that was covered by The Rolling Stones on their 1965 album, Now!
Lynn continued to record over the next few years, singing with Atlantic Records through which she released her 1968 album, Here Is Barbara Lynn. Lynn toured with the likes of B.B. King, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Gladys Knight, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Patti Labelle, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Dionne Warwick, Sam Cooke, Mary Wells, The Temptations, Ike and Tina Turner, and others. She twice appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand and performed at the historic Apollo Theater in New York City.
After getting married in 1970, Lynn moved away from recording. She spent time in Los Angeles and later moved back to Beaumont. Subsequent years saw her continue to write and perform. In the 1980s, Lynn capitalized on her popularity in Japan and a tour of the country resulted in the 1984 live album, We Got a Good Thing Goin’. A studio album, You Don’t Have to Go, followed in 1988.
In the 1990s, Lynn released the albums So Good and Until Then I’ll Suffer. In 1999, Lynn was bestowed the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. Lynn then released Hot Night Tonight in 2000 and Blues & Soul Situation in 2004.
In 2018, Lynn was given the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship award. Lynn, the Empress Of Gulf Coast Soul, celebrated her 80th birthday on January 16.
The playlist below begins with “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” and “Oh Baby (We’ve Got a Good Thing Goin’).” Also featured are Lynn’s recordings of “You Left the Water Running” (which was covered by Otis Redding), “I’m A Good Woman” (which was sampled by Moby) and her version of “Don’t Be Cruel” (which was popularized by Elvis). The playlist includes other 1960s singles as well as tracks off Here Is Barbara Lynn as well as So Good and Hot Night Tonight.
Steam the Barbara Lynn Empress Of Gulf Coast Soul playlist below:
