As part of Light in the Attic’s on-going 7″ covers series we celebrate the song “Miracles” (written by Johnnie Frierson. The a-side includes Bill Callahan & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (feat. Ty Segall) covering “Miracles,” while the flip-side includes Johnnie’s original version, taken from our reissue of his album Have You Been Good To Yourself.
Johnnie Frierson was a soul-singer/songwriter on the Memphis scene of the 1960s, perhaps best known for his role in The Drapels, tho...
As part of Light in the Attic’s on-going 7″ covers series we celebrate the song “Miracles” (written by Johnnie Frierson. The a-side includes Bill Callahan & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (feat. Ty Segall) covering “Miracles,” while the flip-side includes Johnnie’s original version, taken from our reissue of his album Have You Been Good To Yourself.
Johnnie Frierson was a soul-singer/songwriter on the Memphis scene of the 1960s, perhaps best known for his role in The Drapels, though he played parts behind the scenes in soul, funk and gospel productions for Stax and Hi Records. His career was interrupted in 1968 by the U.S. Army. Following a stint in Vietnam, he returned to Memphis, making music only intermittently (making a single in 1975 with the gospel group The Whole Truth), while working a variety of different jobs and raising a family. In the early 90s, he got involved with music again, hosting a gospel radio show and selling cassettes of his new home-recorded songs in different places around town. According to his daughter, this was a hard time in Johnnie’s life, during which he was no doubt processing the painful experiences he’d had in Vietnam and afterwards. The songs show remarkable optimism in the face of this information — perhaps none more so than “Miracles,” with its warm and emphatic refrain:
You can do ‘em
have faith
you are human
only human
and human beings, they do miracles
Johnnie’s version, a guitar and vocals performance, thrills with its uncoated R’n’B and gospel inspirations. For Ty’s take on the song, the ever-darkening realities of the present-day require a different sonic platform — and so, via the riffs of the original, he takes the song to a darker area of the blues, which, driven by the funky soundings of the Rhythm King drum machine and scudded with filth-toned guitars, synths and saxes (sketchily blown by Bitchin Bajas’ Rob Frye), evokes the raw beats of Sly, the exotic tinge of Stevie and the sanctified elevation of Al Green. This clearly delights Bill and Bonny, who deliver from deep down, with Bonny supplying all the voices in the backing choir with true fervor and Bill hitting a couple of notes that make our hair stand straight up every time. A low-down, slinking celebration of our bottomless grace.
Domino Publishing represent Light in the Attic
A-Side: Drag City – B-side: Light in the Attic
THIS DOMINO DISCOVERY WAS SELECTED BY LYNDEN CAMPBELL
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