Bobby Charles - Louisiana Days (1964-1965)

Compilation
Bobby Charles was an American singer-songwriter.

From 1957 to 1963 the young Bobby Charles had seen great successes as a songwriter, having penned such classics as “See You Later Alligator”, “Walking To New Orleans”, “But I Do” and “The Jealous Kind”, for the most part providing hits for New Orleans R&B legends Fats Domino and Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry.
However he never saw much success with his own singles, and by 1963 was without a record label after Imperial Records had been sold to Liberty and he had been left by the wayside. He was also left feeling bitter about the whole experience, as he had apparently not been paid nearly the amount of royalties he was owed. He was now determined to do things his own way, and after briefly attempting to release a couple of singles on his own label (which he christened Hub City), he met with former talent scout Stan Lewis, who had just launched his own Jewel label. Charles approached him with an offer of working together, and they agreed he could have half of Jewel Records in return for his song writing talents.
He released five singles on Jewel and its ancillary label Paula. They didn’t sell in massive quantities, but were all excellent songs. However when he went to collect his money from Lewis, he found that his contract had been rewritten without his consent and Jewel now belonged exclusively to Lewis. Having had enough of the music business, he gave it up and effectively retired for several years.
This album compiles fifteen recordings from the Jewel and Paula sessions, including the five singles (the a-sides being “Everybody’s Laughing”, “I Hope”, “Ain’t Misbehaving”, “One More Glass Of Wine” and “Worrying Over You”). It’s some great music, a mellow mix of R&B, pop and country, featuring both originals and covers (including Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene", Don Gibson's "Oh Lonesome Me" and Jimmy McCracklin's "The Walk"). If Charles had released an album during this period it could have been really good. Instead his debut LP would still have to wait until 1972.

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