Customer Reviews

Do Right Man

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you know, I met Dan in 1996. I had heard about him all of my life. See, his grandma and my grandma were sisters. I called him out of the blue when I was traveling through Nashville. I heard he was a great musician, but I was in shock to find out how truly good he is. He gave me the CD, "Do right Man" and I relate to this so much. I sing along with him and daydream about singing the blues myself. I have lived the life of the blues and still am. He is not only a great musician, but a great man as he made me feel right at home. I am going to get back in touch with him. If you ever get the chance to meet him you will feel as if you knew him all your life. Once again, hats off to my famous cousin.

All one needs to do is look at the song titles to know how important Dan Penn's contribution to 'soul' music is, but his voice is great, too. I remember an Alex Chilton,(BoxTops' singer), interview where he mentioned his producer showing him how to sing 'The Letter', and that all he did was imitate it,(and not as well, according to Chilton himself). That producer was Penn...After listening to 'Do Right Man', I'm positive that Eric Clapton must have heard some old Dan Penn Demos when forming his own vocal style. I'm not a fan of 'singer-songwriter' recordings in general, but that's not an issue here; this is flat-out a great cd.

Probably the biggest testament to this album, is that I've loaned it out to friends several times over the last 6 years, and I always have to fight to get it back.

Soul music at it's greatest. Sitting out on the back porch sweat rolling down your face watching the dogs fight each other while cooking ribs and drinking beer music

Dan Penn was there when Aretha sang his classic "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" in Muscle Shoals. Along the way, this writer's writer dug funky grooves that channeled Wilson Pickett, Percy Sledge, James & Bobby Purify and The Box Tops to the top of the charts. Penn's fingerprints are all over the slick, funky sound of "Cry Like a Baby" and "The Dark End of the Street. He is a legendary writer and a venerated producer -- but the truth is, he's also a hell of a singer. He takes his "babies" and sings then in the gravelly, emotive voice that they were conceived in. You've heard eveybody else cover these tunes; now you can hear them like they were meant to be heard. If you doubt the influence Dan Penn has exerted over rhthym and blues and southern rock, ask the "legends" of Nashville and Memphis who some of their favorite writers are. His name comes up like clockwork. Occasionally you find a gem. The smart person recognizes it as such.

This session brings together legendary soul songwriter Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham together with American Studio session musicians. They go over tunes recorded by everyone from Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, James Carr and others. This cat was twisting the dials for the Boxtops (Chilton got his soulful growl from Penn I'm convinced) playing backup or having written the tune for about every major Southern soul jam from the 60s. Penn and Oldham are more important than Lennon and McCartney in my opinion. Plus, every car on Penn's solo albums are ones he has bought and restored. A renaissance man.

OK it was LATE last night when I rambled on about Dan's performance at the Donnie Fritts Benefit. I got carried away and forgot that I was supposed to be reviewing DO RIGHT MAN. After wearing out two cassettes of this album, I bought it on CD and have proceded to to put numerous dents and scratches into the digital domain. I thought you couldn't wear a CD out! This is undoubtedly one of the best collections of songs to stir your soul and take you back that has ever been recorded. The songs are classics, recorded by a wide variety of great artists. But make no mistake! When you hear them done by Dan you'll realize where a lot of soul singers learned their licks. Dan's voice is the perfect match for these tunes, from "I'm Your Puppet" to "Memphis Women And Chicken". "Zero Willpower" and "Cry Like A Man" are glimpses into his soul, but Dan has always freely shown it. DO RIGHT MAN is an absolute MUST for anyone who cares about where the music came from!

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about hearing a c.d. full of tunes written by Dan but made popular by other artists, no easy task when considering the array of heavyweight talent who've branded their own soulified stamp of success on tunes such as "the dark end of the street, "I'm your puppet" & "you left the water running" to name but a few, but I was pleasently suprised with the results! Dan is in good vocal form throughout these set of tracks cut at Muscle Shoals sound studios back in 1993. The backing band comprised mostly of Muscle Shoals vets, have worked with one another for well over thirty years, supporting a virtual who's who of southern soul stars. You can't go wrong with this one! Dan captures the spirit on his old soul classic's making them sound as fresh as if written just yesterday, while the band fit's like a glove into the pocket of tune after timeless tune.

Fans of Dan know that he hangs out with some of the best in the business, and Saturday night at the University of Northern Alabama Auditorium, a few showed up. The occasion was a benefit for "Funky" Donnie Fritts, who had recently undergone a triple bypass and some other tune-ups. The night was billed as "DONNIE FRITTS & Friends", though the word "friends" should have been printed on the ticket in LARGE glow-in-the-dark letters. Donnie's friend Dan, along with Spooner Oldham, Chips Moman,Delbert McClinton,Tony Joe White,Lee Roy Parnell,Billy Swan,Kris Kristoferson, Waylon Jennings,and some ol' boys who hang out in Muscle Shoals and pick a little, gave a performance that was truly one of those once in a lifetime experiences. It's easy to see why these folks have so much soul - they give so much to us all.

As the world praises reward upon reward to Eric Clapton (who now needs Babyface to make his albums sound special), this guy (a veteran soul songwriter) goes virtually unnoticed by the masses and ignored by radio. DO RIGHT MAN is a fabulous modern-day soul classic. Yet its charms would be labelled "retro" by some. No matter. His voice is filled with pathos and emotion, the arrangements unfettered and direct, the production (by George Drakoulias) simple and uncluttered. This is one of those records you listen to at the end of a long, hard day (especially at sunset). It's guaranteed to melt your blues away.

DAN PENN IS THE MAN, NO MORE OR NO LESS.FANS OF SOUL MUSIC SHOULD NOT BE WITHOUT THIS RECORDING BECAUSE THIS IS , "THE SOURCE". THIS IS THE GUY WHO WROTE FOR ARETHA,JAMES CARR AND COUNTLESS OTHERS AND NOW COMES BACK WITH A RECORDING THAT PROVES THAT NOT ONLY CAN HE WRITE LIKE NOBODYS BUSINESS BUT HE'S A TERRIFIC SINGER IN HIS OWN RIGHT. GET THIS RECORDING, LIE BACK AND LISTEN TO DANN AND THE BEST MEMPHIS MUSICIANS WORK PURE MAGIC.