Joe Haywood - I Would If I Could (Enjoy 2013)

I Would If I Could

By now you've gotten used to those exhaustive, long-winded posts of mine, full of witty and incisive commentary complete with pictures, circles and arrows, you know, the whole deal... only what do I do when there is virtually no information available on an awesome record?

There is this like whole level of R&B artists who made great music that never made it onto the charts. They have no listing in the "All" Music Guide, and are not, for the most part, in any of the books people like me are likely to have around. A 'google' on them produces very few hits. Forget about any kind of image search... I mean, the knowledge may be out there someplace (in some mouldering back issue of Blues & Soul, for instance), but basically, I'm in the dark.

Today's B side is a perfect example. Check out the incredible vocals on here - like a cross between Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, and Bobby Bland... the real deal! So how could a great soul artist like this be virtually unkown? What happened to him? Did he make any other cool records?

Well, I've been digging on Joe Haywood for about six months now. Although I did find out a few things, there's certainly a lot more questions than there are answers. What, I thought, if there was a place where all of us could pool our resources and share what we know? What if we could like accumulate more and more information as it became available in some central location, and work together to rescue these great unknowns from obscurity?

That is the concept behind my new 'audioblog', soul detective. While the B side will continue on as usual, I am going to open new 'cases' from time to time at the new site. So click on over and check it out... join in the discussion. Be a part of the team... become a SOUL DETECTIVE!

See ya there!