Album: Various Artists, More Dirty Laundry (Trikont)

His record company, so legend has it, blew a gasket when Bobby Womack wanted to release a country album titled Black In The Saddle Again; and when it eventually appeared as BW Goes C&W, they simply ignored it, hoping nobody on either side of America’s racial divide would notice.

Country music remains soul’s guilty secret, though as this second compilation of crossover cuts confirms, the artists themselves love its narrative style, whether it's Lou Johnson taking “She Thinks I Still Care” to church or Joe Tex proclaiming himself “King Of The Road”.

The inclusion of James Brown is stretching the point a bit too far, but there are others, such as Womack and Joe Simon, whose command of the form is faultless: indeed, so authentic were Solomon Burke’s country records that it's said he was once accidentally booked to play at a Ku Klux Klan rally.

"Hell Yes I Cheated" from More Dirty Laundry features in this month's Independent Audio Player. CLICK HERE to listen.

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