Ricky Allen on the cover of Jefferson Blues magazine #127

 The blues world is littered with once popular artists who's achievements have faded with time. Blues researchers have been particularly dogged in documenting even the most obscure blues artists so one would think that the more popular artists have all been well covered. Which makes it all the more inexplicable that an artist as once popular as Ricky Allen has remained completely under the radar. Allen passed away on May 29, 2005 with little fanfare, and if not for a couple of European researchers who championed his cause shortly before his death, would likely have slipped away totally unnoticed. Allen was extremely popular within Chicago's black community during the early to mid-60's, a popularity rivaled only by Muddy Waters and Junior Wells, and had several notable local and national hits during this period. One sign of his popularity can be found in the numerous older artists who still cover Allen's songs even if he's rarely credited. Despite this Allen has been largely ignored by researchers and reissue companies and until recently only a handful of his sides have been available, scattered on various anthologies. With Allen's recent passing and the 31 track retrospective "Remember Me" just issued on the Official label, we belatedly look at Allen's too brief career.

 Ricky Allen was born Richard Allen on January 16, 1937 in Nashville, Tennessee. Allen was raised by his mother in a religious family and began singing gospel in church. He started singing secular music because he couldn't earn any money from his gospel singing. Allen received an offer from James Brown around 1957 to play with him as a supporting act. "James had always supporting acts like Hank Ballard and others. But I made more out of selling moonshine than James was offering."

 Nashville was developing a burgeoning R&B scene during this period aided by several startup record labels; Bullet Records, Tennessee and Republic Records, Excello and Nashboro Records, Dot Records, Hickory Records, and a handful of others recorded country, pop, gospel, and R&B. The indie labels often had strong R&B catalogues, taking advantage of local station WLAC, whose R&B programming was heard clear across eastern North America. WLAC's late night disc jockeys such as the legendary John Richbourg (better known as John R) and Hoss Allen catering to R&B fans blasted 50,000-watt nighttime signals to music fans throughout the U.S. Allen began hanging out with local singers like Earl Gaines and Larry Birdsong. They didn't have any regular gigs but did sit in with other artists and made a few dollars each time. During that time Allen was asked to go to Houston to record for Duke. Don Robey was looking for a similar singer to Atlantic’s Clyde McPhatter and thought that Ricky could do. His initial experiences at Duke were not the happiest and Ricky got fed up and went back to Nashville before recording took place. The next recording experience came courtesy of the Look label, distributed by Dot. "They made me sound like Frankie Avalon. I bet that record sold 20 copies at most."

  "I came to Chicago back in '57, the first time. Then I left and I came back again in '60, and I've been here ever since" Allen related. "You'd be surprised how I came. Two pair of pants, a half a pack of Camels, and thirty five cents." Allen’s lucky break came in 1961. He accompanied Bobby Little, Earl Hooker’s drummer, to a Mel London session with Hooker. When the session ended they still had studio time left. That’s how he got his chance as Allen explained: "I had already written "You’d Better Be Sure" and "You Were My Teacher’." I did these two songs. The record was a fair hit on the Chicago market. When the record broke Allen had already returned to Nashville. He received a telegram instructing him to immediately return to Chicago. At the beginning of 1963, the release of "Ouch!" gave him a second big seller. At his next session he recorded his seminal "Cut You A-Loose." Upon its release, this London composition was an immediate smash, hitting Billboard's R&B charts for a total of four weeks from August 31, 1963, eventually reaching the lower reach of the Top 20. The song has since then become something of a classic having been recorded by Otis Rush, Luther Allison, Koko Taylor and many others. Allen's records were issued under London's Age imprint through 1964 until financial problems forced him to close down. Allen cut some terrific sides during this short period including "Remember The Time" underscored by superb fret work from Earl Hooker and backing vocals by The Elites, the aching soul of "Faith" and a fine version of Sonny Boy Williamson #1's "Early in the Morning" among others. Allen was aiming for a lighter sound, not the usual heavy sound of other Chicago artists. It was Albert King with a full band that included saxes that made a big impression an Allen: "You could hear that band from miles away, but still it wasn't too loud when you were standing in front of it. It was miraculous sound." Allen went straight back to Chicago to find sax players for his band. Allen had a top drawer band during this period as he recalls: "I had A.C. [Reed], Earnest [Johnson], Ivory [Parkes], and Sonny [Lanz]. We had five pieces. And we had every night in the week locked up. Plus dances. Then I had [Lafayette] Leake, he's a piano player. And Hank Hankins, Draper and Beasley on horns. Julian Beasley. He did my arrangements for me." Allen was of the opinion that he represented the new sound of the era, whereas artists like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf represented the old sound. Indeed Allen's sound was unique, it's a blend of hard blues and proto-soul featuring prominent sax, organ and Allen's supple, soul drenched vocals.

 London was soon hired by Paul Glass's United Distributing Company however and decided to take advantage of his new position to produce new recordings for the USA and Apogee labels and he turned once again to Allen. Among the notable songs he cut for USA was a tough update of "Little By Little" and the impassioned "Messed Around And Fell In Love." During this period Allen had several regional hits on both Four Brothers and Bright Star with songs like "Nothing in the World Can Hurt Me", "It's A Mess I Tell You" and "I Can't Stand No Signifying." Allen recorded for a variety of labels during this period including One–Way, Mel Records and Tam-boo. He made his final recordings in 1968. He finally disbanded his band in 1974, retiring from music and started working in the laundry business.

 Allen made an attempt at a first comeback 1983. He recorded a single, "Hard Working Woman," though can't remember for which label. Things didn't work out and in 1993 he made a new attempt, starting a five-piece band. But after he had paid his band after some dates he was left with nothing himself. Allen was rediscovered by Jefferson, the Swedish blues magazine, which printed his biography in 2000, written by French researcher Sebastian Danchin, as well as several other articles. A later article appeared in Blues & Rhythm magazine. As a result of the rediscovery, Allen was booked for the 2001 Mönsteras Blues Festival, the biggest festival in Sweden. It was the first time Ricky had been outside the U.S.A., except for some touring dates in Canada in the 60's. According to the local press he was the highlight of the festival. The first set was recorded and later released on the Swedish Jefferson label as "Ricky Allen – Live" on Jefferson Records. In 2002, Allen played at the Chicago Blues Festival and was well received. He also made some occasional dates at clubs in Chicago. He was never recorded again.

Essential Listening

Remember The Time (Official): This bootleg CD collects 31 of Allen's early sides and is the only full length collection of his material available.

-Lillsunde, Anders. Ricky Allen – The Last Discovery From A Golden Era?, Blues & Rhythm no. 168 (2002).

-Danchin, Sebastion. Ricky Allen, Jefferson no. 127 (2001).

-Mike Leadbitter, Neil Slaven, Paul M. Pelletier, Leslie Fancourt. Blues Records, 1943-1970: A Selective Discography, Record Information Services (Chessington, Surrey), 1994.