RIP Ted Jarrett

Gene Allison - I Understand (alternate take)

The parade to "soul heaven" continues, unfortunately, with the passing of Nashville R&B impresario Ted Jarrett. As a longtime champion of Nashville soul on this blog, I've featured Jarrett compositions, productions and releases on some of his labels. I suppose in my next podcast, which I intend to put together at some point this week, I'll have to get some Nashville in there to go with the New Orleans.

One of Jarrett's biggest successes was with Gene Allison, who hit big with "You Can Make It If You Try." Like Allison's contemporaries Earl Gaines and Larry Birdsong, Gene stuck around with Jarrett for quite some time. The fine Southern soul ballad "I Understand" was released as a Ref-O-Ree single in 1969. Today's selection is an alternate take of the tune, which was included on the The Ref-O-Ree Records Story.

Hopefully this will be the last RIP post, at least for awhile!