Ella Washington: Ella Washington [ON HIGH]

Why you'll love it

This remastered reissue is limited to 500 copies. It collects Washington's deep soul sides for Sound Stage 7, produced by the famous Nashville radio man John Richbourg.

This edition

• Limited to 500 copies
• Remastered
• Pressed in Canada

About the album

Southern soul fans tend to lower their voices when Ella Washington's name comes up, as if sharing a secret. The Miami-born singer cut these songs in Nashville for Sound Stage 7, the label run by John Richbourg, better known to night-time radio listeners as John R. of WLAC, whose broadcasts carried R&B across half the continent.

Richbourg produced the sessions and wrote the sleeve notes, and he gave Washington slow-burning, country-tinged arrangements that let her voice do the heavy lifting. "He Called Me Baby" is the signature, a Harlan Howard country song turned into a soul torch ballad. "Stop Giving Your Man Away" and "Sit Down And Cry" carry real grit, "Fragile (Handle With Care)" glows, and her take on "This Bitter Earth" closes the album with quiet grandeur. The band plays with the easy restraint of seasoned Nashville session players, leaving plenty of space for her phrasing.

Washington later devoted her voice to gospel, which makes these sides all the more treasured by collectors. Five hundred copies for a voice this big works out to rather a lot of soul per household.

Also at Kops: more Ella Washington on vinyl · browse Classic Soul

Tracklist

Listen

On On High Records (cat# OHR002), a reissue of the 1969 album.