Sid Selvidge – A Little Bit Of Rain
A Little Bit Of Rain is one of the most affecting, beautifully rendered and delivered, funky sweet bits of singing on record in the last couple of years. Mississippi raised, in hard blues country, and since then a longtime Memphis fixture, Sid Selvidge is utterly, and equally, at home with quiet, masterfully simple renditions of songs with a country base (Jimmie Rodgers’ “Hobo Bill”, and “Long Black Veil” a la Lefty) as he is with deep blues (Little Brother Montgomery’s “Mama You Don’t Mean Me No Good”).
Selvidge comes up with tunes of his own that are richly informed by these sources, and uncovers obscure gems from the great, too-overlooked blue-eyed soul man Eddie Hinton (with jumping rhythm and sax that could have been born in New Orleans) and an old timey narrative ballad from Bascom Lamar Lunsford delivered with understated drama.
Selvidge’s clean tenor is so pure that it almost approaches the precious, but never crosses over, because this guy couldn’t help putting a bit of soulful grease in there if his life depended on it. It doesn’t; he’s a full-time anthro professor who’s managed to get out exactly one album per decade since the ’70s. This one was produced by the vet Jim Dickinson, and if that starts to ring a bell, it should. The two of them were in the semi-legendary avant garde blues band Mudboy & the Neutrons, and this is the same Sid Selvidge who produced Alex Chilton’s much-admired Like Flies On Sherbet.
This very fresh Little Bit Of Rain will be as welcome late, late at night as early, early in the morning. It deserves a lot of play.