That's right, folks, it's that time of year again... time for our Fourth Annual Mystery Contest! rather than go back to the infamous tape , I thought we'd try something different this year:
I know you're all
familiar with the tune... and I'm digging this kind of beret wearing
goateed bachelor pad version of it, but who, pray tell, is performing
it? There is no artist listed on the label. All it says is that R&J
Records is a division of Roye Dodge Studios, along with an address in
New City, New York. New City? I had to google that one, but it turns out
to be just north of the big town, up near Spring Valley, where the
Thruway makes that big left turn. It seems kind of odd that a cool
record like this would exist, without so much as a clue to who's working
that Hammond, or smokin' that guitar, or blowing those fine horn
lines...
Well, further googling
turns up another R&J 45 at, you guessed, it Funky 16 Corners (you just knew Grogan would be involved
somehow). Another swingin' cover of a top ten hit, once again the
anonymous players get no credit at all, toiling on in obscurity all
these years. Larry says that he discovered (although he doesn't say how)
that 'Roye Dodge' was a choreographer, and that his guess is that these
45s were produced for use in dance schools "so that rooms full of
students might have something to shuffle along with." But, like, where
were they recorded? Who arranged them and produced them? And, I mean, it
wouldn't have taken much to list somebody as the artist (like,
say, The Roye Dodge Players or something like that)...
Just the sort of mystery we love here at Soul Detective.
There is an excellent
discography site called New
York Soul Recordings, that focuses on obscure labels that released
soulful 45s in the upstate regions of the Empire State, but, as fate
would have it, the discographies end at the letter 'P' - so there is no
information available about R&J.
SO, we're looking for any and all information about this tiny label, about Roye Dodge Studios, about where and when they recorded this 45, and - most importantly - about who our mystery artists might be.
As always, the first to come up with an answer in the 'comments' will be our lucky winner. Here's what we've found out so far...






























