An Otis Redding kind of day

I was all set to write a blog post about a different artist, but then I headed outside into the 65 degree weather here in Iowa City, popped in some headphones with Otis Redding playing, and took a walk, and it just seems wrong to write about anyone else. Days like today were made for Otis Redding.

He is probably most well known for his early death, at the age of 26, when his plane crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin. "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" is the song most often associated with him. It was recorded just 3 days before his death, and released posthumously. It's sad to think of how much wonderful music the world missed out on by an artist who really seemed to be hitting his stride, but we can take comfort in the fact that he put out a lot of great music before he died that is still being enjoyed to this day.

Few people could put as much soul and raw energy into their voice as the young Otis Redding did. He has so many wonderful songs, that it's hard to choose just one, but below is a live version of one of my favorites, "Mr. Pitiful."



A 22 track album of his songs called "Remember Me" is available at Amazon for $9.49, and it is a heck of an addition to any music collection.

While we lost Otis far too early, his influence can be seen directly and indirectly in many others. Almost everybody is familiar with Aretha Franklin's "Respect," but far fewer are aware of the fact that Otis Redding actually wrote the track. Obviously Aretha really took it and made it her own in a wonderful way, but without Otis, that doesn't happen.

And in an attempt to finally write about another artist I have been meaning to cover, since I teased it in my January 25 post, Charles Bradley is a current artist who has some strong Otis Redding sound in him. He is a 62 year old singer who just released his first album last month. I haven't heard the whole album yet, but from the two songs that I have heard, it's clear that the man had some music pent up in him. There's a lot of soul in that voice, and it's a good throw back to artists like Otis Redding and plenty of his contemporaries. Below is his song "No Time For Dreaming."



You can download another song from the album for free from Seattle radio station KEXP here, and the album can be found from Amazon or wherever else I'm sure.

Enjoy the weather and the tunes!