Listen to Route 66 Sunday from 7:00 to 9:00 AM EDT on Atlanta’s WRFG 89.3FM.
Your independent community radio station is streaming worldwide
over our free mobile app and WRFG.ORG.
Please follow WRFG Route 66 on Facebook.
Check out our podcast page at MixCloud.Com.
Call us during the show at 404-523-8989.
Host:
John
Birthday
Billy Wright
Born William Wright
Atlanta, Georgia
May 21, 1918, or 1932 – October 28, 1991
Song
Artist
Original Album or Single & Date
Pee Wee’s Boogie
Pee Wee Crayton
Modern Records 1960
Knock Me A Kiss
Eddie Tigner
Slippin’ In 2009
I Didn’t Like It The First Time (The Spinach Song)
Julia Lee & Her Boy Friends
Capitol Records 1949
Caldonia
Louis Jordan
Decca Records 1945
Woke Up This Morning (My Baby She Was Gone)
B.B. King
RPM Records 1953
I Can’t Wait
Roomful Of Blues
In A Roomful Of Blues 2020
Are You Satisfied?
Ann Cole w/ Mickey Baker
Baton Records 1955
I’m Sticking With You Baby
Catherine Russell
Bring It Back 2014
Come Love
John Hammond
Ready For Love 2003
Rockin’ At Midnight
Roy Brown
Deluxe Records 1950
My Rough & Ready Man
Annie Laurie
Regal Records 1949
Rockin’ on Sunday Night
The Treniers
Okeh Records 1952
Amos’ Blues
Amos Milburn
Aladdin Records 1946
Calling All Fools
Frank Bey
All My Dues Are Paid 2020
Baby What You Want Me To Do
Jimmy Reed
Vee Jay Records 1959
Save The Bones For Henry Jones (‘Cause Henry Don’t Eat Meat)
Johnny Mercer & Nat King Cole
Capitol Records 1947
Things I Used To Do
Ike & Tina Turner
Her Man His Woman 1969
Drown in My Own Tears
Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters w/ Greg Piccolo
Beyond the Blue Door 2019
8:00 AM Tribute to Billy Wright “The Prince of the Blues”
Blues For My Baby
Billy Wright w/ the Howard Collander Orchestra
Savoy Records 1949
Billy Wright first sang gospel in the church, then made a name for himself as a dancer and female impersonator. He developed as a singer while performing at the 81 Theater, a black vaudeville house at 81 Decatur Street SE. The theater was torn down in the 1960s and replaced by an office building near the present day library at Georgia State. Wright’s recording career began in 1949 when, as the vocalist for the Howard Collander Orchestra, he hit number three on the Billboard R&B chart “Blues for My Baby.”
You Satisfy
Billy Wright
Savoy Records 1949
“You Satisfy” was Wright’s second hit record and his first as a solo artist.
The Hucklebuck
Paul Williams & The Hucklebucks
Savoy Records 1949
Paul Williams caught one of Wright’s performances at the 81 Theater
and recommended him to Savoy Records.
Turn Your Lights Down Low (AKA Baby, Please Don’t Go)
Billy Wright
Savoy Records 1952
Every Hour
Little Richard
RCA Victor 1951
Taxi Blues
Little Richard
RCA Victor 1951
Billy Wright was a major influence on Little Richard and, with the help of DJ and talent scout Zenas Sears, got him his first recording date at the old WGST studio at Georgia state in 1951. Little Richard recorded “Every Hour” and “Taxi Blues” at that session. “Every Hour” went on to be a bit jukebox hit in Atlanta, but nowhere else.
Stacked Deck
Etta James
Let’s Roll 2002
Billy Wright wrote “Stacked Deck.” It was the third of his four hit records peaking at number nine on the R&B chart in 1951.
Hey Little Girl
Billy Wright
Savoy Records 1951
“Hey Little Girl” was Billy Wright’s final hit. After 1951, the hits stopped coming and Wright stopped recording entirely in 1959. For the rest of his career, he was a local performer and MC here in Atlanta He died in 1991 just before his Halloween Show at the Royal Peacock. Billy Wright’s time in the national spotlight wasn’t long,
but he burned brightly.
Blues For The Red Boy
Todd Rhodes
Sensation / King Records 1948
5-10-15 Hours
Ruth Brown
Atlantic Records 1952
Praise House
Bruce Katz
Solo Ride 2019
Phenomenal Woman
Ruthie Foster
Live at the Paramount 2020
Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just As Bad)
T-Bone Walker
Black & White Records 1947
(sign off)
Tag (You’re It)
Little Charlie & The Nightcats
Nine Lives 2005
Billy Wright Resources
Biography @ wikipedia.com
Discography @ discogs.com
Bio & Discography @ allmusic.com
The interview Michael Humphries, the original host of Route 66, did with Wright in 1991 is included in the podcast for today’s show.
WRFG Route 66 