Southern Hospitality

Chronique

Southern Hospitality was originally issued in 1954 as a 10" eight-track LP under the title Warm. Three years later, a 12" LP was released with an additional four titles. This session was a setting Southern preferred, herself on piano along with a small group, as she is joined by guitar player Dave Barbour and his trio. Barbour already was experienced in backing other singers of the era, such as June Christy and his wife Peggy Lee. This album also established Southern's predilection to include less familiar material on her albums, a characteristic which was to be one hallmark of her career. Tunes like "Miss Johnson Phoned Again Today" and "I'm in Love With the Honorable Mr. So-and-So" permit Southern to showcase her ability to transform a song into a very personal recitation of a tale that is, if not sorrowful, then at least melancholy. "It Never Entered My Mind" and her lovely rendition of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" stand out among a tasteful selection of standards.
The second album is somewhat of a shift in tempo and style, exhibiting Southern's ability to work with medium tempo material.

© Dave Nathan /TiVo