By Kevin Diehm

MERL SAUNDERS
“MERL SAUNDERS” LP | FANTASY

“If you’re not familiar with Merl Saunders, he’s an older black gentleman. Jerry Garcia was his buddy, and before Saunders put out this record in 1974 he’d done a few albums with him. Those are funk, but with Jerry, you know, you get some of that twangy kind of country stuff. This is really funky, though. This is just pure funk. There’s a song on here called ‘Aunt Monk,’ the first track on the album, that’s probably my favorite. Also on side one is ‘It’s Cheaper to Keep Her,’ an old Memphis blues song that he remade into a funk song. Then there’s ‘Easy Evil,’ which is also on side one. Another highlight is ‘Righteousness,’ on side two. I DJ every Wednesday at the Liquid Lounge and when I played a couple of cuts off this last night, people were coming up to me and asking ‘Who is that? I’ve never heard that before.’ We have a copy in store!”

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