One Album Wonders: Meet Funky White Boy John Henry Kurtz, Y'All!

I hadn't really been looking much into John Henry Kurtz - and as you can see from the series title, there isn't that much to look at, anyway - but listening to his fantastic cover of "Drift Away" when I prepped All Pearls, No Swine 37, got me thinking 'hey, you should check out what else the man has done'. Turns out he did exactly one album, Reunion on ABC Records inn 1972. If you look  at the album cover, you'd probably say 'oh, big deal, OBG unearthed another country rock album from the early Seventies', but that isn't quite what this is. The old-timey cover with Kurtz in army uniform is essentially a fulfillment of a dream, as he was an ardent collector of Civil War memorabilia since his teenage years, and in his latter years had one of the largest collection of such artefacts in the U.S. But the music isn't just the sort of Americana or country rock that the cover implies. 

There is a clear soul, gospel and r'n'b influence to Kurtz's album; with a brass section arranged by Michael Omartian and r'n' backup choir everywhere. This album - and that you definitely wouldn't tell from the cover - is funky as hell. Play that funky music, white boy! Just listen to the gospelish "Everything Has Got To Be Free" or the brass-driven "Get On The Right Road"; This means that this album kicks more ass then some of the Americana treasures I regularly feature on this blog and in this series specifically. John Henry Kurtz reminds me of another funky white country boy, Mr. Travis Wammack who absolutely should and will feature on this blog in the future. 

Country-soul has existed long before a certain Cecil Ingram Parsons pretentiously dubbed it 'Cosmic American Music'. The real cosmic American music was made elsewhere, by other people, and I love them and their records, but Kurtz's album is somewhat akin to Parsons' idea: A hint of country, but here almost surpassed by the brass-driven soul and gosel elements. It's also a find of curios. Sure, everyone covered Kenny Loggins' "Danny's Song" back then, but the same ca't be said for Shiloh's "Simple Little Downhome Rock'n'Roll Love Song For Rosie". It's not only a mouthful of a title (a little shortened here), it's also one of the first song written and sung by - Mr. Donald Henley. 

After Reunion and two more singles for ABC Records (the one I could find is attached as a bonus track), John Henry Kurtz, uh, drifted away from the music business, though not from showbiz. He became an announcer and voice over artist for television, lending his voice to, among others, NBC Nightly News and Court TV, did some shows on Broadway and some television appearances as an actor. 

Look, this is just a wonderful little album from the Seventies. Almost forgotten today, it doesn't do anything particularly genius and I don't want to or have to sell it like that. Ten quality tracks, finely produced, arranged and played, and well-sung by Mr. Kurtz. Funky, rural music without any pretensions. Sometimes you don't need more than this.