Billy Price and Otis Clay – This Time For Real
Grant Britt
Posted On June 17, 2015
Billy Price is an unlikely soulman. He looks like the Carnegie Mellon professor and research institute/think tank communications manager he is until he opens his mouth. What comes pouring out is sweet mellow soul with just enough of a burr to make it dangerous, a blend of O.V. Wright and Tyrone Davis.
Price has been plying his trade around his hometown of Pittsburgh since the early ’70s when he teamed up with Roy Buchanan. He formed the Keystone Rhythm Band in ’79, introducing the southern soul sounds of Wright and Otis Clay to audiences whose radar wasn’t strong enough to pick up their signals.
Price not only channeled Clay, he has invited him along on gigs to co-star with Price and his band since the early ’80s. Price’s latest, This Time For Real, is the duo’s first time recording together, and it’s well worth the wait.
Although the opening cut, “Somebody’s Changing My Sweet Baby’s Mind” sounds like a rougher version of Tyrone Davis, it was originally done in ’69 by Chicago soul man Johnny Sayles as an answer to Davis’ big ’69 hit “Can I Change My Mind.” It’s a perfect vehicle for Price, whose vocal blend of Davis and Wright make this blend spread like chunky peanut butter: a bit gritty, undercut with a smooth sweetness and packed in a jumbo jar of soul.
Backed by Duke Robillard’s Roomful of Blues band, Clay and Price put on a dazzling duet duel, dripping hot buttered soul on “Going To The Shack.”
Bobby Womack’s “Broadway Walk” crackles with a leathery funked-out soul strut.
Los Lobos’ “Tears of God” is faithfully reproduced in all its churchy soul glory, Clay’s gritty world-weary vocal adding another dimension to the soulful hymn.
The duo’s treatment of the Issac Hayes/David Porter-penned Sam and Dave classic “You Got Me Humming” is mesmerizing, their note for note cover no mean feat considering the range that has to be covered to do this one full justice. Clay and Price are dead on it, soaring soulfully as Robillard’s boys whomp the tar outta it behind them just like Booker T and the M.G.s did on the original.
Price says Clay has been his mentor and inspiration. This presentation is more than hero worship, it’s a meeting of the minds and a melding of voices to produce a sound steeped in tradition, reeking of soulful sweat and a joy to listen to. The only thing that would make it better would be to take this show on out on the road- this stuff is too good to be absorbed by only one of the senses.
Grant Britt
