Eddie Hinton – Hard Luck Guy

Eddie Hinton was a lesser-known player in the Southern soul scene of the late ’60s who made the most of his impact in the Muscle Shoals area. He wrote, played on, and produced some of the best songs from that period. After soul’s tenuous musical union between black and white broke down and Eddie could no longer share his music with the world through other performers, he started recording as a solo artist, sporadically making four solo albums for three different labels from 1977 to 1993.

Hard Luck Guy, a stunning collection of his last recordings and selected demos, is pure country soul. Hinton sings with the growl of Otis Redding and plays guitar like a Southern-fried fusion of Neil Young and Steve Cropper. His performances crackle like bacon on a hot skillet one moment and simmer like a pot of collard greens the next.

But Hinton was also a tortured soul. Years of hard living and lonely nights led his strong heart to finally give out a couple of years ago. However, his vulnerability in songs such as the title track left behind some of the most emotionally naked music ever put on tape. Even when some of his final vocal cuts betray cracks in his once insurmountable voice, these imperfections reveal Hinton’s heartache, in much the same way as the last recordings of Gram Parsons.

In the wake of his death, Hard Luck Guy is a testament to Hinton’s unique artistry. After listening to “I Got My Thang Together”, on which Hinton played the rhythm track singlehandedly, one can hear how the elements of Southern soul influenced the music of groups such as CCR and The Band. If you live for that funky swamp sound, Hard Luck Guy could be the discovery of the year.