Arthur Alexander

Despite coverage of his compositions by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Elvis Presley, country-soul trailblazer Arthur Alexander stays mostly unrecognized by mainstream listeners. Still, his catalog stands as inspired work, marked by emotional depth and personal resonance that matches the strongest output from peers of his era. Born May 10, 1940, in Florence, Alabama, he grew up as the child of a bottleneck blues guitarist who played weekend gigs in local juke joints. Steeped equally in white country traditions and Black R&B, Alexander joined the gospel ensemble the Heartstrings while still in sixth grade. Following graduation he took a job as a hotel bellhop, where he met aspiring lyricist Tom Stafford, a white teenager devoted to R&B; Alexander supplied melodies for Stafford’s words and gained entry through him to an emerging circle of musicians that included future notables Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Billy Sherrill, and Rick Hall. In 1958 Alexander teamed with Henry Lee Bennett on “She Wanna Rock,” which Stafford placed with Decca Records; country vocalist Arnie Derksen cut the track the next year, and in 1960 Alexander issued his own debut on Judd Records, the raw blues cut “Sally Sue Brown,” co-written and produced with Stafford under the credit June Alexander.

That summer Alexander and Hall moved across the Tennessee River to construct a studio inside an unused tobacco warehouse in Muscle Shoals, creating one of popular music’s most storied rooms. The first session to emerge was Alexander’s 1962 landmark “You Better Move On.” Drawing on his dual country and R&B background, the track’s grounded, rural character foreshadowed the deep soul later associated with Memphis imprints such as Stax and Hi; after Dot Records released it, the single climbed to number 24 on the national pop charts. Subsequently recorded by the Rolling Stones, the song supplied Hall with funds to launch a new Muscle Shoals facility, yet the Dot arrangement ended his partnership with Alexander, whose subsequent peaks arguably never matched that height. Dot producer Noel Ball next paired the singer with the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil song “Where Have You Been All My Life,” which reached only the lower half of the Top 60. The label further consigned the Alexander original “Soldier of Love” to the B-side. His third Dot release, however, the self-written “Anna (Go to Him),” became a Top Ten R&B hit and was later interpreted by devoted fans the Beatles, who also taped “Soldier of Love.”

Although Steve Alaimo scored a sizable 1963 success with the Alexander composition “Every Day I Have to Cry,” Alexander himself found no comparable follow-up: “Go Home Girl” failed to enter the Hot 100, and after further obscure singles including “You’re the Reason,” “Ole John Amos,” and “Detroit City,” Dot ended the contract in early 1965. He soon appeared on Sound Stage 7 with “(Baby) For You,” yet following “Show Me the Road” a year later he issued nothing until 1968’s “I Need You Baby.” Reports differ on the reasons for his recording and touring hiatus—he later cited a prolonged, severe illness, while rumors circulated that he had become something of an acid casualty well before psychedelia reached full bloom. Sound Stage 7 continued one single per year through the decade—“Love’s Where Life Begins” in 1968, “Another Place, Another Time” in 1969, and “Cry Like a Baby” in 1970—yet otherwise Alexander remained nearly invisible in music during the second half of the 1960s, though accounts suggest he attempted at least one date for ABC/Dunhill.

In 1971 he reemerged as a staff songwriter at Nashville’s Combine Music alongside figures such as Kris Kristofferson, Billy Swan, Tony Joe White, and Donnie Fritts. Combine arranged a Warner Bros. deal, sending him to Chips Moman’s renowned American Studio in Memphis for his first album in ten years; the self-titled release featured versions of Dennis Linde’s “Burning Love” (later a major hit for Elvis Presley) and the Penn/Fritts piece “Rainbow Road,” among the most tender and affecting performances Alexander ever captured. Neither the LP nor its singles registered commercially, however, and he soon left the label, abandoning Nashville three years afterward to return to Florence. There he joined Buddah, returning to Muscle Shoals to record his own take on “Every Day I Have to Cry,” a modest hit that marked his last notable chart entry. “Sharing the Night with You” followed the next year, and after a final Music Mill single, the fittingly named “So Long Baby,” Alexander abandoned the music industry entirely, working instead as a social-services bus driver. Elektra/Nonesuch persuaded him back for the 1993 comeback set Lonely Just Like Me, yet during the supporting tour he fell ill and died in Nashville on June 13, 1993.