Roscoe Shelton

Roscoe Shelton emerged as a key influential figure whose singing helped bridge blues and rock into the pop mainstream, clearing a path for later soul performers. His later-career producer Fred James observed that Shelton ranked among the handful of 1950s blues and R&B vocalists who successfully crossed into soul.

Born August 22, 1931, in Lynchburg, TN, Shelton entered the historic Fairfield Four gospel quartet eighteen years later. Childhood acquaintance Bobby Hebb also performed guitar with the Fairfield Four, yet not during Shelton’s own tenure. After fronting the group, Shelton completed four years of military service. Upon discharge he moved to a Fairfield Four offshoot that took the name the Skylarks. Between 1956 and 1957 the Skylarks cut sides for the gospel label Nashboro Records, owned by Excello proprietor Ernie Young. After leaving the Skylarks, Shelton appeared in live settings alongside his early friends DeFord Bailey, Jr. and Bobby Hebb. Hebb recalled that Shelton had first sung spirituals before turning to blues.

The singer and guitarist encountered no difficulty meeting; they regularly crossed paths in the neighborhood. The same held true for DeFord Bailey, Jr., son of the famed harmonica player, whose home stood only two or three doors from the Hebb residence during Bobby and DeFord’s boyhood. Bobby Hebb served as sideman to DeFord Bailey, Jr.—widely regarded as Tennessee’s first electric bassist—and the pair worked with assorted vocalists, among them Roscoe Shelton. When Hebb’s schedule conflicted, Roland Grisham handled guitar duties. The ensemble toured nearby towns such as Clarksville, Fedville, and Tullahoma, TN, the latter being Hebb’s father’s hometown.

Writer Bill Dahl noted in the liner notes to Roscoe Shelton Sings that Shelton recorded for Excello Records from October 1958 through February 1961, the tracks forming his debut album, 1961’s Roscoe Shelton Sings. Bobby Hebb supplied guitar on several of those original Excello recordings, including the minor hit “Something’s Wrong,” credited to Shelton/Hall. Shelton later interpreted only one composition by his friend and neighbor, the prolific Bobby Hebb: the circa 1959–1960 piece “My Best Friend,” whose lyrics received slight changes from Hebb’s original. Additional 45s appeared on assorted labels after the debut album; in 1962 Shelton taped material for Ted Jarrett’s Valdot imprint, which was subsequently licensed to Battle Records. The 1964–1965 output came out on the Simms label and yielded the hit “Strain on My Heart.” Simms was later absorbed by Sound Stage Seven, the imprint run by former DJ John Richbourg, known professionally as John R of Rich Records. Sound Stage Seven issued Shelton’s recordings from 1965 to 1967, scoring success with “Easy Going Fellow.” The Sound Stage Seven sessions featured songwriting and production by Allen Orange, who delivered the aforementioned “Strain on My Heart,” which reached the Top 25 on Billboard’s R&B charts, followed by the further hit “Easy Going Fellow.” “Sea Cruise” composer Huey “Piano” Smith contributed several numbers as well; these tracks, along with more than half a dozen singles, were eventually compiled on the 1966 album Soul in His Music, Music in His Soul. Five years therefore elapsed between the singer’s long-playing releases—a lengthy interval for an artist so deeply engaged with the era’s musical shifts. Ten years older than Otis Redding and born six months earlier than Wilson Pickett, Shelton produced pioneering work that left clear marks on both legends’ styles. Redding and Shelton later shared an Apollo Theater bill. The growls associated with Wilson Pickett and the inflections identified with Otis Redding can be traced, in part, to vocal techniques Shelton had already introduced.

Although Shelton continued to record for Ted Jarrett’s Ref-O-Ree label from 1958 through 1969, issued one 45 on Jarrett’s T-Jaye imprint in the 1970s, and another in the 1980s, he exited the music industry for a civilian post in 1970, serving as dorm administrator at Nashville’s Meharry Medical College. A substantial interval therefore separated the 1966 Sound Stage Seven material from the 1994 Excello Legends collection that united Shelton with Earl Gaines and Clifford Curry. Originally intended for a reactivated Excello, the project was sold to AVI; the resulting disc was licensed to Magnum and reissued in 1998 on Ripete.

Fred James produced many of Shelton’s 1990s and early-millennium sessions and accompanied the singer on multiple U.S. and European tours. Those releases encompass the 1996 albums Let It Shine and She’s the One as well as the 1998 Earl Gaines and Roscoe Shelton collaboration Let’s Work Together. A 1996 duet with Mary-Ann Brandon, wife of producer Fred James, surfaced in 2003 on Road Records’ Matches from Motel Rendezvous anthology. Additional CDs continued to appear until Shelton’s death in July 2002. The 2004 Grammy-winning Night Train to Nashville anthology featured “Say You Really Care” from Roscoe Shelton Sings, introducing the singer’s catalog to fresh listeners and renewed acclaim.