For such a consummately stylish blues balladeer the incredible irony is that Percy Mayfield never intended to make it as a performer, but rather as a songwriter. The man who wrote Hit The Road Jack for Ray Charles was famously discovered when Jimmy Witherspoon failed to show up at a meeting Mayfield had set up with the idea of pitching him some songs. Mayfield landed himself a recording contract after impressing an A&R man with demos of his own songs. Signing to Specialty in 1950, he struck gold with his debut release Please Send Me Someone To Love. A further six Billboard R&B Top 10 hits followed during his first two years with the label.
Just when it seemed that Mayfield could do no wrong, tragedy struck when he was involved in a near-fatal car accident which all but ended his career as a performer. Thankfully he survived as a songwriter and this definitive despair-ridden 29- track collection brings together all Mayfield’s greatest performances from his five years on Specialty. With the mood unrelentingly starcrossed throughout, Mayfield is at his most potent when relating moments of great heartbreak, pain and loss. Believe it, there are enough of those here to last more than several lifetimes.
