Dan Penn - Do Right Man (1994)

Dan Penn is an American singer and songwriter.

Dan Penn had worked behind the scenes in the Muscle Shoals and Memphis music industries all through the 60s, but his own self-produced solo album didn't come out until 1973. A follow-up album produced by Jim Dickinson never saw release, and for the rest of the 70s and 80s Dan Penn apparently lived the quiet life after having relocated to Nashville, no doubt enjoying a steady income from the myriad of songs he had written in the 60s which were still being record by all sorts of artists as the years went by.

It wasn't until 1994 that he released another album of his own work. Do Right Man was recorded back at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with a number of old musician friends from his days in Muscle Shoals and Memphis - as well as his old writing partner Spooner Oldham, it featured Bobby Emmons, David Briggs, Reggie Young, Jimmy Johnson, David Hood and Roger Hawkins. It turned out to be a fantastic album, with an earthy and authentic country-soul sound, with Penn's more mature voice still in fine form. It included many of his own versions of songs he had originally written for other artists years before, including "Dark End Of The Street" (originally a hit for James Carr in '67), "It Tears Me Up" (Percy Sledge in '66), "I'm Your Puppet" (James & Bobby Purify in '66), "Do Right Woman" (Aretha Franklin in '67), "Zero Willpower" (Irma Thomas in '79) and "You Left The Water Running" (all sorts of different artists through the 60s and beyond).

Nobody's Fool (1973) <|> Moments From This Theatre (1999)
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