James Carr (June 13, 1942 – January 7, 2001) – That's The Way Love Turned Out For Me (1968)

This beautiful, sad song was co-written for the Southern soul singer by Goldwax co-owner Quinton Claunch and songwriter Dave Hall.

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James Carr was an unsung Southern soul singer who began recording in the 1960s. His career was revived in the eighties and nineties, allowing him to release two final albums.

See our earlier post on Carr for more on his musical career.

Carr’s first few singles on the independent Memphis label Goldwax did not chart, but he broke through in 1966 with “You've Got My Mind Messed Up,” a #7 R&B hit.

The B-side to Carr’s 1968 liberation anthem “Freedom Train” was the beautiful, sad song “That's The Way Love Turned Out For Me.” It was co-written by Goldwax co-owner Quinton Claunch and Dave Hall, a songwriter originally from Tupelo, Mississippi, and produced by Claunch and Russell.

After award-winning music historian Peter Guralnick wrote about Carr in his 1986 book Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom, interest in his music revived. He recorded two new albums over the next decade, Take Me To The Limit (1991) and Soul Survivor (1994).

Happy Heavenly Birthday to the great James Carr.

Further info:

“James Carr: Way Out On A Voyage,” by Robert Gordon, L.A. Weekly, 1992.

“James Carr, 58, Soul Singer Whose Life Reflected the Blues,” obituary, New York Times, January 10, 2001.

“How the music industry poured water on a drowning man,” by Kiera Allen, The Daily Journal (Illinois), February 1, 2018.

“James Carr: Dark End of the Street (1967),” by Graham Reid, Elsewhere, June 15, 2018.

#soul #Memphis #QuintonClaunch #JamesCarr