Southern Soul Brother: The Murco Recordings 1967-69

Liner Note Author: Dean Rudland.
Illustrator: Chris Brown .
Photographers: Gilles Pétard; Chris Brown .
Eddy Giles was born Elbert Wiggins in 1938 near Shreveport, Louisiana and he remained in the Shreveport area all of his life, where he sang in local gospel groups. He wasn't by design a secular singer, but his soul, R&B, and pop sides for Dee Marais' revival of the Murco Records imprint in the 1960s are vintage Southern soul gems, and those sides are collected here. Giles didn't have much Louisiana swamp in his sound, preferring the cleaner, sharper Memphis feel, but he had plenty of funk in his musical soul, and produced some regional hits for Marais, and eventually cut enough sides to make an LP. After a last secular session in 1977 for local label Custom Sound, which resulted in a single 45, Giles left pop and soul music behind and returned to the sacred side of the fence, becoming a pastor in Shreveport, where he also served as a gospel DJ on the local KOKA station. Giles' small but impressive secular recording legacy is presented here. ~ Steve Leggett