Eddie Hinton's compositions take the spotlight on Cover Me collection

Along with being an outstanding session guitarist, Eddie Hinton was also a fine songwriter as Cover Me demonstrates.

Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook

Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler said he was going to be “the next big thing” more than 40 years ago. Sadly, life dealt Eddie Hinton several poor hands in his 51 years on Earth, from an early 70s drug bust that led to a premature departure from his home in Muscle Shoals to the release of a fantastic debut album Very Extremely Dangerous in 1977 that got buried when his record label, Capricorn, went bankrupt weeks afterwards, to a fatal heart attack in the 90s, just when he was finally beginning to achieve a long-deserved level of international recognition. No wonder he once wrote and recorded a song called ‘Hard Luck Guy’. If anyone ever earned such a soubriquet, it was Eddie Hinton.

This month Ace pays tribute to Eddie’s compositional skills by making him the latest exceptional talent in the label's acclaimed Songbook series. The songs on Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook span the first 10 years of his career. Between 1967 and 1977 he was writing with Muscle Shoals notables such as Marlin Greene, Donnie Fritts and Dan Penn, as well as playing guitar on almost every session held at Quinvy and Muscle Shoals Sound studios between 1967 and 1972. Eddie and his collaborators wrote great songs together, and many of the best can be heard here. In many cases he also cut the original versions of his songs, and if you are at all familiar with any of the three volumes of his demos that Zane Records released in the early 2000s you will be able to hear how closely many of the artists here followed the template of his incredibly soulful voice.

Eddie’s most famous song is probably ‘Breakfast In Bed’ but it is by no means the only great one in his catalogue. Apart from Dusty Springfield, his compositions have been recorded by Cher, Lulu, Alex Chilton, the Drive By Truckers, Percy Sledge and Aretha Franklin, to name just a few discerning souls who recognised their abundant qualities. If that isn’t an indication of how great a songwriter he was, then nothing is.

Many of the recordings included on the 24-track Cover Me collection are making their first appearance on CD. Some have never been reissued in any format. All offer a permanent testament to the talent of a man who was loved by his peers and is now recognised as a pivotal figure in the evolution of Muscle Shoals music.  – TONY ROUNCE

Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook
01  Breakfast In Bed - Dusty Springfield
02  Down In Texas - Oscar Toney Jr.
03  Cover Me - Jackie Moore
04  A Little Bit Salty - Bobby Womack
05  Sure As Sin - Candi Staton
06  300 Pounds Of Hongry - Tony Joe White
07  Masquerade - Don Varner
08  Always David - The Sweet Inspirations
09  Poor Mary Has Drowned - Brick Wall
10  It's All Wrong But It's Alright - Eddie Hinton
11  Help Me Make It (Power Of A Woman's Love) - Mink Deville
12  Save The Children - Cher
13  Every Natural Thing - Aretha Franklin
14  If I Had Let You In - The Box Tops
15  Satisfaction Guaranteed - Judy White
16  Standing On The Mountain - Percy Sledge
17  I Got The Feeling - The Amazing Rhythm Aces
18  Home For The Summer - The Hour Glass featuring Gregg & Duane Allman
19  Lay It On Me - Gwen McCrae
20  People In Love - Lou Johnson
21  Where You Come From - Bonnie Bramlett
22  Seventeen Year Old Girl - Mickey Buckins & The New Breed
23  Love Waits For No Man - Al Johnson
24  Where's Eddie - Lulu