Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham - Live: Moments From This Theatre (1998)

Let's begin this post with a little history lesson about Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, a duo who are hardly household names even though they've been a consequential part of the American popular music scene since the 1960s. They'll never be deified by the masses like Taylor Swift.

Wallace Daniel Pennington is a singer, a renowned composer, and a record producer. He has released only a handful of albums under his own name, and he is heavily associated with FAME Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Penn has co-written many hits including "Dark End of the Street" for James Carr (#10 R&B, #77 Hot 100) and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" (first recorded by Aretha Franklin) with Chips Moman and "Cry Like a Baby" (#2 on the Hot 100 for The Box Tops), "Sweet Inspiration" (#18 for The Sweet Inspirations), and "I'm Your Puppet" (#6 for James and Bobby Purify) with Oldham. He also produced the Box Tops #1 mega-hit, "The Letter."

Dewey Lindon Oldham, Jr. earned his nickname, Spooner, from schoolmates when he was blinded in his right eye by a spoon he knocked off of a shelf while reaching for a frying pan.

Oldham spent most of his career as a sideman and session musician at Muscle Shoals where he met Penn and formed a songwriting partnership. He played keyboards for Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Dickie Betts, Aretha Franklin, The Everly Brothers, Bob Seeger, J. J. Cale, Linda Ronstadt, Joe Cocker, Neil Young, Arthur Alexander, Delaney Bramlett, Shelby Lynne and a host of others. He has only one solo album to his credit.

It's quite understandable if you consider Penn and Oldham to be disciples of the Church of Rhythm and Blues, but that label is rather limiting because they sprinkled their live shows with a dash of country and blues on their unbelievably outstanding live album, Moments From This Theatre, where these veterans also proved they're excellent pop balladeers.

Moments is fourteen tracks of just Penn and Oldham playing live at various locations throughout the UK and Ireland and performing many of the tunes mentioned above. Penn sings most of the leads and plays guitar while Oldham adds his backing vocals and Wurlitzer piano.

Because it is just the two of them their concerts are definitely on the mellow side and are highlighted by Penn's smooth but soulful vocals that possess a definite Southern edge. Since the more famous, original versions were recorded with full bands these updated, laidback duets are quite different, and in many cases, superior to the original hit singles from the 60s.

I love this CD. It's a stellar release pushing two behind-the-scenes legends to the forefront, and it makes me wish Penn and Oldham shined a brighter light on themselves over the years instead of writing songs that turned other performers into stars.