Aintquittin music

***1/2

Margie Singleton has enjoyed a music career stretching back to the mid-1950s and at 85 years old shows no sign of taking to her rockin’ chair any time soon. A child bride at 13 and a mother a year later, against all the odds the Louisiana-born performer carved out a career as a singer, songwriter and long-time Grand Ole Opry member. Throughout the 1960s she charted a dozen songs on the country charts, including successful duets with George Jones, Faron Young and Leon Ashley. She has also penned songs for such diverse singers as Marty Robbins, Tom Jones, Tammy Wynette, Claude King, Charley Pride, Lynn Anderson, Trini Lopez, Jerry Lee Lewis, David Houston, The Newbeats, Dave Dudley and Brian Hyland plus the pop hits She Understands Me (Johnny Tillotson), Lie To Me and I Got What I Wanted (Brook Benton). As a session vocalist she got to sing on dozens of pop and country hits by Patti Page, Ray Stevens, Leroy Van Dyke, Roy Drusky, Clyde McPhatter and many others. Due to her role as a young mother and busy housewife, Margie was unable to tour to help promote her own recordings which probably prevented her from becoming a major star. Despite this, music has remained the focal point of her life and this new 5-track EP is just another chapter in her incredible life story.

Recorded in Margie’s home studio that her 70-year-old son Steve built for her a couple of years ago, this is very much a family affair with Margie and Steve having co-written three songs and Steve penning one by himself. He is also co-producer along with Derrick Dexter Mathis, whose cousins, the White Brothers, provide instrumental support. ‘Never Mind’ is a term that Margie has long been fond of using and fits perfectly in the autobiographical opening title song that outlines her music career both the ups and downs, the disappointments and the contentment of still doing what she loves best. The funky Who’s Gonna Love You (Too Late For Sorry) is the most sonically engaging track. A slightly concealed bitterness takes the already excellent song to a much higher level. Missing You contains all the melancholy of a break-up song and all the power of an identity manifesto. Margie’s dulcet tones sway you into reverie enhanced by a waltzing pace and Steve Hinson’s softly played steel guitar melody creating a hazy soundscape that dances you to sleep. In the rueful Wonder What She’s Doing Margie is out on the town getting over a break-up and wondering about the new woman in her ex’s life bringing a world-weary passion to her singing.

She closes this all-too-short disc with Lie To Me, the iconic song that she co-wrote some 60 years ago but surprisingly hadn’t recorded herself until this version. It’s a masterful performance; her voice a soul-baring, sultry instrument that commands centre stage and puts vocalists half her age in the shade as she does throughout this stellar collection.  

www.margiesingletonmusic.com

January 2021