Nickel and a Dime
Sugar Pie DeSanto was a fireball of energy, discovered by Johnny Otis and later signed to Chess/Checker. Standing just under five feet tall, she had a massive, gritty voice perfectly suited for rhythm and blues. This track swings hard, featuring the Chess studio band. The blues thread is her vocal delivery: she rasps, pushes the beat, and commands the room with the swagger of Big Mama Thornton. It's an upbeat, brass-heavy track that bridged the gap between 1950s R&B and the emerging 1960s soul sound.
The floating-verse lineage for this recording (who else recorded it, where the melody or lyric traveled, and how it was adapted) is still being mapped. This section will trace the song's DNA across the archive.
Contributions welcome at OlMrRead@ccblues.com.