In the late ‘50s and on through the 1960s, Phoenix, Arizona, was home to a thriving R&B scene. Though no other song catapulted onto the national charts like Dyke and the Blazer’s signature “Funky Broadway,” inspired by the South Phoenix road of the same name, regional soul and funk acts picked up steam in the Valley of the Sun as established artists passed through on the way to the West Coast and performers traveled along the bustling Southern California to Texas black corridor.

Culled from the tape vault of Audio Recorders of Arizona by music archivist and legendary Arizona disc jockey John “Johnny D” Dixon and ZIA’s Jason Woodbury, You Gotta Have Soul: Raw Sonoran R&B and Funk (1957-1971), compiles 11 essential desert R&B rarities, from Chuck Womack and the Sweet Souls’ breakbeat heavy “Ham Hocks & Beans” to the raw snap of Jimmie “Playboy” McKnight’s “Little Anne” to the brown-eyed Latin soul of Eddie Dimas & the Upsets.

  1. Chuck Womack and the Sweet Souls, “Ham Hocks and Beans, Pt. 1” (1970)
  2. Lon Rogers and the Soul Blenders, “Too Good to Be True” (1968)
  3. The Tads, “Wolf Call” (1957)
  4. Jimmie “Playboy” Knight with Henry “Mojo” Thompson, “Little Ann” (1962)
  5. Eddie Dimas and the Upsets, “Cry, Cry, Cry” (1966)
  6. Butch McGee, “Stacked” (1958)
  7. The Four Dimensions, “You Gotta Have Soul” (1966)
  8. Brother Zee and the Decades with the Mike Metko Combo, “Smokey the Bear” (1963)
  9. The Soulsations, “Funky Night Club (1967)
  10. Little Worley and the Drops, “Who Stole My Girl” (1961)
  11. Chuck Womack and the Sweet Souls, “Ham Hocks and Beans, Pt. 2” (1970)

Available on eBay and at ZIA Records.  This is a Limited Edition Record Store Day US 2020 Exclusive Vinyl Only Release, pressed on High Grade Colored Vinyl.