Matching Earnest Jackson’s “Funky Black Man” to an almost exact degree by tempo and arrangement, Fried Chicken’s “Funky D.J.” takes a veritable spin on the original with an homage, as you might have guessed, to a very funky disc jockey. Notable differences in Fried Chicken’s version are the lack of a bridged horn section, a slightly different guitar-driven outro, and alteration in lyrics/theme, but otherwise a near match of Mr. Jackson’s original. So close, in fact, that I was confused of the differences between the two for quite sometime before I cleared the mystery. Don’t take my word for it though, you can see for yourself here.
Fried Chicken, otherwise known as Bubbha Thomas and The Lightmen (Plus One) of Houston, TX, cut this single for the Baton Rouge-based Stone Records in 1976 at the legendary Deep South studios. Thomas, known largely for his work with The Lightmen on Houston-based Judnell label as well as his own Lightnin’ label, remains musically active in Houston with regular concerts as well as his Jazz Summer Workshops and various communal activities to this day. As a famed jazz rhythm drummer, Thomas trained under the guidance of Houston’s legendary jazz music educator Conrad O. Johnson (of Kashmere Stage Band fame) at Booker T. Washington Senior High School in Houston’s 4th Ward district. Producer Ronnie Shaab is credited for production and writing credits on both Funky DJ and Funky Black Man, and oversaw various works to come from Deep South’s archive of funkistry, including two of The Brothers and Sisters singles “Yeah, You Right” and “The Jed Clapmett Pts 1 & 2″. Both of which are HEAVY hitters, pick ‘em up if’n you got the means.
Thomas’s music recently gained a large amount of attention amongst funk diggers and connoisseurs via Stones Throw’s revered Funky 16 Corners funk compilation, which featured “The Phantom” off The Lightmen’s signature “Energy Control Center” LP released in 1972 off Thomas’s Lightnin’ label. Funky DJ was also featured on DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist’s venerated funk 45 session, Brainfreeze, while Funky Black Man was featured on their second 45 series, Product Placement, as the “bizarro” intro version of the Brainfreeze original. Though recorded in Louisiana under their nom de plume (likely a reference to Thomas’s ‘Country Fried Chicken’ LP), Fried Chicken’s Funky DJ is a hefty portion of southern-fried groove-laden dirty Tejas funk, and one of my favorites at that.
And before I sign off, just wanted to note that I will be travelin southbound to the Motherland (aka Bogota, Colombia to be precise) for a large chunk of the Christmas holidays. So, I shall be absent from the rest of this month’s posts, but I will try my damndest to post my digging treasures from the streets of Bogota depending on my interneting abilities while I am there. I’ll be home in January with a cache of goodies from the trip and will definitely post up some of the digs, but in the mean time, I bid you a Feliz Navidad/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa et al, and a very Happy New Years. Thanks for checking us out while we got our site off the ground this year, and we have large surprises and changes in store coming up for the new year as we move on to better/faster/stronger v2.0 (including exclusive interviews, mixes, guest posts, music player plug-ins etc etc)!! Thanks again, we’ll be seein you soon, Michael will be holdin down the shakin’ fort with his exquisite selection of Texas fuzz, distortion and all good things in the world of garage and psych. Til’ the next decade kiddos!
LISTEN: Fried Chicken-Funky D.J.
