- Richard Bennett - guitar

- Emory Gordy Jr. - bass

- Dewey Lyndon "Spooner" Oldham - vocals, keyboards
- Dennis St. John - drums, percussion  

- Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham

- Spooner and the Spoons

Genre: rock

Rating: **** (4 stars)

Title:  Pot Luck

Company: Family

Catalog: FPS-2703

Year: 1972

Grade (cover/record): VG/VG

Comments: small cut out hole top left corner

Available: 1

GEMM catalog ID: 4190

Price: $100.00

Cost: $1.00

It probably isn't a major surprise that today Spooner Oldham's best know for his work as a writer - much of it with Dan Penn.  Lesser known is his work as a studio musician and the fact that he's recorded a handful of intriguing solos studio effortsl.

Oldham started his professional musical career in the mid 1960s while attending the University of North Alabama.  Already a gifted keyboard player, he started playing sessions at Rick Hall's Muscle Shoals Fame Studios. Within a matter of months Oldham had dropped out of college and become Fame's in-house keyboard player.  In 1967 Oldham went to work for Chips Moman's Memphis-based American Studios where he started his long-standing collaboration with Dan Penn, enjoying a truly amazing string of hits with the cream of mid-1960s pop and soul artists (The Box Tops, Clarence Carter, Aretha Franklin, James and Bobby Purify, Percy Sledge, etc. etc.). 

The late 1960s saw Oldham head for Southern California where he focused on sessions work.  

Signed to a contract by Gulf + Western's short-lived Family Records subsidiary, 1973 saw Oldham release his first solo album.  Produced by Ed Cobb, "Pot Luck" sported one of the year's ugliest covers, but the songs made up for that lapse in marketing taste.  First a quick warning.  Anyone familiar with Oldham's catalog will understand why he's known for his writing and keyboards - his gruff voice makes Kris Kristofferson sound truly polished (in contrast, Dan Penn has a far more commercial voice).  Still, if you can get over Oldham's raw voice, tales of  life's woes and darker sides such as "The Lord Loves a Rolling Stone", "Life's Little Package of Puzzles" and "Easy Listening") have a rugged and odd charm.  The flip side serves as an odd, largely instrumental mixture of favorites he played on ("When a Man Loves a Woman" and "I Never Loved a Man") and personal "best of" package with Oldham covering some of his better known compositions ("Kentucky Grass" and "Cry Like a Baby").  It ain't commercial, but it's quite easy to see why the album's highly sought after by collectors.  (This also gets one of our cool cover awards.)

"Pot Luck" track listing:

(side 1)
1.) The Lord Loves a Rolling Stone   (Spooner Oldham - Dan Penn) - 

2.) 1980   (Spooner Oldham - Dan Penn) - 

3.) Life's Little Package of Puzzles   (Spooner Oldham) -

4.) Julie Brown's Forest   (Spooner Oldham) -

5.) Easy Listening   (Spooner Oldham - Freddy Weller) -   

(side 2)
1.) Profile Medley:

i.) When a Man Loves a Woman (instrumental)   (B. Eldridge - G. Stewart) - 

ii.) I Never Loved a Man (instrumental)   (R. Shannon) - 

iii.) Kentucky Grass (instrumental)   (Spooner Oldham - Emory Gordy Jr.) - 

iv.) Cry Like a Baby (instrumental)   (Spooner Oldham - Dan Penn) - 

v.) Respect (instrumental)   (Otis Redding)

vi.) The New World (instrumental)   (arranged by Spooner Oldham - Emory Gordy Jr.) -  

vii.) My Friend (instrumental)  (Spooner Oldham - Donnie Fritts) - 

2.) Will the Circle Be Unbroken   (traditional - arranged by Spooner Oldham) - 

Oldham's recording catalog also includes a pair of non-LP singles:

- 1965's Hey, Do You Wanna Marry" b/w "Wish You Didn't Have To Go" (Fame catalog number 6405)

- 1968's "My Goodness" b/w "It's Love" (Atlantic catalog number 45-2564)

There's also an excellent 1998 in-concert set with Dan Penn.