Eddie Hinton

Welcome To The Eddie Hinton Tribute PageDuring his lifetime Eddie Hinton was famous mostly among fellow musicians and industry insiders. He first earned a reputation as a session guitarist, adding memorable licks to chart records by everyone from Cher to the Staple Singers, Waylon Jennings to Toots & the Maytals. A gifted tunesmith as well, he wrote or co-wrote classic songs recorded by the likes of Percy Sledge ("Cover Me"), Dusty Springfield ("Breakfast in Bed"), the Box Tops ("Choo Choo Train"), and Bobby Womack ("Just a Little Bit Salty"). Until recently his own discography has been brief: though he wrote and recorded prolifically throughout his life, little of that material was released. Very Extremely Dangerous, his best solo album (and a staple on the tour buses of the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd in the late 70s), had been out of print for more than a decade. Dangerous appeared on Mojo magazine's list of the most essential soul records of all time. In 2000 English superfan and entrepreneur Peter Thompson—who ten years earlier had started his own label, Zane Records, in order to give a belated UK release to Hinton's 1986 album Letters From Mississippi—put out Dear Y'all, a collection of demos Hinton recorded for songwriting clients. Two similar volumes, the excellent Playin' Around (2004) and Beautiful Dream (2005), soon followed. Former Atlantic Records head Jerry Wexler, the man who coined the term "rhythm and blues," was one of Hinton's great champions over the years, and in his 1993 autobiography he recalled an early-70s session Bob Dylan and Eddie had played together: "A scene that always sticks in my mind is Dylan on the back porch of Muscle Shoals studio, trading licks on acoustic guitar with Eddie Hinton," he wrote. "They buddied up and for a while were inseparable. How strange and wonderful to remember Bob Dylan and Eddie Hinton as soul brothers—two poets, one world renowned, the other known only to a few friends, neighbours and fans, both riveting artists, both brilliant". It's too late for Hinton to get the recognition he deserved, but there's still plenty of time for people to discover his music. - Bob Mehrsee blog for full bio.