What A Shame (Mod) Brand New

If ever an artist was undeserving of obscurity, it was Willie Lee Egan, a Louisiana rocker in the style of Fats Domino and Smiley Lewis. Until recently, nobody seemed to know if he was still living, which is not surprising, since even during Willie’s heydays in 1955-56 his excellent records were poorly distributed and he never cracked the national R&B charts. Adding to the confusion, his name was spelled correctly on only three or four records, and was also billed as Lloyd & Willie (Lloyd Rowe was his guitar player), and Little Willie Egan. In late 1955 Willie recorded the two fine tracks presented here for the Los Angeles based Mambo label. In addition to Willie’s vocals and piano, the group backing him consisted of Red Calendar on bass; Pete Lewis and Lloyd Rowe on guitar; K.C. Bell and Kenny Primus on drums; Don Johnson on trumpet; Jackie Kelso, alto sax, Eldee Williams, tenor sax, and Bill Gaither on sax. James Curry, guitar and bass, and Lorenzo Holden, sax, probably performed with him also. Featured here is “What a Shame” coupled with “Wow Wow,” Newly remastered.