Best Soul Serenade Cover
The Cincinnati Sound.

This fact based story of the Best Soul Serenade Cover may draw a challenge from some, however, this remake is yet another example of why I believe some songs do turn out better with a different artist and new arrangement.

It was the early sixties and the term Blue-Eyed Soul was a few years away from the growing number of local white male singers and bands that wowed music fans with their brand of soul and R&B-flavored music known as the Cincinnati Sound.

That's what people used to call the Queen City's Blue-eyed soul and blues-rock sound of 1960 to 1975. 

This is my story about the emotionally charged R&B song, "Soul Serenade," and how it was transformed from one of the most memorable R&B ballads of the 60s, into a blues-rock shuffle by a blue-eyed soul group from the Hamilton-Cincinnati area know as Beau Dollar & The Coins.  Judge for yourself and see if you agree this version deserves the title, "Best Soul Serenade Cover."

It was late 1961 and I was standing near the entrance to a club not far from Ohio's Miami University, anxiously awaiting to get inside and listen to local guitar sensation, Lonnie Mack and his house band, The Twi-Liters.

I was 17 and had to appear calm enough with a doctored ID to get past the Sheriff who was checking ID's at the door. Once inside the cigarette smoke filled Twi-Lite Inn my eyes focused on the bandstand and the burly young man on stage. 

I was somewhat nervous as I did not smoke or drink and had to appear as though I did in order to blend in.  My cousin, who was several years older and helped me get into the club, ordered some drinks, a coke for me, and asked one of his lady friends to sit beside me.  She soon realized I was more interested in listening to the band than talking to her.  

Lonnie Mack was around 19 or 20 years old at the time. He began playing in local clubs when he was 14 and ended up at the Twi-Lite Inn, a dusty roadhouse about 7 miles outside Hamilton, Ohio in the small southwest town of McGonigle.

Lonnie was a fixture in the clubs and roadhouses around Cincinnati in the 1960s and I was fortunate to see Lonnie at the beginning of his career.

Randy McNutt, author of  more than 20 books, including "The Cincinnati Sound" said it best about Lonnie's music. 

"His music was part blues, some good-time rock 'n' roll, and an occasional country lick thrown in for good measure. The best way to describe it is Lonnie Mack music. He could put his stamp of personality on any song."

Soul Serenade was originally performed by the great R&B man, King Curtis.  The song was written by Luther Dixon and Curtis and released in 1964.  

When I searched online for information and facts about the song I noticed several different covers of the song by different artists. I was disappointed that my favorite cover of the song by Beau Dollar and The Coins was omitted under the wikipedia listing Soul Serenade (song).

I decided to contact Wayne Bullock, a former classmate of mine, to get some background on the making of "Soul Serenade."  I was aware that Wayne played on the Soul Serenade recording and played with Lonnie Mack in the early sixties when he was only 17 and still in school.

Beau Dollar and The Coins consisted of a tight and talented group of players with Beau on lead vocals and drums, Bill Jones on bass, Chuck Sullivan on lead guitar and Wayne Bullock on the B3 Organ.  Wayne informed me that the "Soul Serenade" session was actually recorded at Sambo Records, a recording studio in Louisville, Kentucky and not, as I believed, at  King Records in Cincinnati.

Wayne suggested I contact lead guitar player, Chuck Sullivan,  as he might provide me with some additional information on that recording session. And I did just that.

Chuck drove down with Beau Dollar and when they pulled into the parking lot he noticed Lonnie Mack's Cadillac. He said at the time he did not know that Lonnie would be the producer on the session.

When they began warming up for the session Chuck's Amp began to hum and Lonnie told him, "Go out and get my Amp out of the trunk of my car."  Wayne Bullock had previously told me the same thing, that something was wrong with Chuck's Amp and it was good that Lonnie was there to offer the use of his guitar Amp.

Chuck used Lonnie's equipment and played lead guitar on Soul Serenade and rhythm guitar on the flip side called  "Any Day Now."  He said everyone believed Lonnie Mack was playing lead on the song because he produced the record.  I admitted to Chuck I also believed for many years that Lonnie played lead on the song until I heard different from Wayne Bullock and saw the entry on Randy McNutt's blog titled "Who Knows Beau."

Chuck remembers the recording session taking about two hours to complete with two additional songs and he was pretty sure the Soul Serenade recording was done in only one take.  Soul supremo King Curtis could hardly have imagined the kind of recording that his immortal "Soul Serenade" would one day generate.

One thing was for sure...this small group of guys got the feel of King Curtis' 1964 hit "Soul Serenade" just right for its 1966 soul loving audience.

Chuck Sullivan, (Lead Guitar)
Chuck is retired but at times will make an occasional appearance at local clubs in and around the Covington, Kentucky area. 

Chuck also provided me with added information necessary for my Soul Serenade project.  I was happy to acknowledge Chuck for his guitar lead on a song many believed over the years, was played by Lonnie Mack.

Special side note and credits:  I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Randy McNutt for allowing me to use the many quotes and references to the article he wrote in his Home of the Hits Blog. This allowed me to write information about "Soul Serenade" and the band members I knew would be accurate.  

Randy is a native of my home town, Hamilton, Ohio. He began his career as an independent record producer and later worked as an award-winning newspaper and magazine writer. He has written several books about his home state, all of which remain in print.

You can view the original article here and see how information was added to this page for reference.

Visit the Randy McNutt Amazon store and see all his books in one location.