Eddie Hinton, the Muscle Shoals singer/songwriter, did not live to complete the 1999 Capricorn Records album Hard Luck Guy. In July 1995, Hinton died of a heart attack at age 51 during the sessions.
Aretha Franklin, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Womack, and Gregg Allman covered Hinton’s songs. Hinton operated as the guitarist for the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and recorded with Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, The Staple Singers, Elvis Presley, and Otis Redding, but songwriting remained his grace. Hinton’s vocals are often compared to Otis Redding, whose wife Zelma asked him to teach Redding’s children to play guitar years after their father died in a tragic plane crash.
Hard Luck Guy may be the best Eddie Hinton record. Hinton’s previous albums such as Cry & Moan, Very Blue Highway, Letters from Mississippi, and Very Extremely Dangerous remain proof of Hinton’s soulful songwriting for the underdog. Jerry Wexler once said of Hinton: “Eddie wasn’t a master technician, but God, that boy could play some funk.”
Johnny Sandlin co-produced Hard Luck Guy. Several of the songs were recorded in 1978 at Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia. Sandlin, played guitar, bass, and drums on the album, serving as glue holding the sessions together. Legendary Muscle Shoals musicians Spooner Oldham, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and saxophonist Harvey Thompson created the deep-groove musical landscape throughout the album. There are fewer songs sad as the title track, “Hard Luck Guy”. Yet, he covers Otis Redding’s “Sad Song” in a rendition ending in triumphant glory.
A soul-soaked sound washes over Hard Luck Guy. A sidewinding, backwater tone drives a swampy song called “Watch Dog”. Three of the tunes (“I Got My Thang Together”, “Three Hundred Pounds of Hongry”, and “What Would I Do Without You”) were recorded with Hinton’s longtime songwriting partner Donnie Fritts. Fritts and Hinton composed “Breakfast in Bed”, a tune covered by Dusty Springfield, Lorna Bennett and Carmen McRae (among others), who all enjoyed success from the Hinton number.
By the time Dan Penn contributes his sad-hearted vocal to the last track on the album, “What Would I Do Without You”, the listener can never doubt Eddie Hinton once lived in the streets of Decatur, Alabama. Eddie Hinton’s music existed on a mysterious veil of obscurity to the music masses, but real songwriters recognized his talent. In the liner notes, Jerry Wexler recalls fond memories of seeing Bob Dylan and Hinton playing acoustic guitars on the Muscle Shoals back porch. Wexler revealed Dylan enjoyed the Alabama songwriter’s company.
For the price of Hard Luck Guy, you can embrace the soul of a great American songwriter amid troubles that may never go away.
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