Rodge Martin - Wasted Nights

Rodge Martin was based in Nashville, and started performing as part of the Jimmy Church Revue. He hooked up with Hoss Allen,who became his manager, and his first 45 - "Loving Machine" with "When She Touches Me" on the flip - was released on Bragg. He would release a second 45 on Dot in what appears to be a licensing deal set up by Allen - Allen would book sessions in Nashville and Muscle Shoals and record his artists then lease the recordings to a variety of labels. "Wasted Nights" was his third 45, and again it seems that this was recorded in the south, probably at MSS, then leased to the New Jersey label. It's a classic southern sound and Rodge has a great rough, pleading tenor with a nice little quiver in his voice. There are a couple of biographies for Rodge Martin on the web, and they state that he only released three 45s before suffering a fatal heart attack, but there was a follow-up to this one on Newark 222, made up of a pair of great deep soul tunes, "When She Touches Me" with "Two Women" on the flip. Presumably "When She Touches Me" is a straight reissue of the flip of the Bragg 45 and it may well be a posthumous release. Rodge also recorded a storming uptempo duet with Jimmy Church called "Soul Shack", which is currently available on a CD called "The Rich Records Story." He also appeared on several episodes of Hoss Allen's superb TV show "The !!! Beat"