Cee Cee Carol, "Crazy Little Old Feeling" c/w "The Right Guy," Band Box 292 (rel. 5/1962)

 

Sometimes a voice rises out of obscurity and time and speaks with clarity and beauty. The voice of Cee Cee Carol, a Denver, CO-based singer, is such a presence. She made a couple of singles that didn’t get into the mainstream but reveal a talent and presence that outshines many established performers.

I can’t find much about Carol’s life; she may still be with us, and in the Denver area. No obituary surfaced in my search for information. How she got into music, what her early life was like—all that good biographical data—just isn’t there.

She made her first single for the Trans World label out of Los Angeles. Both sides are schlocked up with big string sections and neither song was material of her choosing; she was just a vocalist for hire on a so-so teen pop record.

Two years later, in the spring of 1962, Carol recorded on her home turf for local label Band Box, an odd imprint with a lot of country, polka, Latino music and some teen material. The two songs she cut for them suggest where she preferred to be, music-wise. They’re everything the Trans World sides are not: sparse, effective, and a fine showcase for her voice.

“Crazy Little Old Feeling” opens with her backing band, The Saints, who set the stage in one of the best intros I’ve ever heard on a record from this period. Walking bass, a compelling guitar riff, sax and crisp drums frame Carol’s powerful pipes as she lets loose with this crazy-cool, r&b-gospel infused song.

A comparison to Brenda Lee might be made, but Carol isn’t going for that more famous star’s demographic. This mix of jazz, blues and pop is a haunting outlier from the regional edges of recorded music. Cee Cee’s performance is controlled, stylish and soulful. She was one of those natural talents who had everything in place to go far. Why she didn’t break through is unknown, but perhaps she was happier in her home town, where she was well-known and admired.

Band Box issued this single with a picture sleeve and a color promo sheet. Both mention “The Right Guy” being in a film called The Lonely One. No such move seems to exist. There’s a 1962 Texas-made educational short called The Lonely Ones, but it’s a highway safety film (an early gore movie, IOW) and the song doesn’t appear there. (I watched it, so you don’t have to.)

Here’s a prime example of a song that, in ‘professional’ hands, might have been schlocked up beyond recall. Co-penned by Saints lead guitarist Dave Barhite, "The Right Guy" has a gritty, desolate setting. Carol sells this powerful ballad to the rafters. Her vocal control impresses: she goes from a bellow to a whisper on this passionate plea for love and kindness.

The Saints deliver just what is needed; no backup vocals, no strings, nothing but what Cee Cee and four musicians can provide in one live studio recording. The soaring finale of “The Right Guy” tugs at one’s heart-strings; what a great singer! It’s a crime she didn’t make more records. Sometimes, life makes decisions for a person and takes them away from their passion.

I’ll always take a chance on unknown regional records, in the hope that I might find something good as this. I just wish we had more from Cee Cee Carol.

Tomorrow: back to the early days of Black vocal group r&b with a killer two-sider by The Cardinals, via a 1952 Atlantic Records single.