THE WALLACE BROTHERS

The Wallace Brothers' Sims recordings were raw, unpolished soul.  Although the production values were low, their uninhibited vocals were highlighted by that very lack of sophistication.  The emotion and intensity in these tracks come through as strongly now as they did in the 1960s.

The “brothers” were actually cousins Johnny Simon and Ervin Wallace of Atlanta, Georgia. By ages fourteen and sixteen respectively, they were touring with their own six-piece band. Along with vocal duties, Simon played the sax and Wallace played guitar.

By 1963, the Wallace Brothers were accomplished enough performers that Nashville record executive Russell Sims signed them to his label. No stranger to the music business, Sims had released more than 100 country and hillbilly singles on his self-named imprint before he decided to venture into the Rhythm & Blues market. The Wallace Brothers’ debut release, “Faith” / “I’ll Let Nothing Separate Me,” was the second R&B single on Sims.

As the title implies, “Faith” was heavily gospel-influenced, with a church-like organ and a meandering saxophone backing up the Brothers’ callow, uninhibited phrasing. It very much set the tone for future Wallace Brothers releases. Their next 45, the even more gospel-like “Precious Words,” cracked the national R&B top forty in the spring of 1964.

That autumn, the Wallace Brothers enjoyed their biggest hit, “Lover’s Prayer.” It not only made the R&B top forty, but crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100 as well. Its success was due in large part to heavy airplay and promotion by disc jockey John R. (Richbourg) of Nashville’s WLAC. Richbourg shared an office with Russell Sims and owned a share of not only Sims Records, but the Wallace Brothers as well.

In 1965, Sims released an LP on the Brothers, Soul Soul and More Soul. Some of its tracks were done at the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, making the Wallace Brothers one of the earliest acts to record there. However, these tracks featured not the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, but the duo’s own band.

By this time, the Wallace Brothers were also getting noticed in Britain. Guy Stevens of Sue Records, a hip UK independent, released both “Precious Words” and “Lover’s Prayer” circa 1964, and “I’ll Step Aside” in 1967. He also put out an LP on the Brothers, Soul Connection, that same year.

Meanwhile, Russell Sims had begun to find the record business wearing. He issued one last single on the Wallace Brothers, “Thanks a Lot,” before closing up shop in 1967. By the following year, the duo was recording for the Jewel label in Shreveport, Louisiana. After three commercially unsuccessful singles for Jewel, the Wallace Brothers split up.

In 1995, the British reissue label Kent released a 22-track Wallace Brothers CD, Lover’s Prayer: Their Complete Sims Recordings. It was the first collection of their music in twenty-eight years.

Rock critic Dave Marsh included “Precious Words” in his 1989 book, The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.

Charted singles:

“Precious Words” (1964) R&B #31, Pop #107
“Lover’s Prayer” (1964) R&B #33, Pop #97

Other notable Wallace Brothers recordings include “Faith,” “Love Me Like I Love You,” “I’ll Let Nothing Separate Me,” “You’re Mine,” “Bye Bye Bye,” “Hold My Hurt For a While,” “Stepping Stone,” “These Arms of Mine,” and “I Need Someone.”