Donnie Fritts Returns to His Old Friend ‘June’ from Muscle Shoals

Arthur Alexander was one of those musicians loved by other musicians but largely unknown by the general public. The Beatles’ covered his “Anna” on their first album. And the Rolling Stones recorded Alexander’s “You Better Move On” on their debut EP. His songs have been covered by a host of notables from a variety of genres including Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, George Jones, Otis Redding, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tina Turner, and Joe Tex. Alexander died of a heart attack back in 1993 while relaunching his musical career after a 20-plus-year hiatus. His music still lives on and is well worth seeking out.

Alexander’s spirit is still with us as well, thanks to his friend Donnie Fritts’ new album June: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander. June was Alexander’s nickname (his full name was Arthur Alexander, Junior). Fritts was Alexander’s friend and cohort at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama. They met while teenagers back in the 1950s, when people of different racial backgrounds didn’t often mix. But music and circumstances drew them together. The Muscle Shoals sound they created is the stuff of legend.

Fritts is best known for his funky keyboard style and songwriting prowess. He penned the title song back in 1993 on the ride back from Alexander’s funeral. Fritts tells the story of their friendship in simple, heartfelt language. His raspy vocals suggest a sincerity born of shared experience. Fritts praises Alexander’s talents and celebrates their relationship. “Oh how I miss my good friend June,” he croons with an ache in his voice. They may worked together during a turbulent time of race relations in the South but that only made them closer friends.

The cut “June” is the only original Fritts composition on the album. The other nine songs were either written, co-written, or originally recorded by Alexander (five of the songs were co-penned by Fritts with Alexander and in one case, with Dan Penn, too). Fritts freshly interprets the songs while retaining their original essences. Alexander had a tender touch. Even when singing songs about hard times and hard luck, the listener understood the sensitivity of the narrator. Fritts captures that same temperament.

Consider the song “All the Time”. On the surface, the songs seems happy—even fizzy—as the singer warbles “doodley-doo, doodley-doo” over a strummed guitar. But even while the “doodley-doo” refrain continues throughout the tune, the words reveal a story of pain and heartache. The last lines go, “You’ve led me down the darkest path I’ve ever seen / And you came into my heart and tore apart all of my dreams / You kept on hurting me baby all the time.” Whew! And as the title reminds us, this agony happens all of the time. The superficial cheerfulness of the singer and the melody reveal a kind of determined grittiness of one who would do anything for love. As psychologists have long noted, there is oxymoronically a certain joy in being in an unrequited relationship.

Fritts plays the Wurlitzer electric piano as well as providing the lead vocals. The Wurlitzer adds a brightness to the proceedings, not only on “All the Time” but to the album as a whole. Even a song such as “Lonely Just Like Me” that ends with the narrator being killed by a knife defending his girlfriend’s honor has a certain amount of glee to it. After all, at least the singer found love before he died. This strange mix of joy and sorrow makes Alexander’s music (and Fritts’ renditions) so remarkable. The songs defy expectations.

John Paul White and Ben Tanner co-produced the disc and recorded it at the original location of the Muscle Shoals studio in Sheffield. White also lays down some tasty guitar licks, and Muscle Shoals bassist David Hood continually provides a pulsating rhythm that propels the songs into another sonic dimension. But this is really Fritts’ show. It’s his vocals and playing that are front and center. He brings Alexander’s music back to the present. The album fittingly ends with “Adios Amigo”, a song co-written by the both of them. It’s a farewell tune tinged with love and loss, but it’s not a sad song. Like June as a whole the track conveys the pleasure of having another’s company as long as one did. That itself is a blessing.