Available for the first time since the original 1979 release, Outernational Sounds proudly presents one of the most unusual and mysterious private press albums of all – Betty Lou Landreth’s Betty Lou, a stunning under-the-radar soul-jazz set featuring a bevy of Detroit heavyweights including Tribe trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and Motown’s famous Funk Brothers.

Released on the private label YaYa, Inc. in 1979, Betty Lou is a beautiful and beguiling singularity. Part sophisticated funk, part vibrant soul-jazz, with detours into country rock and torch-song, the album was the creation of the late Betty Lou Landreth, a singer about whom precious little information can be gleaned.

Born in Ada, Oklahoma, the young Betty Lou moved with her family to Artesia, New Mexico. Outgoing and friendly, she was a natural performer: ‘Betty Lou was born to perform, to sing, to act – she loved the stage,’ say her family today. In 1964 she gained a music scholarship to attend Eastern New Mexico University, and after study she toured US military bases as part of an United Service Organisation review. Moving to LA, she met her husband, Joel Palmer, and with him travelled to Detroit, where she began to sing with various jazz groups, as well as performing RnB and gospel.

It was in Detroit that Betty Lou’s one and only album was recorded. Little is known about the groups with whom Betty Lou sang night to night, but the line-up on Betty Lou contains enough serious players to grab anyone’s attention. Jazz fans will immediately notice Marcus Belgrave, core member of Detroit’s cult Tribe collective. But other names here are equally storied. Piano credits appear for both Joe Turner, founder member of Motown’s legendary session group The Funk Brothers, and the avant-garde player and Blue Note recording artist Geri Allen; the keyboard credit is to Grant Green sideman Emmanuel Riggins, father of producer Karriem Riggins. Turner’s fellow Funk Brothers Herbie Williams and “Little” John Wilson also feature, as does Isaac Hayes collaborator and Detroit funk producer Travis Biggs.

In short, Betty Lou was put together with the crème de la crème of Detroit session musicians, many of whom were veterans of Motown’s greatest years. Backing the completely unknown Betty Lou Landreth, they whip up one of the most atypical soul-jazz sets of the era, from the lush arrangement of head-nodder ‘I Can’t Stop’ to the snapping disco funk of ‘Get Up and Dance’. Unavailable since original release, Outernational Sounds is proud to present Betty Lou – a true one-off outsider classic, built with the musical genius of Detroit’s finest insiders.

Betty Lou Landreth died in 1998. Outernational Sounds has fully licensed this reissue from her nearest living relatives – her two brothers.
We discovered last month that another label has made a release agreement – with Betty Lou’s ex-husband, whom she divorced, and a participant in the original recording session.
It goes without saying that Outernational Sounds rejects this agreement, which strips the artist of her rights.