This was also the case in New Orleans. While Huey Smith, Fats Domino, Lloyd Price, Ernie K-Doe and Lee Dorsey saw lots of national chart action, a tier of singers including Tommy Ridgley, Eddie Bo and the inimitable Professor Longhair did work every bit as soulful and well-crafted.
Irma Thomas, who finally, for the past fifteen years has deservedly worn the mantle Soul Queen of New Orleans, is one such figure. She was an eighteen-year-old waitress at the Pimlico Club in 1958, supporting three children on her tips, when she impulsively jumped onstage to join Tommy Ridgley’s band. Her boss, who was focused on her drink-serving duties, fired her that night, but Ridgley hooked her up with Joe Ruffino, the owner of the Ric and Ron labels. Within weeks, she was heard on local jukeboxes singing “You Can Have My Husband But Don’t Mess With My Man.” Soon afterward, she became part of the crowd (that also included Aaron Neville, Barbara George and Chris Kenner) that was hanging around Allen Toussaint’s house and the J&M Studio. Her Toussaint-produced sides for the Minit label in the early sixties included “It’s Raining” and “Ruler of My Heart.” Up in Memphis, new Stax sensation Otis Redding slightly reworked “Ruler” into “Pain in My Heart” and had a hit, but also found himself in a legal dispute with Thomas and Toussaint.
In 1964, she cut the original version of “Time Is On My Side” for Imperial. Once again, her effort was overshadowed, this time by the British Invasion band The Rolling Stones, whose cover became the airplay favorite.
In the late sixties, she went to Rick Hall’s Fame studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and cut some sides for Chess. Those children of hers were still growing, however, and record sales just weren’t covering all of the expenses. She spent a great deal of the seventies on the west coast, at one point working as a sales clerk in a Montgomery Ward store. Some hometown gigs beckoned, however, which led to a fresh infusion of industry attention and a contract with Rounder, the label for which she continues to record prolificall to this day. She is a favorite at French Quarter clubs and a headlining act every year at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. (Her 1993 album True Believer is a magnificent piece of Crescent City r&b.)
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