Lloyd Price

It's difficult to talk about Lloyd Price without mentioning other New Orleans piano great Fats Domino and later tributary Little Richard, but there's a subtle desperation to his voice, a rawness that offsets the at-times quaint sentiments and neat (for New Orleans R&B, at least) musical arrangements. On "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," Lloyd plays the role of the victim, crying over the spilled milk of an O.G. gold digga. On "Mailman Blues," he declares that "I'm so unhappy, I can't see no more."