Ruby (Starr) Jones - Stone Junkie (1971)

Editorial Reviews
Funk Rock. They Recorded Just One Rare Album in 1971 for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records.(RE-EDITION BY Sequel Records 2000)
Ruby Jones were Curtom's Foray Into White Funk Rock.

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By A Customer

Ruby will be best remembered for her vocals on the Black Oak Arkansas hit "Jim Dandy To the Rescue".
As much as I enjoyed her on that song, her vocals on this earlier recording deserve even more attention.
Some may recall Ruby from her days with "Grey Ghost" during the mid 70s.
They released several great albums on capitol records which hopefully will make it to CD someday.
This earlier album was an attempt to cash in on the success of Janis Joplin
and thankfully leans more to her earlier psychodelic blues based work with "Big Brother".
Fans of the late great Steve Marriott of "Humble Pie" will also appreciate this work as it reminds
of some of his gritty soulful work from the same time period.
Add a great back up band, some well placed horn arrangements and funky songwriting
via Curtis Mayfield's record label and you have a great buy for classic rock fans of the early 70s.
Tracks #2 and #7 are worth the price for fans of early soul based rock
and Ruby deserved more fame than she got before passing away in the mid 90s.

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Singer Ruby Starr was best-known as a backup singer for '70s macho man rockers Black Oak Arkansas, but also issued several recordings as a solo artist as well. Born Constance Henrietta Mierzwiak in Toledo, OH, in 1949, the future rock singer got her start at the age of nine (performing renditions of Brenda Lee songs) before changing her stage name to Connie Little and forming the Phil Spector-esque Connie & the Blu-Beats. Following stints in such obscure outfits as the Downtowners and the Blue Grange Ramblers (aka BGR), the latter of which mutated into the outfit Ruby Jones (a name that the singer was going by at the time). Signed to Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label, the recording of Ruby Jones' 1971 self-titled was even supervised by Mayfield. Shortly after the album's release, Black Oak Arkansas frontman Jim Dandy spotted Starr singing in an Evansville, IN, club and persuaded her to join his band, as she assumed her best-known stage name Ruby Starr. Starr toured with the band for several years (appearing on the albums Street Party and Balls of Fire, as well as their lone hit single "Jim Dandy") before leaving the group to form the Ruby Jones Band in 1976, and issuing Scene Stealer the same year. By the dawn of the '80s, Jones/Starr had formed Grey Star, issuing a pair of recordings -- 1981's self-titled debut and 1983's Telephone Sex -- before forming the group Henrietta Kahn in the late '80s. In the '90s, Starr was diagnosed with cancer, eventually passing away at home in Toledo in January of 1995. After her passing, several archival releases that featured Starr were issued, including the live Black Oak Arkansas recording, King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents, and a reissue of Ruby Jones' debut album, retitled as Stone Junkie. © Greg Prato © 2010 Rovi Corporation. All Rights Reserved
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Track Listings
1. 99,000 Times
2. Looking Out At Tomorrow
3. 46th Street
4. Have No Witness
5. Freely Away
6. Oh Boy
7. Tightrope
8. Bicycle Built For Everyone
9. Stone Junkie
10. You Better Run (Bonus

==>Ruby Jones - Stone Junkie (1971)<==