The Essential Varetta Dillard – Easy, Easy Baby

Rated by many pundits as the equal of singers like Dinah Washington, LaVern Baker, and Ruth Brown, VARETTA DILLARD was blessed with a powerful, versatile voice, and her recorded legacy remains seriously impressive.

But the downside was that she was physically handicapped, which seriously compromised her career, most notably with regard to live performances.

And although Varetta registered a trio of Top 10 R&B hits during the early 50s, she failed to achieve significant Pop success, and has largely remained a cult figure, little known outside of collectors' circles.

Her recording career spanned eleven years, between 1951-62, during which she released thirty singles, across five different record labels, and also sang on a couple of other rarities.

This 2-CD set comprises at least one side of each of those releases (in many cases, both sides) plus a dozen or so tracks which were not released the first time around.

Track Listing
Disc 1

1. PLEASE COME BACK TO ME
2. HURRY UP
3. EASY, EASY BABY
4. A LETTER IN BLUES
5. HERE IN MY HEART
6. THEM THERE EYES
7. DOUBLE CROSSING DADDY (with H-Bomb Ferguson)
8. TORTURED LOVE (H-Bomb Ferguson, featuring Varetta Dillard)
9. I CRIED AND CRIED
10. DOUBLE CROSSING DADDY
11. THREE LIES
12. MERCY MR PERCY
13. I LOVE YOU
14. I AIN'T GONNA TELL
15. SEND ME SOME MONEY
16. LOVE
17. JOHNNY HAS GONE
18. YOU'RE THE ANSWER TO MY PRAYER (with The Roamers)
19. PROMISE MR THOMAS
20. I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU
21. I CAN'T STOP NOW
22. MAMA DON'T WANT (What Poppa Don't Want)
23. DARLING, LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF THIS SONG (with The 4 Students)
24. CHERRY BLOSSOM (with The 4 Students)
25. I'M GONNA TELL MY DADDY (with The 4 Students)
26. THAT OLD FEELING (with The 4 Students)
27. SEE SEE RIDER BLUES
28. GOT YOU ON MY MIND
29. I MISS YOU JIMMY

Disc 2

1. IF YOU WANT TO BE MY BABY
2. ONE MORE TIME (with The Nitecaps)
3. PRAY FOR ME MOTHER
4. LEAVE A HAPPY FOOL ALONE
5. GIVE ME THE RIGHT
6. TIME WAS
7. I GOT A LOT OF LOVE
8. UNDECIDED
9. THAT'S WHY I CRY
10. STAR OF FORTUNE (with The Cookies)
11. THE RULES OF LOVE (with The Cookies)
12. FALLING (with The Cookies)
13. OLD FASHIONED (with The Cookies)
14. WHAT'LL I DO
15. JUST MULTIPLY
16. HONEY
17. THE SQUARE DANCE ROCK
18. GOOD GRAVY BABY
19. SCORCHED
20. (Twee-Twee-Twee) THE LOVIN' BIRD
21. GOOD TO ME
22. TEASER
23. YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE MISSING
24. A LITTLE BITTY TEAR
25. MERCY MR PERCY (re-recording)
26. WHAT CAN I SAY
27. YOU BETTER COME HOME
28. I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT I LIKE IT
29. WHOLE LOT OF LIP
30. YOU AIN'T FOOLIN' NOBODY
31. SAY WHAT? (The Cyclones featuring Eddie Jones)
32. BREAKING HEARTS (Varetta & The Thomases)
33. FLY BY NIGHT (Varetta & The Thomases)