Rufus Thomas: Just Because I'm Leavin'... : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

The soul legend's joyful last recordings at Sun Studio late memphis R&B giant Rufus Thomas hasn't gotten the big-network-miniseries treatment yet, but it's not because he doesn't deserve it: The father of another great Stax Records artist, Carla Thomas, Rufus led one hell of a colorful life until his death in 2001. He was a massively entertaining DJ for many decades and recorded some unforgettable radio hits of his own, including the enduring funk standard "Walking the Dog" and "Do the Funky Chicken." Just Because I'm Leavin' . . . gathers together some previously unreleased recordings Thomas did at Sun Studio in the early Nineties. Thomas was coming full circle: He had first recorded at Sun in the Fifties. In his seventies here, he sounds in mostly fine, frisky form, especially on "Old Dog, New Tricks" -- which tells his tale well -- and notable covers of "Trouble in Mind" and "Today I Started Loving You Again." Nice to know that even in his senior-tour years, Thomas was still cooking up some seriously funky chicken.