Testimonials

Downbeat Magazine HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 2019 ENCHANTING DISCOVERIES

Michael Robert Frank, founder and CEO of the label Earwig Music, has completed his greatest rescue mission. “I’ve believed that the Bea & Baby record label had too much great country and urban blues, doo-wop and gospel to let it go into the dustbin of history,” he said. “So, I’ve produced a deluxe, complete testament to all the musicians and to Cadillac Baby. I took the project on as a fan, to create something to be dug into deeply, a source of enchanting discovery to be cherished.” The box set Cadillac Baby’s Bea & Baby Records: The Definitive Collection (Earwig Music) brings to light the long-neglected recording legacy of Narvel “Cadillac Baby” Eatmon (1914- ’91). Based on Chicago’s South Side, Eatmon was a club and label owner who scouted out artists, especially blues musicians, for gigs and sessions.

In addition to 101 tracks spread across four CDs, the set has a 128-page book with rare photos and essays by blues authorities Jim O’Neal and Bill Dahl, as well as gospel historian Robert M. Marovich. The set (spanning 1959-’89) showcases more than 30 recording artists. Blues fans, in particular, have lots to explore. Wild slide guitarist Hound Dog Taylor’s first recordings are here, and a young James Cotton gruffly sings “One More Mile,” using resolve to mute a penetrating sadness. Among the others plunging into the blues with personality are Eddie Boyd, Earl Hooker, Homesick James, Sunnyland Slim, Detroit Junior and Lee Jackson. R&B acts no longer lost in the mists of time include Kirk Taylor & The Velvets and Faith Taylor, who cut two tracks at age 11.

African American gospel singers turn up on Disc 4, notably the transcendently impassioned Eddie Dean. On six tracks, Cadillac Baby himself is heard discussing his fascinating life and career. Stories about the man are legion. Perhaps none more outlandish than the account of him driving one of the convertible Cadillacs he owned through his club’s entrance door, up a ramp and onto the stage. He then cruised over to the bar.

In 2006, Earwig Music bought Bea & Baby and its associated labels from Cadillac’s widow, Bertha (aka Bea). The transaction got Frank thinking about a compilation. With stacks of 45s and a bushel of paperwork in his possession, he began doing research. He spent years organizing a discography and tracking down missing records owned by collectors. He then created new digital masters. In addition to issuing 76 albums on Earwig, Frank has ranged freely throughout the blues world as an artist manager, booking agent, and producer of albums and the occasional event. He’s also a harmonica player, long serving as an accompanist to bluesman David “Honeyboy” Edwards (1915-2011), whom he managed.

All the while, Frank has been motivated by altruistic instincts. “As I learned more about the histories and obstacles faced and overcome by musicians, especially blues musicians, I began to appreciate their lifetime commitment to creating and performing. [These artists are] revolutionary and inspiring. I wanted to help them to have better economic opportunities by playing to larger, more diverse audiences and to make more recordings. “On an experiential level,” he continued, “I felt the transformational power, emotion and cultural magnificence of the music. I wanted to share all that-so the public could experience the music and the artists as deeply as I did.”

Frank-John Hadley

I can wholeheartedly and enthusiastically tell you that Michael Frank is one of the most well-respected and experienced people I’ve ever met in the music business. He has an expertise that comes from years of working as a manager and running his own label, but perhaps most importantly, he really cares. He loves the music, he loves the artists, and for anyone who’s looking to advance their career, they would be very well served to have Michael Frank on their team.

Building a career for Delta blues artists and roots musicians in general was hard enough when Michael Frank started on his odyssey four decades ago. Positioning such artists in the clutter of today’s glut of media vehicles screaming for the public’s attention is next to impossible. Michael does it with finesse and style backed by a record of success that’s second to none for a single contributor without a major corporation behind him.

He turned Honeyboy Edwards, an artist who had been at best a secondary footnote in delta blues history, into a standard bearer for the genre and finally the last man standing, creating a heritage performer who not only became a major player in the game late in his career but who presented a platform for the profiling his style of music to a mass audience in the process. Michael is a 21st century renaissance man who has both the business acumen and the artistic skill to present artists in their best light on record, on tour, in the press, and in social media with all its permutations. In today’s terminology, he creates a buzz in a genre that doesn’t even recognize the term.

He’s label owner whose 62 releases between 1978 and 2015 are a treasure trove of heritage recordings by legacy artists including: Honeyboy Edwards, Louisiana Red, Johnny Drummer, The Jelly Roll Kings, Big Jack Johnson, Sunnyland Slim, Jimmy Dawkins, Louis Myers, Homesick James, and Liz Mandville Greeson – a virtual who’s who of the creative geniuses who inspired headliners from Buddy Guy to Eric Clapton.

Perhaps more importantly, Michael Frank has the passion, experience, skill, knowledge and sensitivity to offer services in social media campaigns, marketing and promotion, and distribution, as well as consulting in the music business: talents it would normally require a dozen people to accomplish. Oh, and he’s a musician, too, having played harmonica on many of Honeyboy Edwards’ tours.

As if that weren’t enough, he’s just a nice guy with a great sense of humor who is fun to work with. Michael and I both received our Blues Foundation Keeping the Blues Alive awards in 2007, his for artists management and mine for print journalism. I’m proud to have worked with him and written about his artists for all the years of Earwig Music. He’s always been there for me, and he’ll be there for you, too.