Song:Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out)
Album:Chartbusters USA Vol. 1
This is another one hit wonder that I'm sure you've heard but you know nothing about the group. It was a top twenty hit in 1967. They were from Memphis and started out as the touring version of The Daytonas. Remember GTO by Ronny & The Daytonas? Guitarist Gary McEwan, organist B.B. Cunningham and bassist John Hunter attended high school together. Later they added drummer Jerry Masters. Cunningham and McEwan wrote Let It Out and according to Cunningham it was based on Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. Maybe they had never heard a talking blues before. Eventually the song got the attention of legendary record company owner Shelby Singleton. He sent them into the studio with Huey P. Meaux and Let It Out was released on Verve Forecast Records in 1967. The group called themselves Bandits for a while before settling on Hombres. The song reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. Attempts to follow up this goofy novelty song were unsuccessful and Hombres split up in 1969. You can get it on this comp from Ace Records. The Nails had a hit with this song in 1984 and Cameron Crowe used it in his film Elizabethtown. John Hunter died in 1976 but both B.B. Cunningham and Jerry Masters have had long careers as recording engineers. Cunningham performs occasionally and here he is performing Let It Out (Let It All Hang Out) in Memphis Aug. 22, 2009.
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