Song:Highway Back Home
Album:Bayou Blues Blasters
Elton Anderson was a pretty good R & B singer who recorded a few singles from 1959-63 for a couple of small labels in Louisiana. He had modest success but was just never able to break through to a larger audience. He was born Feb. 9, 1930 in Ville Platte, LA. By the mid-50s he was performing with the Sid Lawrence Band at the Southern Club in Opelousas, LA. He was spotted by Wayne Shuler who offered to record Anderson. Shuler was the son of Goldband Records owner Eddie Shuler. Shuler owned a radio repair shop in Lake Charles, LA and then opened a recording studio and a record label. The usual pattern of these regional labels was to release singles and hope to sell them to a larger label for national distribution. In this case, Wayne Shuler sold Anderson's 1958 single Shed So Many Tears to Ace Records owner Johnny Vincent who released it on his new label Vin Records. Then Shuler started Trey Records with Minit Records owner Joe Banashak. Anderson's next single Secret Of Love was picked up for national distribution by Mercury. It reached #22 on the R & B charts. But Anderson's next two singles went nowhere and Mercury dropped him. Anderson moved to Lee Lavergne's label Lanor Records. One of his singles Life Problems was sold to Capitol and was a regional hit. But subsequent singles went nowhere and Anderson went back to Lanor. Highway Back Home was originally released as Don't Touch Me Baby and then the title was changed to avoid confusion with the blues song Don't Touch Me. The British label Ace Records has released a lot of Goldband singles on a series of various artists CDs. Highway Back Home was Anderson's final single in 1963. He moved to Los Angeles but never recorded again. He died on Nov. 13, 1984 at age 54. He sounds pretty good but Lavergne said he was difficult to work with. Here's a video for Highway Back Home by Elton Anderson.
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