''High on the Hog'' is a studio album by American

southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country music, and blues and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. Author Scott B. Bomar speculat ...

band

Black Oak Arkansas Black Oak Arkansas is an American Southern rock band named after the band's hometown of Black Oak, Arkansas. The band reached the height of its fame in the 1970charting ten albums according to Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Their style is punctuated ...

, released in 1973 by

Atco Records ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the comp ...

. It is known for its cover of the

LaVern Baker Delores LaVern Baker (November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997) was an American R&B singer who had several hit records on the pop chart in the 1950s and early 1960s. Her most successful records were "Tweedle Dee" (1955), " Jim Dandy" (1956), and "I ...

song " Jim Dandy", which reached number 25 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. ''High on the Hog'' remains the group's most successful release.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Donald A. Guarisco wrote " Jim Dandy"is definitely ''High on the Hog''s undisputed highlight, but the other tracks surrounding it also have plenty to offer. Although they were too eccentric a band to fit a strict "Southern rock" label à la Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Oak Arkansas did have an ability to dish up both country and rock sounds with style.... e group also shows a surprising ability to mix elements of pure funk into their country-rock stew..."

Track listing

All songs by Black Oak Arkansas, except "Jim Dandy" by

Lincoln Chase Lincoln R. Chase (June 29, 1926 – October 6, 1980) was an American songwriter and occasional recording artist. As a writer, his most notable songs were "Such a Night", "Jim Dandy (song), Jim Dandy", and several of Shirley Ellis' hits in the ...

and "Moonshine Sonata" by Black Oak Arkansas &

Tom Dowd Thomas John Dowd (October 20, 1925 – October 27, 2002) was an American recording engineer and producer for Atlantic Records. He was credited with innovating the multitrack recording method. Dowd worked on a veritable "who's who" of recordings ...

. #"Swimmin' in Quicksand" – 3:20 #"Back to the Land" – 2:25 #"Movin'" – 3:13 #"Happy Hooker" – 5:27 #"Red Hot Lovin'" – 2:45 #" Jim Dandy" – 2:38 #"Moonshine Sonata" – 5:26 #"Why Shouldn't I Smile" – 2:21 #"High 'n' Dry" – 2:25 #"Mad Man" – 3:50

Personnel

;Black Oak Arkansas *

Jim "Dandy" Mangrum James Mangrum (born March 30, 1948), better known as Jim "Dandy" Mangrum, is an American singer. He is the lead singer and frontman of the Southern rock band Black Oak Arkansas, in which he is the sole remaining original member. He is noted for h ...

– vocals *Harvey Jett – guitars *Stanley Knight – guitars *Rick Reynolds – guitars *Pat Daugherty – bass *

Tommy Aldridge Tommy Aldridge (born August 15, 1950) is an American heavy metal and hard rock drummer. He is noted for his work with numerous bands and artists since the 1970s, such as Black Oak Arkansas, Pat Travers Band, Ozzy Osbourne, Gary Moore, Whitesnak ...

– drums ;Additional personnel *

Ruby Starr A ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called s ...

– backing vocals on "Jim Dandy" ;Production *

– producer *Ron & Howie Albert – engineers on tracks 3, 9, 10 *Ed Barton – engineer on the other tracks *

Joe Petagno Joe Petagno (born January 1, 1948) is an American artist known principally for creating images used on rock album covers for bands such as Led Zeppelin, Nazareth, Black Oak Arkansas, Sweet, Hawkwind, Motörhead, Roy Harper, Marduk, Bal-Sagoth, ...

– album illustration

Charts

Album –

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

(United States)

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

(Canada) Singles – Billboard (United States) RPM (Canada)

References

{{Authority control 1973 albums Black Oak Arkansas albums Albums produced by Tom Dowd Atco Records albums Albums with cover art by Joe Petagno