KMHD’s Meg Samples guides an album listening session of Aretha Franklin’s historic, breakthrough album I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You.
Photograph by David Gahr (Getty Images)
“Aretha Franklin’s first album of genius bursts with the unstoppable freedom of an artist finally allowed to be herself, which is only one of the dozens of reasons its opening cover of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’ is such a milestone. Franklin had recorded some somewhat supper-clubby albums for Columbia in the early Sixties, releases that restrained the preacher’s daughter’s vocal scope and power. But Atlantic Records’ Jerry Wexler brought her onto the label with the goal of letting Aretha be Aretha.The result–[partially] recorded at iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama–was a new kind of soul power, pulling from gospel, R&B and rock & roll. This was the album that made her a legend, inaugurating a run of LPs for Franklin on Atlantic that’s up there with any other series of records by any solo artist ever.”
— Jon Dolan, Rolling Stone, 2018
Meg Samples, host of KMHD Jazz Radio’s “The Good News” and the Executive Director of Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, will share deep insights and discussion around the stunning 1967 album recorded by a then 25-year-old Aretha Franklin.
Listening session participants will experience classics like “Respect”, “Do Right Woman-Do Right Man”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, and the title track like never before as Aretha’s powerhouse vocals, stellar piano playing, and all-star session musicians are heard through the OJAS sound system.
Album Tracklist + Credits
Side 1
Respect
Drown In My Own Tears
I Never Love A Man (The Way I Love You)
Soul Serenade
Don’t Let Me Lose This Dream
Baby, Baby, Baby
Side 2
Dr. Feelgood (Love Is A Serious Business)
Good Times
Do Right Woman-Do Right Man
Save Me
A Change Is Gonna Come
Cover photo: Jerry Schatzberg
Cover design: Loring Eutemey
Recording engineers: Tom Dowd & Arif Mardin
Arranged and directed by Tom Dowd
Produced by Jerry Wexler
All selections were recorded at Atlantic Studios in New York except “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)” and “Do Right Woman-Do Right Man”, which were recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Atlantic Records, 1967
Photograph by Camille Bruya
About Meg Samples Morrow
Meg Samples Morrow grew up in Kentucky. A lifelong drummer and percussionist, she was the first woman to graduate from the University of Louisville’s Jazz Studies Program with an emphasis in drum set. Meg served as an Assistant Director for the Louisville Leopard Percussionists, Program Director for Girls Rock Louisville, Percussion Instructor for the Kentucky School for the Blind, and on-air host at Louisville Public Media's WFPK. Meg was a working drummer for many years touring, performing, and recording with her own bands and the likes of Will Odlham, Dawn Landes, and Mark Charles Heidinger.
Meg is the host of “Blue in Green” and co-host of “Today’s Good News” with DJ Rev Shines on KMHD, Portland’s Jazz Radio. She is also the Executive Director of Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, a non-profit whose mission is to create and perform original jazz music that engages and supports our community’s diverse artists, cultures, and place.
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