Barbara Carr

Barbara Crosby was born on January 9, 1941 in St. Louis and began singing in church as a choir girl, eventually forming a family gospel group called The Crosby Sisters. She joined a singing/dancing troupe in grade school and went on to sing in the high school choir, around which time she also helped start a singing group called the Comest Combo that played popular material at local clubs. In 1963, she joined a locally popular group called The Petites and met Oliver Sain through her brother-in-law (she adopted her husband's last name, Carr) and successfully auditioned to join Sain's band.

Carr signed a solo contract with Chess in 1966 and recorded soulful singles like "Don't Knock Love," "I Can't Stop Now," and "Think About It Baby" over the next few years. Without much success, she stopped recording for a period in the late '60s to raise her children, and then returned to Chess circa 1970, albeit still without much recognition. She left Sain's band in 1972, and sang with a number of other, mostly short-lived groups around the St. Louis area. Carr recorded another single for Gateway in the late '70s, "Physical Love Affair," but again found little promotional support.

She and her husband eventually formed their own label, Bar-Car, in 1982, and Carr issued a number of singles over the next few years, many recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama. This material helped form the basis for Carr's first full-length album, 1989's "Good Woman Go Bad", which was later reissued on Paula in 1994. A second collection, "Street Woman", was released on Bar-Car on cassette in 1992, then upgraded to CD in 1994. Word of Carr's recordings began to spread, and she wound up signing with the Ecko label in 1996, releasing her label debut, "Footprints On The Ceiling" in 1997. Her next record, "Bone Me Like You Own Me" solidified her reputation in the Soul Blues world. After a few more releases on Ecko Carr departed the label releasing a record plaintively titled "On My Own" followed by a forgettable disc for Mardi Gras ("Talk To Me") before returning to Ecko records in 2006.

Album Discography

"Good Woman Go Bad" (Bar Car 1989; Paula 1994)

"Street Woman" (Bar Car 1992)

"Footprints On The Ceiling" (Ecko 1997)

"Bone Me Like You Own Me" (Ecko 1998)

"What A Woman Wants" (Ecko 1999)

"Stroke It" (Ecko 2000)

"The Best Woman" (Ecko 2001)

"The Best Of Barbara Carr" (Ecko 2002)

TRACKS: Bone Me Like You Own Me/If You Can't Cut The Mustard/Hoochie Dance/Right Kind Of Love/Bo Hawg Ground/I've Been Partying At The Hole In The Wall/Let A Real Woman Try/The Best Woman/Juke Joint Jumpin'/Good Looks Can Get Him But It Takes Good Lovin' To Keep Him Home/Make Me Feel It Like You Feel It To/As Long As You Were Cheating/If The Lord Keeps The Thought Of You Out Of Head I'll Keep Your Booty Out Of My Bed/Footprints On The Ceiling

"On My Own" (Bar Car 2002)

Independent release takes 6 cuts from her 1992 album "Street Woman" and adds 6 new cuts. Of the new cuts the mildly funky "Love Thang", "Take Care Of Your Own Business" & "You Take Away My Blues" are distinguished.

"Talk To Me" (Mardi Gras 2003)

"Down Low Brother" (Ecko 2006) LISTEN

"It's My Time" (Ecko 2007) LISTEN

"Savvy Woman" (CDS 2009) LISTEN 

Barbara Carr & Uvee Hayes "Southern Soul Blues Sisters" (Aviara Music 2009)