A gospel boogie banger, relatively unknown

Picked this one up in south Atlanta at a small thrift shop. A gospel sampler on a label I'd never heard of, which is usually enough to get me to hand over the money.

What jumped out immediately was Blesseth Be The Name, credited to Gene Toon. And on at least one release, just G. Tune. Six spellings of one name across a career, which explains a lot about why almost nobody can find him.

The collectors who have found him all say the same thing. Incredible range, real vocal acrobatics, a singer who should have been a star. What actually exists is nine releases total. Eight singles and one album. That's the whole legacy.

He wasn't a gospel guy first either. He was a soul singer bouncing between small labels, Chumley, Simco, a brief stop at Wand. On Simco he cut a deep soul record called A Love Triangle that people still chase. Then in 1979 he made one gospel LP for Locus, and that was the end of it.

The label is just as hard to trace. Locus Records, no location I can find, no founder, no history. The back of this sleeve is basically a menu of their catalog, LOC 701 through 707, and good luck finding most of those albums now. There's even a gap. Seven catalog numbers, six covers pictured, nothing from 703 at all.

Relatively unknown is being generous. A man with the instrument to be huge, whose name nobody could spell the same way twice, on a label that left no trace. And the song still moves.