Inside the long shadow of The Blue Nile, whose second album Hats is available now in our webshop. The flat was small and rectangular, so narrow, recalled singer […]
You Worked Your Miracle: Chuck Bynum’s State Penitentiary Boogie Gem
Previously unreleased, Chuck Bynum’s “You Worked Your Miracle” is available now via The Sound Council.
It’s becoming rarer in the record digging community, but sometimes a song comes along that just changes everything… Stephen Chin and Scotty Coats have been sending songs back and forth for over two decades, but it wasn’t until a track by an unknown soul singer named Chuck Bynum appeared that the pair decided it was finally time to start their own archival imprint. Bynum’s music, a raw and emotional blend of modern soul, boogie, and gospel, would ultimately lead the two music obsessives through the California State penitentiary, a church parish in Pensacola, Florida, and a rekindled family home in Las Vegas.
In the late ’70s, Chuck Bynum had all the makings of the next R&B soul star: he toured and recorded with Marvin Gaye, worked on demos with Natalie Cole, and received a $50,000 advance from Warner Bros. to record his debut album, but all of those plans abruptly ended when Bynum was arrested for cocaine possession in Los Angeles, and sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent crime (Reagan Administration). He lost his deal, and the only traces of his music, two promo 7-inches on Warner, would pass on to the world of dusty record bins.
There’s much more to this story, but today we’re excited to be sharing Chuck Bynum’s “You Worked Your Miracle,” a previously unreleased track that was recorded while Bynum was in the California State penitentiary. Actually created within the walls of prison, the track was made impossibly possible due to the Arts-in-Corrections program, which ran from 1985 to around 1995, and was even accompanied by a low-budget music video!
Stephen Chin and Scotty Coats (The Sound Council) in conjunction with Brick Magazine, are now releasing a Special Limited Edition 7-inch (100 copies) celebrating the first time pressing of Chuck Bynum’s inspirational Gospel / Boogie gem “You Worked Your Miracle.” The project is being released in partnership with Bynum, and was digitally remastered for vinyl from the surviving archive tapes.
Stephen Chin: “Discovering Chuck’s story, getting to know him and his family, it just confirmed that music is all about personal connection. Seeing Chuck respond when [his daughter] Latasha puts him on the phone, hearing the joy that still comes through, even after everything–that’s been the real reward of this.”
For the full detailed story on Chuck Bynum and Sound Council, we highly recommend reading Brick Magazine’s feature “The Miracle of Chuck Bynum.”
