Where's Your Love Been SANDRA RHODES Video Steven Bogarat

RHODES CHALMERS & RHODES AL GREEN'S BACKUP SINGER By Tom de Jong Around 1996 I wrote a small article on Rhodes, Chalmers & Rhodes (RCR) in “Voices from the Shadows”. At that time I was surprised by the fact that Al Green, OV Wright and many great soul artists recording in and around Memphis were all supported by this white backing group. I began noting credits on albums, listing the songs RCR wrote and tried to list their solo recording as well as I could. That soon turned to be an impossible task because they were hugely productive in the seventies and they could be singing behind Aretha Franklin on one day and then on the next have a gig with Kris Kristofferson. The only area where I could strive for completeness was the solo recordings and I then made a first attempt. I made some mistakes and over the years picked up some obscure records that were new to me. To see what I had missed, I recently typed in “Rhodes Chalmers Rhodes” and “discography” into Google. Surprisingly that did not yield much useful information. So I will try to update the discography. RCR consists of Sandra Rhodes, Charles (Charlie) Chalmers and Donna Rhodes. All three group members are still alive and kicking. In 2003 they backed Al Green on his “I Can’t Stop” album that was produced by the late Willie Mitchell. From his website here I learned that Charlie Chalmers is still active as producer in his own studio in Branson MO. He performed alongside Paul Anka in Vegas. Sandra Rhodes was married to Charlie but they are now divorced. She still plays a mean guitar at local country shows and Donna Rhodes occasionally fills in. What I didn’t know before, but learned from the internet, was that Sandra and Donna’s parents were Dusty and Dot Rhodes, both established country musicians. Some work by Dusty & Dot is on the Sun Memphis Belles CD box, released on the Bear Family label. No point repeating here the scattered information on RCR that is available on the internet. But I’ll make two exceptions. First, the unsurpassed reissue label Kent put out three CDs of recordings on the XL / Sounds of Memphis label and a separate CD on Barbara and the Browns. These CDs deserve mention since Charlie Chalmers was involved in many superb deep soul records made by artists like William Bollinger and Barbara Brown. Second, in 1994 RCR were involved in recording a CD single for Reuben James in the UK. A soundtrack of “Hold On My Heart” is included here (See PS below) for you to enjoy because it is well within the scope of the Sir Shambling website and seriously obscure. I got my personal copy through Voices. The career of Sandra Rhodes got a great start when she wrote "How Much Can A Lonely Heart Stand" that was recorded by country star Skeeter Davis, who had a minor hit with it. The take by the Rhodes Sisters on Dot has bigger production than the one on Penthouse, so I imagine the latter was the first one to be released in 1964. The early 45s were between country and pop. The Epic LP by Donna Rhodes contains deserving covers of soul classics, among which "Your Good Thing". Her singing reminds me of Jackie Deshannon, whom she covered in Put A Little Love In Your Heart. RCR are prominent in many tracks recorded in the seventies by Willie Mitchell at the Hi studios. In the Hi sound there was always a black/ white contrast between lead singer, like Al Green or OV Wright, and the backing group (RCR). But the contrast is far less then in, for instance, Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country and Western. And RCR were soulful by themselves, as Dan Penn, Donnie Fritts, Jeannie Greene or Bonnie Bramlett were in that period. Especially Donna Rhodes had a big voice and "Where’s You Love Been" on Hi is as good as the other female deep soul output on that label. Both Warner Brothers 45s have class and were recorded at Fame. "Just Someone You Had" is my favourite. Charles Chalmers began playing saxophone at many sessions in and around Memphis. He contributed to the background vocals in the Hi studios because this produced a fuller sound. His Chess instrumentals now sound dated to my ears. But I could imagine that some of these would fit very well on a sixties movie soundtrack. I see no reason why, for instance, "White Dove" when picked up by the right producer, say Quentin Tarantino, would not be a movie hit.

Added 17 Jun 2026