Dr. John--Right Place, Wrong Time (1973)

     There are times in the history of the singles chart where the mix of different genres will cross with artists who's music is eclectic as well and the paths will cross and an off the wall hit is born. Such is the way this song made it to the top ten.
     Dr. John, (who's real name is Mac Rebennack Jr.) began his professional career in his native New Orleans as a guitar player and producer. An incident where he was defending the keyboard player in his band ended with a shooting where Mac ended up with an injured ring finger. His interest in music began as a young teen after meeting Professor Longhair for the first time so his change from guitar to piano seemed to be a natural one.
     Having moved to LA in the early 60's, he quickly caught on with other artists and soon became on of the top session players on the scene. It's also where he developed the persona of "Dr. John" and mixed the jazz and R&B of his home with psychedelic rock of the day. The result, "Gris-Gris" was totally different than anything going on at the time. One of the songs, "I Walk On Guilded Splinters", was as good an example of psychedelic rock than anything done by the Dead or Jefferson Airplane.
     Four more albums were released, and he developed a solid cult following. Although not necessarily making  music for the singles chart, Atco released, "Iko Iko" off of his album, "Dr. John's Gumbo" in 1972, and primed the market for the album, "In The Right Place". Produced by Alan Toussaint and backed by The  Meters and propelled by the single, "Right Place, Wrong Time", the album went into the top 30. He has continued to tour and record top flight records. You can check out more about this stellar American legend at http://www.nitetripper.com/ 
     The video was from New Orleans in 1973...