Though they both performed independently, Little Ann and Taheel Slim also released several singles together throughout the tail end of the 1950’s and into the mid-1960’s. Also known as “The Lovers”, Alden Bunn (Taheel Slim) and Anna Lee Sanford (Little Ann) were eventually married and both celebrated a successful career as a singer (Little Ann) and blues/R&B singer/guitarist (Taheel).
According to some sources, Slim’s musicianship also extended to the realms of pop and rockabilly, but Gospel and spirituals were his first love. While still in North Carolina during the early ’40s, the guitarist worked with the Gospel Four and then the Selah Jubilee Singers, who recorded for Continental and Decca.
In 1960 Taheel Slim and Little Ann recorded a song called Can’t Stay Away From You. Written by the a US record shop owner/songwriter/producer called Bobby Robinson, the song was issued on a New York label called Fire Records and featured two different versions on both the A and B-side,
There is a striking difference between both tracks, but the one I really love is the B-Side, which was simply entitled, Can’t Stay Away (Pt.2). The flipside has a more tragic feel to it, its pace a slow and soulful dirge, whereas Part 2 feels like an upbeat R&B celebration where the lyric “I Can’t Stay Away” actually feels like a good thing! It’s more like a happy revelation that they cannot be apart! I do love both versions (check out the flipside below), but the B-side wins hands down!
Check them both out and see what you think?
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