ribbons

Shuggie was of course inspired by his father -- he played guitar with Johnny Otis's band early on in his teens and Johnny's influence is all over his debut album Here Comes Shuggie Otis (1970), recorded when Shuggie was only 14. Johnny composed all but one of the tracks and also produced that album. By Freedom Flight (1971) Shuggie was beginning to get out from under the wing of his dad -- with Shuggie writing all but one of the songs (notably the psych-soul classic "Strawberry Letter 23"), although that release was also produced by Johnny. By the time of Inspiration Information (1974) Shuggie came into his own, playing all of the instruments himself barring strings and some horn overdubs. And on Inspiration Information the Sly & The Family Stone influence became evident -- I think if you consider, for instance, tracks like "Runnin' Away" and "(You Caught Me) Smilin'" on There's a Riot Goin' On you can detect traces of influence on Shuggie there. Also, I wonder if Shuggie was inspired by Sly & The Family Stone's final album Small Talk which was released earlier in '74 and also used string arrangements, was lighter in tone than their previous releases and had similar Curtis Mayfield-ish curlicue guitar stylings throughout.