Andre "Mr. Rhythm" Williams is a R&B legend, and you may not even know it. He wrote "Shake A Tail Feather," and sang such uber-raunch cult classics as "Bacon Fat" (covered by the Cramps), "Greasy Chicken," and the epitome of songs about little girls, "Jail Bait." He worked at seminal labels such as Motown, Chess, and Fortune. He wrote songs for, or produced folks Ike Turner, Parliament/Funkadelic, Edwin Starr and Stevie Wonder. The guy is like music's version of Zelig; he's been everywhere, man. Yeah, baby.

After a few hard years in... er... retirement, he stormed back in the late 90's with a record of smutty garage punk called Silky recorded with members of the Demolition Doll Rods and the Dirt-Bombs. Since then he has recorded with the Sadies, Jon Spencer, Two-Star Tabernacle (which included a very young Jack White) and many others. His resurgence of popularity (and notoriety) continues as he tours the world. Recently he was the subject of a documentary, Agile, Mobile, Hostile that premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. Andre tells it like it is, and if you get all bashful and shit with the blue language, you might want to steer clear--this guy can make Redd Foxx (who gave him his nickname, by the way) look like Bill Cosby. Don't let the shtick fool you, though, the man has put together some of the most bad-ass soul shakers in the history of music. He strips away all the bells and whistles and shoots musical arrows right to your goodie spot. Music at its most feral.

"Lyrics that despair of politics, find true pain in true love, unhinge from terra firma, and gripe about the road are delivered with country plainness, glimmers of spirituality, plenty of rolled r's, and the sense that by singing reality you can make it mean something." —Robert Christgau, Village Voice