Blues legend Reverend Robert Wilkins' classic 'Prodigal Son' re-release

THE LEGENDARY song "Prodigal Son" written by bluesman Reverend Robert Wilkins, and once recorded by The Rolling Stones, has been released on a Wilkins album by Bear Family. The re-mastered album features tracks the bluesman recorded in the 1960s for Biograph and Piedmont Records. Rev Wilkins was considered one of the pre-war blues greats; in 1935 his wife became seriously ill and Wilkins offered his life to God in return for his wife's. His wife recovered and Wilkins became a minister and wrote the song "Prodigal Son", a reworking of his original recording "That's No Way To Get Along". In 1968 The Rolling Stones featured the song on their album 'Beggars Banquet' without crediting Wilkins. Later pressings of the album rectified the mistake and Wilkins belatedly received a measure of popularity before his death in 1987. The sleeve of the Bear Family release features a graffiti-covered toilet wall, a tongue-in-cheek homage to the 'Beggars Banquet' sleeve. CR

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