The following is from the topic elsewhere discussing the Stax CD (see Gus Cannon tags). It's extracted from the review of same by Neil Slaven and rather out of context here but:
"The booklet reproduces Bob Altshuler's original sleevenote and a newer, longer piece by Bengt Olsson in which he writes, 'From what I can find out, Gus received nothing in royalties from (the Rooftop Singers' hit version of) Walk Right In' and he just knew he was being cheated out of a fortune! 'Well, let's blow that one out of the water, right now. Jim O'Neal researched the pages of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, in which he found several references to this album's production. On February 16, 1963 ('Walk Right In' hit the US No. 1 spot in the week ending January 26), it reports that Erik Darling and Willard Svenoe of the Rooftop Singers visited Gus, got his banjo out of pawn, paid him $500 and got him to sign a royalty agreement. How much he subsequently received is anyone's guess but this sounds like straight-arrow behaviour to me.
Jim Stewart read the first story and signed Gus to a contract on the strength of it. A warm-up session, at which Gus was backed by nephew Sam Lindsey on guitar and Milton Roby on violin, took place on March 23, the evening before the first recording date. Later on April 26, the Appeal notes that 'sessions were finished last week'. The album was then released on July 17 and Gus was shown '500 of the albums in a storeroom at Satellite Record Shop'. He wasn't to know these were the only 500."
