MR. RHYTHM

Chicago's adopted son Andre Williams has been toiling in the margins of popular R+B for 50 years. He penned a few odd-ball hits in the 50's ("Bacon Fat," "Jail Bait") and ended up co-writing an early Stevie Wonder song ("Thank You (For Loving Me All the Way)"). His early-60's smash ("Shake A Tail-Feather"), first recorded by the Five Du-Tones, was later covered by Ike & Tina Turner. He spent the rest of the 60's and most of the 70's writing minor hits and producing better-known acts. Then he disappeared.

Addicted to drugs, Williams spent most of the 80's impoverished in Chicago, begging for change on the streets of downtown. His successful re-emergence in the mid-90's was due in large part to the pedigree of his garage/punk collaborators, notably Mick Collins, who helped assemble a band for Williams and produced a couple of his records. A new documentary, Agile Hostile Mobile: A Year With Andre Williams, has been making its way around the country, and now Pitchfork TV is streaming it free-of-charge for one week only.

The trailer: