In the early 1960s, when women in rhythm and blues were expected to stand at the microphone and sing other people's songs, a left-handed teenager from Beaumont, Texas, took the stage with an electric guitar flipped upside down and a number-one hit she wrote herself. Barbara Lynn, born in 1942, grew up singing in a Catholic parish choir while absorbing Guitar Slim, Jimmy Reed, Elvis Presley, and Brenda Lee from the radio. She moved from piano to guitar, formed an all-female band called Bobbie Lynn and Her Idols, and won local talent shows until singer Joe Barry told producer Huey P. Meaux about her. Meaux brought her to Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans, where, backed by session players including a young Mac Rebennack, she cut You'll Lose a Good Thing, which topped the Billboard R&B chart in 1962 and reached the pop top ten.

This ep ...