(May 31, 2024) Guitar player Chance Hayden is a man after my own heart when it comes to music. His sweet spot is 60s and 70s R&B and soul jazz. His two albums, 2018’s Get Somethin’ and 2020’s Grab & Go, feature a lot of electric organ, a lot of improvisation and a lot of funky and soulful grooves.
Most of the tracks are instrumental, but Hayden gives space for vocalists. He collaborated with fellow Portlander Jarrod Lawson on a cover of Donny Hathaway’s classic “Someday We’ll All Be Free.” That project also included an instrumental cover of Bill Withers’ “Kissing My Love” that is straight up funky.
Hayden’s latest single, “Bank on Me,” featuring velvet-voiced Sean Holmes, has classic Stax feel from the arrangement and lyrical standpoints. “Bank on Me” is an R&B tune that leans deeply into the genre’s blues roots. Hayden introduces the song with a blues guitar riff that is straight out of Memphis, while the horns provide a brassy call and response to Holmes emotive vocals.
The witty lyrics have Holmes likening his commitment to his lady to money deposited in a federally insured bank – he’s guaranteed to be there through the good and bad times. Holmes possesses a baritone voice that can be conversational and then explode with passion and transparent love when called for.
Check out Hayden’s “Bank of Me” here.
By Howard Dukes
