(October 2, 2019) If you’re a purveyor of social media and a fan of NC soulman Anthony Hamilton, the voices of Tony Lelo, 2E and J. Vito of the HamilTones will sound familiar to you; they’ve toured and recorded extensively with the Grammy-Award-winning Hamilton, and have turned remakes from other artists and even songs about everyday subjects into viral grooves (“Put Some Respeck On It,” “Whose Billy Goat Is This”). Now on the road to promote their debut EP, Watch The Ton3s, The HamilTones are showing vulnerability, gratitude and grit in their ode to love and loyalty, “Best Friend.”
Steeped in church-time organ, delivered with both unhurried cadence and unabashed soul, the trio’s individual verses and tight harmonies spell out exactly what their women have done for them in times of need and why they can’t fathom navigating the choppy waters of life without reassurance provided by their life-preservers in the flesh: “Now I call you in the day or late at night/you give me advice, you tell me to hold on, everything’s gon’ be alright Baby.”
There’s plenty of R&B out there, but sometimes you get a craving for that gospel-flecked and soul-enhanced full meal instead of just an easy quick two-piece. “Best Friend” is not only a worthy single — consider it notice that like their mentor, The HamilTones are here for the long-haul and intend to make you enjoy every bit of the journey.
By Melody Charles
The Hamiltones – “Best Friend”
