Pennies In A Jar
It can be a blessing and a curse to be presented by legends. This proven marketing strategy to introduce a debut artist to the public tends to create immediate cynics: “Why him? Why her? “ In the case of Nikki Jean’s debut album, Pennies in a Jar, we have not one, but an array of […]
Sky High (Reissue) (2011)
When asked to name the Soul Music supergroups of the ’70s and early ’80s, folks tend to gravitate to familiar names such as Earth, Wind and Fire, the Spinners, the Commodores and the Isley Brothers. However, an argument can be made that five brothers from New Bedford, Massachusetts – Ralph, Tiny, Chubby, Butch and Pooch […]
Memphis Jewel
Jackie Johnson came up the old way, which for certain demographic of soul music fans means that Johnson came up the right way. Johnson started singing in her hometown of Memphis when she was seven. Singing in the Music city. There’s definitely something right about that. Johnson sang in churches, and then she got a […]
Electric Empire (2011)
Electric Empire is a love song to early ‘70s soul. Dennis Dowlut, Jason Heerah, and Aaron Mendoza of Melbourne, Australia mine more than the sounds; they straight lift the spirit and feelings of those times. More than a retro-soul gimmick, the Electric Empire band delivers something authentic, true, but undeniably familiar. Referred to by the […]
Taylormade (2011)
I always thought that Johnnie Taylor made his music for the fellas. Now, there are some male vocalists who geared their stuff to the ladies. Guys might have liked Teddy Pendergrass and Gerald Levert. However, both of those artists made a nice living doing “ladies only” shows for a reason. Taylor, with his aggressive and […]
Dedicated (2011)
Songs are usually most closely identified with the singer or group that made them famous. A tune like “Dedicated To the One I Love” will be linked to the Shireilles — or the Mamas and the Papas if you’re into acoustic rock. James Brown is the person who comes to mind when someone mentions the […]
Madame Palindrome (2011)
Deborah Bond is a groove artist for the chic set. A consistent presence as a session and background singer in the Washington, DC independent music scene, her voice consistently falls into the pocket and effortlessly rides the modern rhythmic production waves of her atmospheric band, Third Logic. On sublime neo-funk compositions like “5:35” and “You […]
Universoul Symphony (2011)
Tracy Cruz proves to be a confident lyricist on her new CD Universoul Symphony. Her songwriting is infused with a maturity that belies her relative youth. Take the song “Flowers and Candy”: this track describes the arc of the joy of new love, the frustration and confusion that accompanies love that grows stale and the […]
Man In Motion (2011)
On his first outing for the reenergized Stax label, Allman Brothers guitarist and Gov’t Mule founder Warren Haynes pours a bucket of sweat into expanded Southern soul and climatic guitar-fueled rock. The gutsy raw performances surrounding the Stax legacy may be a bit of a detour in the eyes of Haynes’ devout followers, but he […]
#Burn It Down (2011)
If there is one characteristic that best describes Alex Nester, it is that she possesses that fighting spirit, both off and on stage. And she has handled professional demands and personal trials with a maturity beyond her twenty-six years. Though Nester’s long hard road to fame had its share of disappointments, including her short lived […]
