This has been a tough week. Find what you need where you can.
The tragedy seems never-ending.
One day we’ll be able to look back at all of this.
There are a lot of politicians singing this song right now.
We can only hope.
Sometimes you have to know what you’re about. There’s no better time than now.
Easing into 2021 with gorgeous vocals and hope for better days ahead.
The Queen of Soul live and lush.
Has there really ever been a better version of “California Dreamin'” than this?
Curtis Mayfield remains the smoothest to ever do it.
Timeless.
Koko Taylor never fails to blow you away.
It’s Friday and the year is almost over. 2020 has been 2020. Find joy and peace where you can. Here are five songs to end your week on a high note.
Grace Jones +Disco = Perfection. Add Iggy Pop, ASAP Rocky, and Tyler, The Creator in a video ad featuring Cerrone and Ms. Jones’, Disco classic “Supernature?” That’s entertainment.
“Because I’m Me” by The Avalanches never fails to make me feel good.
Ravyn Lenae’s “Sticky” is a legendary late night dance party song in the making.
These Power Pop inspired kids from Surfaces are keeping me going with “Sunday Best.”
Just when you’re ready to wind down, John Legend and Cynthia Erivo are right on time with “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys.
Yola’s “Walk Through Fire” is an album I can’t stop recommending to people. It is gorgeous and generous, entrancing from the first note to the last. Yola’s voice and guitar playing are tender, precise, and powerful. She commands her musical gifts with singular grace. Yola has the rare ability to create the simultaneous and contradictory feeling of sinking deeply into the sumptuousness of her voice and being effortlessly elevated by it, all in the same song. Each song on the album is a perfectly crafted story. “Walk Through Fire” is a testament to Yola’s overflowing talent as a vocal and lyrical storyteller. There are no lulls in this 41 minute treasure.
“Singing was like the air I breathed. I sing to live.”
-Yola, Paper Magazine (January 2020)
“Walk Through Fire” is major. The beauty of the album cannot be overstated. It is an organic mix of genres in harmony- Country and R&B, Folk, Rock, and Soul. Every song on the album should be a huge hit. It’s easy to imagine Yola’s voice floating from car speakers and through ear buds, listeners singing or humming along to one gem of a song after another. The album is timeless. It is familiar and fresh, living in a musical space no one has touched in a long time. The energy is reminiscent of the ways great songs by Joan Armatrading, Roberta Flack, Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Bob Dylan make you feel. What puts the album over the top, with all of its beauty and craftsmanship on glorious display in sparkling arrangements is Yola’s intimate love of music that has been tended and treasured to create something uniquely her own. “Walk Through Fire” is a musical blessing.
“Ride Out in the Country” should be a Country radio staple. It’s a song made for road trips and sitting creek side on a hot summer day.
“Faraway Look,” the first song on the album is so lush. It is a signal of the richness to come.
“Lonely The Night” is an anthem of love lost.
NPR Tiny Desk Concert
The final member of the Rock N’ Roll triumvirate has passed. May Little Richard rest in peace and paradise with the ancestors and may the memories of those moved and transformed by his music be long.
Little Richard was a righteously vainglorious genius. He was the blueprint for the energy, the showmanship, and the verve of popular music. His influence is everywhere and without him there would be no Prince, no David Bowie, no Grace Jones, no Rolling Stones, no Beatles, no Iggy Pop, no Earth, Wind, and Fire
He lived long enough to be celebrated, but there are not enough words, at least for me, to accurately describe the blessings he bestowed on the world.
Sturgill Simpson. Source: NPR.org
Sturgill Simpson is a seductive storyteller. He captivates the listener from the first line of a song. Simpson uses his baritone deftly; crafting phrasing that creates a shared sense of comfort and intimacy with the listener. Whether he sings about the vagaries of love, the pain of being broke, or the existential crisis of human existence, Simpson is entrancing.
His music is the 21st century nexus of Country, Rock, Blues – large parts B.B. King, Waylon Jennings, Clarence Carter, The Allman Brothers- and uniquely Sturgill Simpson.
Chuck Berry reviewed punk, new wave, and ska records and essentially came to this conclusion: My friends and I already did this, but thanks for trying.
http://diffuser.fm/chuck-berry-reviews-punk-records/
#chuckberry #cestlavie
“I can’t run out of different ideas. I am different. When can I run out of me?”
-Grace Jones
3 by Denise La Salle: Queen of The Party
In October, The Jackson Sun reported Blues and R&B legend Denise LaSalle is recovering from a leg amputation.
May Ms. LaSalle experience a healthy recovery. Enjoy some of her party classics and wish her well.
Lick It Before You Stick It
Your Husband Is Cheatin’ On Us
Pay Before You Pump
