What a year it’s been for roots music. So much wonderful, high quality work by a host of artists in a diversity of styles – variously with country, blues or folk to the fore. That being the case, it’s hard to suggest a best of list. But here goes. We’ve grouped them into two sets of ten and then a group of six. Each set is in alphabetical order.
Here’s our Top 10
Amy Helm This Too Shall Light
In an album produced by Joe Henry, Amy Helm, daughter of late Band drummer Levon gives us ten songs tinged with soul and gospel, featuring uplifting lyrics and beautiful nuanced singing. A wonderful set of interesting, sometimes obscure covers and lovely originals.
Birds of Chicago: Love in Wartime
This is simply an outstanding album of classic Americana. JT Nero and Allison Russell’s vocals and rich harmonies, as usual, meld wondrously, and the song arrangements are innovative and imaginative while, at the same time, warm and inviting.
Eric Bibb: Global Griot
Double album of wonderful songs, brilliantly presented by the blues troubadour. As much world-music as Americana or blues, this is surely one of Bibb’s best accomplishments. There’s joy, love and hope inhabiting these songs, as well as a dose of righteous protest – whether it’s at the materialism of the age or the frightful tweeting of number 45.
Jayhawks: Back Roads and Abandoned Hotels
Reworking of some of the songs Gary Louris, has co-written with other artists, including the Dixie Chicks and two new songs. It’s a great Jayhawks album, with the band in great form over the course of 11 songs of magnificent alt-country.
John Hiatt: The Eclipse Sessions
In his first album in four years, Hiatt is in fine form, his crusty vocals accompanying a largely pared back band. This is an album that draws you in and enchants you the more you listen to it.
Larkin Poe: Venom and Faith
Quite simply this is an extraordinary album from the very talented Lovell sisters in their 4th studio album. The two sisters play every instrument, aside from some wonderful slide guitar in one song by Tyler Bryant, creating a wonderful variety of sounds and textures. Classic but innovative, with traditional, primal sounds mixed with electronic beats.
Lori McKenna: The Tree
Lori McKenna is a brilliant song writer. Here she gives us 10 songs about family life and the tensions of everyday existence in a fabulous, understated record, produced by Dave Cobb. Outstanding.
Parker Millsap: Other Arrangements
Melodic and bluesy, rock and roll-ish outing from Oklahoma born singer, songwriter and bandleader, Parker Millsap. The depth and range in Millsaps vocals are terrific, across twelve rollicking, pulsating songs.
Paul Thorn: Don’t Let the Devil Ride
Unabashed album of gospel music, with Paul and his band, and a group of top notch collaborators including the Blind Boys of Alabama, the McCrary Sisters, Bonnie Bishop and New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Horns, all in scintillating form. Check out our interview with Paul Thorn here.
Ry Cooder: The Prodigal Son
An album of wonderfully reinterpreted old gospel songs and hymns, from the guitar virtuoso. Cooder’s first album for six years has been hailed as “destined to become an instant classic” the produce of a “musical mastermind” and “completely fresh and contemporary.” These are songs that will speak to anyone, believer or unbeliever. There’s humanity, decency, inspiration, hope in these songs, that anyone can feel. You can find more comment on this album here:
Here are our picks for 11-20, again in alphabetical order:
“Shemekia Copeland is one of the great blues voices of our time” Chicago Tribune
Photo: Mike White / Alligator Records
Shemekia Copeland is a blues powerhouse, with a stack of blues music awards to her name (Blues Music Awards, Living Blues Awards) and several Grammy nominations. She burst on to the scene in 1998 with Turn the Heat Up and has been lighting up stages and recording studios with the force of her personality, her incredible vocals and song-writing ever since. She’s opened for the Rolling Stones, and graced stages with B B King, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana, and played for President and Mrs. Obama at the White House.
Her new album, America’s Child, produced by Nashville’s Will Kimbrough, is a compelling piece of work that sees Ms. Copeland branch out beyond the blues in which she’s made her name. To be sure there are great blues numbers here, but there’s rock and country too – overall it’s a great piece of Americana.
When Down at the Crossroads asked Shemekia how she would describe the album musically, she replied, “It’s rootsy. All American music is based on the blues, so I felt free to borrow from other genres like country and bluegrass.”
The album has a stellar cast of collaborators on the album – John Prine, Mary Gauthier, Emmylou Harris, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Cropper and others. Shemekia clearly enjoyed working with each of them and told us, “Each one was incredibly generous. John Prine was so much fun to duet with, and Mary Gauthier is a wonderful person who happens to be one of the best writers in America.”
Gauthier has returned the compliment by saying, “America’s Child is a ground-breaking, genre-bending work of beauty. Shemekia is one of the great singers of our time…Her voice on these songs is nothing short of magic.”
Shemekia told us: “Rhiannon’s banjo took our song to a whole other level. Emmylou has the voice of an angel. I was so honoured. And Steve Cropper is my old friend and happens to be one of the greatest, most soulful guitarists in the history of music. I was blessed to have each of them.”
When asked about the background to the album – why this set of songs and what she was setting out to achieve with it, Shemekia said that last year she had given birth to Johnny Lee Copeland and that the album is her vision of the world she is bringing him into – “my vision of life in America today, and my hopes for the future.”
Shemekia Copeland is no stranger to biting social commentary in her work – in her 2015 album, Outskirts of Love, she addressed victims of date rape in Crossbone Beach and of domestic violence in Drivin’ Out of Nashville, the homeless, in Cardboard Box, and those living in poverty in Lord Help the Poor And Needy. And no less in American Child, she offers a social commentary and critique of the way things are in the United States at the moment in the songs I Ain’t Got Time for Hate, Americans and Would You Take My Blood. When asked how much it matters for artists and musicians to comment and make people think about what is going on, Shemekia said that for her it was important. “Music,” she said, “reaches people in ways that speeches and politics cannot. It’s emotional.”
There’s no shortage of emotion on this album, driven by the conviction and clarity of Ms. Copeland’s vocals, which range from tender in the closing lullaby to playful in One I Love to sassy on The Wrong Idea to earnest in In the Blood of the Blues, and everything in between. Although it’s not an out and out blues album, there’s a fine bluesy feel throughout, driven by the excellent guitar skills of Will Kimbrough and Steve Cropper. The song arrangements and tight band work combine with Ms. Copeland’s voice to make this an authentic and memorable album.
Would You Take My Blood written by John Hahn and Will Kimbrough directly addresses the problem of racism. “All I want is some respect,” sings Shemekia, and then pointedly asks someone who’s a racist if they’d be willing to take your blood if they were dying and needed it? It is appalling that these sorts of attitudes still seem to be so ingrained in the fabric of American life, and it’s sometimes hard to see how the problem be addressed. “An incredibly difficult question,” replied Shemekia. “A good start might be if people actually lived according to beliefs espoused by their religion. The golden rule would be a good place to start.” Ain’t that the truth?
Terry Abrahamson’s and Derrick Proce’s In the Blood of the Blues, is an outstanding blues song, with great guitar work from Kimbrough, who has played guitar with Emmylou Harris in recent years. It’s a stark reminder of the way the blues is rooted in the suffering of the black community – in slavery, sharecropping and Jim Crow injustice.
“I’m the twist in the wire tying every bale of cotton
I’m the shout in the field that echoes across the sea
I’m the newsprint walls in a one-room shack in Stovall
And the blade on the knife that cut my brother from the tree.”
Despite every week’s dispiriting news cycle seeming to confirm the need for the United States to properly come to terms with its past with respect to African Americans, when we asked Shemekia if, as she looks around at America today, does she have cause to be hopeful, she replied, “Totally, it’s still the greatest country on earth. I love it and it will always be my home.”
As well as the serious side to the record, there’s a sense of playfulness and joy here too. Shemekia told us, “Now with the birth of my son (born just two years ago), I’m a more joyful person than ever. And grateful.” She said in a previous interview with Forbes that, in fact, America’s Child is completely about Johnny Lee, who had changed her life. “You immediately become frustrated with the world you live in but you’re also hopeful for your child and hopeful that things will get better for him. That’s kind of what America’s Child is about.”
Multi-Grammy award winning Ry Cooder has been making music and recording for the past 50 years. He’s a songwriter, film score composer, and record producer. A multi-instrumentalist, he is maybe best known for his slide guitar work,with Rolling Stone magazine ranking him eighth on their list of “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.” His latest album, The Prodigal Son, his first for six years, has been hailed as “destined to become an instant classic” (Daily Telegraph), and “completely fresh and contemporary” (NPR). MOJO declared it “A career-high.”
Along with his band – Joachim Cooder on drums, Robert Commagere on bass, saxophonist, Sam Gendel and the fabulous vocal trio, The Hamiltones – he played to a sold-out National Stadium, Dublin, having played there some 20-odd years ago. Here’s what we learned.
1. At 71, Ry Cooder can still command the stage and have a crowd eating out of his hand with the quality of his music and his engagement with the audience. He joked about going off to have a few hits of oxygen half way through the set, claiming that Emmylou Harris had got him into it by letting him use her gold tank a while back while playing together. Oxygen or not, he bounced back after a short break to give a barnstorming performance which featured superb versions of Jesus on the Mainline and How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live.
2. If you have a superb singing group in your band, why not let them take centre stage for a while? Which is exactly what happened with The Hamiltones, Ry Cooder content to let them have at it during his break and later on when he seemed to enjoy just playing a supporting role on guitar behind them. These guys from North Carolina – Antonio Bowers, James Tillman Jr. Corey Williams II – were terrific, three cool looking dudes with bushy beards and shades, with the sweetest tenor voices you ever heard. And they were not just backing vocalists, they were performers who know how to entertain. Their ability to recreate the sound of the old gospel quartet was perfect for the material of Ry Cooder’s new album, The Prodigal Son.
3. You don’t have to wear a beanie cap to be in Ry’s band – but clearly it helps! All but two members of the band sported a beanie – must get chilly up on that stage!
4. Putting a bass saxophone into the mix and giving it a few lead breaks might not seem obvious, but boy, it worked. Sam Gendel doesn’t look as if he has enough puff for that big baby, but when he launched into a solo in Everybody Ought to Treat a Stranger Right, we all sat up and took notice and the ground rumbled beneath us.
5. Updating a Woody Guthrie song with a contemporary reference made complete sense. Guthrie’s Vigilante Man morphed into a sharp commentary about Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old African American teenager, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida, supposedly in self-defence. Blind Alfred Reed’s How Can A Poor Man, got a similar update, to huge roars of approval, with a riff on Donald Trump.
6. Cooder’s slide guitar playing really is something to behold. The technique on How Can A Poor Man where he played slide and worked the volume knob on the guitar at the same time was impressive.
7. And finally – about half the songs he performed were from The Prodigal Son, a carefully curated selection of blues and gospel from the early 20th Century, which really is Cooder’s masterpiece. The audience, presumably like Ry Cooder himself, may not share the faith of the songs’ composers, but their enthusiasm and appreciation was no less than for the other songs performed. These are songs that will speak to anyone, believer or unbeliever. The arrangements, musicianship and feeling are spiritually powerful. There’s humanity, decency, inspiration, hope in these songs, that anyone can feel. And in songs like Harbour of Love and Nobody’s Fault But Mine, we all felt it for sure.
[Find Down at the Crossroads’ take on The Prodigal Son here]
“Smither is an American original – a product of the musical melting pot and one of the absolute best singer-songwriters in the world.” (Associated Press)
Chris Smither has had a performing and recording career for nigh on fifty years and has just released his 18th album, Call Me Lucky. It’s a terrific piece of work showcasing his skill and experience as a bluesman, guitarist and songwriter.
His songs have been covered along the way by artists like Bonnie Raitt, Diana Krall, Emmylou Harris and John Mayall, and he’s renowned for his rhythmic acoustic fingerpicking guitar. Long-time producer David Goodrich worked on the album with Smither, along with Billy Conway, Matt Lorenz, Keith Gary and Mike Meadows, to create a fine, bluesy album of Americana that features eight Chris Smither originals and a three nicely conceived, but surprising covers. It’s effectively a double album, the second CD consisting of a cover of the Beatles’ She Said, She Said and a reworking of five of the songs on the first.
As you’d expect on a Chris Smither album, the lyrics are sharp and laced with wry humour, without ever being cynical, the new songs demonstrating once again the importance of Chris Smither as a songwriter and artist.
Chris is touring with this album throughout the US and UK through until the Spring of next year. Be sure and catch a show! Down at the Crossroads chatted to him about the album:
DATC: Chris, Tell us about the idea behind the album, is there an overall thrust or theme of the album? And maybe a bit about making the album.
CS: At some point along the line I decided it’s time to make a new record and that means I need to write some new songs. Because I don’t write all the time, I write for specific projects. Having said that, of course, most of the songs are written within a nine months period and that usually means that they are thematically related, because they’re about what I’ve been thinking about lately. They tend to resemble themselves in some respects, but there’s no intentional feeling to the entire thing. If you’re looking for a theme, I’d say the idea behind the record is to get a new record out! [laughs]
The making of the record itself was what has become very standard for me…my producer makes suggestions…he has insights into what’s going on with me that I don’t even have yet. And at one of our meetings – we’d usually get together for a couple of days at a time – we started talking about covers, and he wanted to know if I wanted to do any covers of other people’s songs on this record. And I said well, I haven’t thought about it.
But then we were also having a conversation about Chuck Berry, who at the time was still alive – not for long unfortunately – and he had just turned 90 and made a new record. And we were wondering what Chuck Berry sounded like at 90! And then Goody [David Goodrich] says, hey, play Maybelline in a minor key – see if that sounds like a 90 year old! [laughs] So we started fooling around with it and we said, oh man we gotta do this. Because it changed the song so dramatically.
DATC: Yes, it’s fantastic. It’s like a new song…it’s like a Chris Smither song!
CS: Yes I know! And that kind of sums up this whole subject of covers. We had this on-going conversation about cover songs, and when we were down in Texas working on the record – those guys I was working with, well they stayed up a lot later than I do! I’m an old man, I go to bed at like, 11 or 12 o’clock, but they’re studio rats, they stay up until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. And they started playing around with stuff that we had just recorded. They’d take a song we had just recorded and totally re-imagine it, the whole arrangement. I remember the first one they did, it was the punk version of Down to the South and I walked in the next morning and they said, hey listen to this, do you think you could sing to this?! And I said, yeah, I’ll give it a shot. And it was just a goof, just playing around. And so I did it, and the next night they did another one. And I walked in the next morning and they said, sing this, this is a slow version of a fast song. So we started playing around with it and by the time we had about three of them, we thought, you know this sounds pretty good, we should just include this with the record.
DATC: So these are the alternative versions on the second CD?
CS: Yeah, those are all the alternative versions. It was just sort of playing around in the studio and then saying, hey this is interesting, we should let people hear this.. And then the only song on that disk that isn’t mine is the Beatles’ She said, She said. I had learned the song when I was asked to participate in a John Lennon tribute concert about 3 years ago, and I started working on that arrangement of the song. But then I had to cancel, because I had to have a heart operation, so I never got a chance to play it! And I was fooling around with it one afternoon in the studio and Goody said, What is that? And I said, She Said, She Said, and then Matt Lorenz [The Suitcase Junkett] started in on some harmonies, and we said, yes, we should do this, we should record this.
DATC: That’s interesting, Chris. Of course, you’ve a long history as an interpreter of songs. You’re not afraid to take on classic songs that are very familiar to people. When you decide on a song you’re going to cover, how do you go about that process of re-interpretation, of putting your own stamp on it?
CS: You know, I don’t really think about it that much. First of all, I don’t really think about covering a song unless I’m really familiar with it, where I’ve listened to it a hundred times at least. So basically, I just sit down and start playing around on the guitar, and I don’t ever go back to the original. I want to depend on my own memory of what it was like, because that’ll tell me what it was about the song that impressed me the most.
DATC: With something like Dylan’s Desolation Row, of course, it was probably very difficult to get the original out of your head!
CS: It was, but, you know, even on Dylan songs, when I hear them, I tend to sing harmonies along with them, and more or less the way I think it should go [laughs], and so basically, what happens is what I remember is my own harmony of it, as opposed to the way he does it.
And when you talk about covering Dylan, when I did Visions of Johanna, that whole tune – I do it in 3/4, instead of 4/4 – because that’s just the way I hear it. All the significant lines in that song make for a perfect waltz time – it’s actually 6/8.
DATC: I read in Acoustic Guitar Magazine that they said the album was about the big things – life, love, loss. And I’ve listened to it a lot over the past week or so, and as I’ve listened to it, I get the sense that a lot of it is about just getting older, considering the ups and downs of life, distilling a bit of wisdom that comes with age. Is that about right?
CS: I think you’re right! [laughs] Yeah, I would agree with that! I can’t help it – I’m almost 74, and you start thinking about things, you know? You’re starting to get towards the end and it occupies an increasingly large share of your thoughts. So it’s maybe not surprising that that is what comes out.
DATC: Yes, in Too Bad So Sad, there are a number of lines about this process of getting older, but I love the bit where you’re kind of complaining – “yes I have taken all my meds!” I can relate to that!
I read your essay on turning 60 that you wrote a few years ago for a book on that subject. I’ve not long passed that milestone myself and it seemed like a terrible thing to happen to me, so I thought there might be a bit of wisdom in there! I’m trying to be a bit more philosophical about it now! And one of the things you said was, “I’ve got less energy than I once did, but more than a lot of people half my age” – which I thought was a good attitude. Is that still the case for you, Chris?
CS: Yeah, I think so. People find it hard to believe I’m as old as I am. Of course, when they get close, they realize! But for some reason I haven’t turned grey yet. And that’s the thing that fools people the most! They think, he can’t be that old! And you know, I keep moving – I take good care of myself, I get a lot of exercise and I’m doing well.
DATC: Chris, you’ve had a 50-year career – what keeps you going as an artist, especially the touring, which presumably doesn’t get any easier?
CS: In some ways it doesn’t get easier, but in some ways it is easier, because I can afford nicer accommodation! It’s not too bad. I have slowed down some – I’m doing just under 100 shows a year these days, which is half what I was doing at my peak. But to tell you the truth, I would go crazy if I weren’t doing this. The last few years, we’ve not booked too many dates in January or February, just because it’s too hard to get around – we live in New England and you never know whether you’re going to be able to fly out or get back home at that time of year. But – at the end of those two months, I’m going crazy! I can’t wait to get out there and play! And then sometimes I’m at home for a week and I think, oh no I’ve got to get out again, but as soon as I get on stage I realize, this is what I do, this is what makes me happy.
DATC: Is it just that interaction, that feedback, that dynamic with the audience that does it?
CS: It’s not just that. It’s a place that I go to in my head when I play. I sort of dissociate from myself and I become…not another person, but a different avatar of myself. And if I’m out of touch with it for too long, I start to miss it. And I have countless people who come up to me after shows and say, please don’t stop what you’re doing – and it’s very hard to resist that kind of response!
DATC: Going back to the album, Chris, one of my favourite songs on the album is Nobody Home, which is a kind of wry, slightly caustic take on the current state of the world. You’ve got a few things in your sights here, including social media & disconnectedness. And in one of the verses, you have a preacher just staring at his phone – getting the news or on FB or twitter, I guess – but his mouth is shut – “there’s nobody home.” And it made me think that the very people who ought to be saying something meaningful or critical of the way things are, are just silent.
CS: You got it! I got through to you! But it’s basically a song about a person looking for help, and he’s looking at all these places and he isn’t able to find it. But I’m not too cynical. But if the mid-term elections here in the United State don’t remedy things, I might get more cynical, because I find what’s going on politically almost unbelievable.
DATC: Yes, on this side of the Atlantic, we kind of watch, with jaws on the floor, each day’s new developments. And you mention quite explicitly in that song the big White House. And the “clown with a comb over, tweeting on his phone.” Again, there’s nobody home. How does this go down with audiences?
CS: You gotta understand about my audiences – nobody would come to my show being totally ignorant of where I stand on some issues. That verse is usually greeted with a huge roar of approval!
DATC: You’re busy touring the US for the rest of the year. And then you’re coming to the UK and Ireland in January. And you’ve been coming over here for a long time. You find get good responses in Ireland?
CS: Oh yeah. It’s a joy. People ask me, what’s your favourite place to play, and I always say Ireland – people there know how to get the best out of you.
There have been a lot of very good releases this year so far. Here’s our selection of twelve of the best:
Joe Bonamassa/Beth Hart: Black Coffee
You really can’t go wrong with an album of music from guitar genius Joe Bonamassa and vocal tour de force Beth Hart. Individually brilliant. Together, they make magic.
Ry Cooder: Prodigal Son
An album of wonderfully reinterpreted old gospel songs and hymns, from the guitar virtuoso. Highly recommended.
Dana Fuchs: Love Lives On
Fine album of bluesy American from the talented singer-songwriter, which features her utterly engaging, raspy vocals and a wonderful set of 13 songs, including a blues-soaked, stripped back version of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. “Love Lives On is about hope and perseverance…I hope in some way this album can give some of that back to you,” said Fuchs.
Ian Siegal rages against the poison in the veins of the world in a very fine album of blues rock. His trademark rasping vocals never felt so menacing and appropriate.
Buddy Guy: The Blues is Alive and Well
15 tracks from the veteran bluesman, with Guy’s still formidable vocals and blistering guitar work aided and abetted by the McCrary sisters, Mick Jager, James Bay, Jeff Beck and Keith Richards.
Keeshea Pratt Band: Believe
One very fine album of soul-soaked blues, featuring an outstanding 7-piece band and the wondrous Ms. Keeshea Pratt, whose soaring and thrilling vocals sparkle on each of the twelve tracks. Here’s our full review here.
Chris Smither: Call Me Lucky
Double album of terrific acoustic songs from the gravel voiced and rhythmic guitar picker. As usual, the songs are clever, incisive and creative. Great stuff.
Paul Thorn: Don’t Let the Devil Ride
Unabashed album of gospel music, with Paul and his band, and a group of top notch collaborators including the Blind Boys of Alabama, the McCrary Sisters, Bonnie Bishop and New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Horns, all in scintillating form. Read our interview with Paul Thorn here.
Various: Strange Angels: In Flight with Elmore James
Top notch tribute album to Elmore James featuring Bettye LaVette, Keb’ Mo’, Warren Haynes, Shelby Lynne/Allison Moorer and others
Rocking, honest 15th album from Zito who sings about his “second chance at a first class life,” charting his journey from addiction to sobriety to a life in music.
Paul Thorn has just released his 13th album, Don’t Let the Devil Ride. It’s an unabashed album of gospel music, with Paul and his band, and a group of top notch collaborators including the Blind Boys of Alabama, the McCrary Sisters, Bonnie Bishop and New Orleans’ Preservation Hall Jazz Horns in scintillating form. It’s heady stuff, rockin’ gospel music with a wonderful, upbeat spirit. “This is the culmination of my whole life in music, coming back to my gospel roots,” Paul says, “I want to help lighten your load and make you smile.”
He goes on: “One of things that I take a lot of pride in is that I love everybody, and what I learned in church paid dividends. When I’m up there entertaining it’s also a glimpse of what my life has been and how gospel music has molded me into who I am.”
Who he is, is a class Americana act – great singer, guitar player and song writer with a quick sense of humour, who has shared a stage with Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Jeff Beck and Huey Lewis, to name a few. But he’s also a thoroughly nice guy who’s happy to sign autographs and pose for photos with fans at his shows and who feels he owes a debt of gratitude to his mom and dad.
Down at the Crossroads was able to catch up with Paul in Savannah, Georgia, before his gig that night with the Blind Boys of Alabama.
DATC: Hi Paul. Thanks for talking to us today. We were very excited to listen to the new album – it’s been on constant play in my car over the past few days. So, congratulations on that – it really is outstanding. And it’s basically a gospel album – tell us why you wanted to make a record like this.
Paul: Well I grew up the son of a Pentecostal minister and I grew up singing to this type of music. My family are white people, but we always went to the black churches a lot and we worshipped with them, and I just love the black style of gospel music. That’s what I was drawn to and I always had it in my mind that some day I wanted to do a gospel record, and I just thought that this was the right time to pay tribute to my roots – and that’s what I did.
DATC: That’s interesting – going back to your boyhood, what was it like for white people going to a black church in Mississippi back then?
Paul: Truth be told, there were two types of churches growing up. The black people had their own church and the white people had theirs, and we each had a different style of worship. But my family would go visit the black churches and we’d worship with them, and that’s where the music got me, man. White churches did more of a country and western style – which I do like too! – but the black music really got into me, I just loved it.
DATC: There’s always been a bluesy, gospel feel to your music, Paul, hasn’t there?
Paul: That’s exactly right. I live in Tupelo Mississippi which is the birthplace of Elvis Presley, and people always ask me what my influences were and they expect me to say somebody famous. But it’s really not – my biggest influences were people nobody’s heard of, people who sang in church. You know there was a spirit to what they did; it didn’t bother me that they weren’t famous, I was being touched in my heart by the sounds I was hearing.
DATC: So, how did you go about choosing this collection of songs? They’re all old gospel songs, spirituals and others from the African American tradition. How did you pick these songs?
Paul: Well, one thing I did not want to do; I didn’t want to sing gospel songs that had been done a lot. There are a lot of great gospel songs like Amazing Grace or I’ll Fly Away – but too many people have done them, so we just dug around – listed to old records, searched the Internet, we tried to find songs that were good gospel songs, but more obscure. Some of the songs were so obscure we weren’t even able to find out who wrote them. They’re songs that have been forgotten. So that’s how we chose them, we wanted songs that weren’t as familiar.
DATC: You know, one of the songs I was listening to today, The Half Has Never Been Told – your version is terrific – but I remember as a boy singing the original 19th century Philip Bliss hymn. I haven’t heard that song for 40 odd years, so it took me back!
Paul: Yeah, I wanted these songs to be fresh for a new generation of listeners who’ve never heard these songs.
DATC: And I love the version of You Gotta Move which you’ve changed from Mississippi Fred McDowell’s slow blues into a fantastic upbeat celebration. What’s that song about and why did you give it this sort of treatment?
Paul: Well that’s a good question. I think that song can be what you want it to mean. You got to move could mean get up and dance and rejoice and feel good. It could mean stop being lazy and get up and do some work! It could mean anything. It could mean you’re fixing to die. When you say, when the Lord get ready, it could mean the grim reaper’s coming to take you out. It could mean anything – that’s what I like about it; I want the listener to make it mean what it means to them. It’s got multiple meanings and it’s a good song for that reason.
DATC: I’ve always thought of that song as a resurrection song. You know, the policeman, the woman on the street – everybody’s in the same boat, but in the last day when God moves them bones, everybody’s the same.
Paul: Yeah, exactly right, That’s a strong message. We’ll all the same – whoever you look up to the most in life, your hero, whoever that may be, you have to understand, that person is very flawed. We’re all flawed. Nobody is all good and nobody is all bad. That’s the thing I think this record also says – we’re all in it together.
DATC: That’s interesting. Because the last song, the title track Don’t Let the Devil Ride taps into that old struggle between good and evil, often played out on an individual level. Which you see in a lot of the old blues songs and in the lives of some of the old blues artists. But that’s a struggle I guess we all face.
Paul: You know the hardest thing in life is doing the right thing. It’s easy doing the wrong thing. Doing the wrong thing is fun! When I think of Don’t Let the Devil Ride I think of temptation. In my world, I guess the strongest temptation for me, and for any man, is women. Know what I mean? My grandfather used to say, when the birds of temptation fly around your head, don’t let them build a nest.
DATC: Wise advice! Well, let me ask you this, Paul – your early history in the church, as I understand it, resulted in you getting thrown out. But here you are all these years later with a lovely dedication to your father and mother on the album sleeve, and saying what you learned in church paid dividends. Tell us how that works.
Paul: Well, you know, my mom and dad, when they got married they were very young, and they started singing gospel music and pastoring churches. They spent their entire lives serving God and serving others. And one of the things I learned from my Dad that has really served me well in life – there’s a lot of people you meet in life that are only nice to certain people, they pick and choose who they’re nice to benefit themselves, but my dad wasn’t like that, he was always a champion for the underdog. And…that’s what I wanna be.
DATC: That’s a great example to have in your life, for sure. Now you recorded the album at Sam Phillips Studio and FAME studio Muscle Shoals and Preservation Hall– 3 very historic locations. Tell us about that experience.
Paul: Well we just wanted to record this authentic music in authentic studios and there’s nothing more authentic than Sam Phillips Studio in Memphis and Rick Hall’s Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals. That’s as authentic as it gets. We recorded half the album at Sam Phillips and half at Fame, and PBS filmed the making of the album, they followed us to both studios. So it’s coming out as a documentary on PBS in May. It’s gonna be a great promotional tool for the record. But we wanted to record the record somewhere that had the spirit to match the music.
DATC: Yeah. It sounds great, And the production and the sound quality on the album is excellent. And you have some wonderful collaborators on the album – the Blind Boys of Alabama, the McCrary Sisters, Bonnie Bishop and the horns. What was it like working with those guys?
Paul: Oh man, it was awesome. The Blind Boys – I love those guys, they’re pros and they know more about gospel music than I’ll ever know, because they’ve been doing it longer than I have. And I like it, because they’re old enough to call me boy! I like that!
DATC: So, they are going to join you, and the McCrary Sisters as well, on some of the dates on your tour?
Paul: Yeah, I’m doing a show with the Blind Boys tonight. We’re going to take this gospel thing as far as we can take it. It’s off to a good start. I just found out yesterday that it debuted on the Americana chart at number 12 and next week it’s gonna be in the Top 100 Billboard chart in the United States. So we’re off to a really good start.
DATC: That’s great, Paul. How does this material go down with your audience, some of whom may have no interest in gospel music faith?
Paul: Well so far it’s gone over great. ‘Cause all of my fans that know me know that I grew up singing gospel music. And believe it or not, for years my fans have been asking me to cut a gospel record. You know, whether you’re a believer or not, the music is great. And when I go on stage, I’m not a preacher – I’m an entertainer. But I am sincere when I sing this music. And the fans love it! I haven’t heard one person say, why’d you do a gospel record? Actually they’ve all said, man, this is what we’ve been waiting on. So everybody wins!
DATC: The album is great, you’ve done a fantastic job. I wish you well for tonight and for all the rest of the tour. Paul, thanks very much.
Janiva Magness has recently released Love is An Army, her 14th album. She’s a highly accomplished artist, honoured with seven awards in the last 6 years by The Blues Foundation of Memphis, including B.B. King Entertainer of the Year and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year. She was also nominated for a Grammy for her last album, Love Wins Again.
As well as being a talented songwriter, outstanding singer and hard-working performing artist, Janiva has served passionately as Ambassador for both Foster Care Alumni and Child Welfare League of America for many years, standing up for young people, having herself overcome much adversity earlier in life.
Love Is an Army has twelve hugely enjoyable songs which tap into a deep well of both Americana and Memphis soul. She is joined by a number of guest luminaries, such as Charlie Musselwhite, Delbert McClinton, Texas singer-songwriter Bryan Stephens, Poco frontman Rusty Young, Mississippi hill-country blues artist Cedric Burnside, and bluegrass guitar and banjo virtuoso Courtney Hartman. These are stirring songs of protest, empowerment and hope which will capture your soul and move your feet.
Down at the Crossroads caught up with Janiva prior to an extensive tour of the United States.
DATC: Janiva, congratulations on the new album. It’s very upbeat, it’s very inspirational and it’s already had very fine reviews. What was the impetus behind the album?
Janiva: I’m very glad you connect with the music. My producer, Dave, and I wanted to make a record that was very current, not just sonically current, but topically current. And we had quite a sense of urgency about it. There is so much stress in the world these days, there is so much, upset, anger, pain. In a global way. And we really wanted to speak to that. And do everything we could to encourage and inspire people to stand up and speak up, and for change. Because clearly – clearly great change is needed.
But the older we get the more we realize that change begins at home. The revolution begins at home. You know I’m old enough to have seen this before. It feels a little bit, in many ways, like 1968. And so we wanted to speak to that. And that’s really what the palette of the music was aimed towards.
DATC: And I saw that you said that you thought the album might be a challenge for some of your fans. Why do you say that?
Janiva: Because in the world of blues – contemporary or traditional – in the world of roots music, there’s a lot of love and affection for the tradition. And I think that this album contains some of that. But its pushing out further. And I think if you were to look at the arc of my recording career, if you were to listen to each album back to back, you would find a continuum. I have never wanted to make the same album twice.
There is a big shift in the sonics of the album. Some of the instrumentation in there some of the traditional blues people might absolutely love – or might absolutely be upset by! And there is also an element of empowerment that upsets people.
Just yesterday on social media, I got called out by one of my fans for posting too much political stuff.
DATC: Oh dear!
Janiva: I’ve never been the person, the woman, who has gone quietly into the night! And I have no intention of beginning that now.
DATC: Good for you!
Janiva: Yeah, I was getting called out – “I love your music, you have an amazing voice, one of the best voices in the blues today, but you’re upsetting me by putting all these posts about people asking in this county about gun control. Stop it!”
DATC: Yeah, well, in looking at this album you’ve already been quite outspoken about that. If you read the lyrics to Love to a Gunfight – which incidentally is a wonderful song – in the light of recent events that’s hugely topical – you say “now is not the time to pray” You know, thoughts and prayers and all that – it’s the time for action and not simply platitudes.
Janiva: I believe this to my soul. These are not just things I say, or – what’s going to be the popular thing, let’s see if I can catch a wave? The place that I come from and have always come from is to stand up and speak out. And be accountable. Accountability as a human being; accountability as a neighbourhood; as a state, as a nation. Wait – how about accountability as the human race?
So clearly that person who was calling me out on social media has not heard the new record. I’m not the shut up and sing type!
DATC: You’ve talked about the loss of kindness and respect for each other and how upset you are about that. We see that, clearly, in American politics – but is it the same more generally, do you think?
Janiva: Absolutely. A lack of consideration of other human beings. A lack of basic fundamental kindness. Please and thank you – where did that go? Where did respect for the older generation go? Where did the basic fundamental capacity to listen to someone else go? Because we don’t listen any more.
And that is global in my experience; it isn’t just the United States or the UK – it isn’t just anywhere. It’s all of us. And I am saddened by that and I think it has a great deal to do with the state of affairs we are collectively in. Add in the level of greed to that and it’s quite ugly.
DATC: The good thing about this album though, is you don’t dwell on the problem too much – you move pretty swiftly to the answer. Your album asks: But what if love was in charge and calling the shots? So, I suppose my question is, how possible do you think that is? People seem so entrenched in their mindsets; hemmed in by the social media they subscribe to – can we get to the place where love is in charge?
Janiva: I absolutely believe we can. I’ve seen such magnificent transformations in people as individuals; I’ve seen transformations in communities; I’ve seen absolute miraculous transformations in…myself. So – how is it not possible?
But – there is a caveat. My experience says I have to be willing. Change is always closer than I think it is. It’s more within reach than I imagine. But I have to be willing. And that means there needs to be a burning to change. There can be so much fear. Fear is such a negative force. It’s cruel. And yet, it’s part of the human condition. So, what do we do about that? I have to be willing to face these things. And move beyond them. My mind tells me it’s a great brick wall, but my experience is that it’s simply a veil. Every time I have faced these fears, it’s a veil, not a brick wall. I practice a lot of yoga and they say the mind is a monkey [i.e. unsettled, restless] and I can’t disagree with that.
DATC: You’ve said you believe in the power of helping others. That love is an action. That reminds me of John Mayer’s song – Love is a Verb; or St John, who a long time ago said, “if you see your needy brother or sister and you look the other way, you know nothing about love.” So, fs that’s what it’s about, if love is an action, what would you like to see happening? What do we need to do?
Janiva: Along the lives of it begins with us; it begins with us, it begins at home. Helping someone who is in need. It begins there. Do it. Do something every day to help someone else.
DATC: “Swing the hammer every single day …and watch the walls come down”
Janiva; Yeah, pretty much! So what is that – is it carrying someone’s groceries? Helping an elderly person across the street? Is that taking a meal to someone, feeding someone? Does that mean going and volunteering for an hour or two? Does that mean canvassing locally to get the news out about some current legislation that is on the chopping block or is about to be passed, that is harmful, or that is helpful? Or about going out and helping people register to vote? To engage with our neighbour, our community. And by the way – do something kind and tell no one. Just do it.
That was something I learned long ago and it has been a profound practice.
DATC: It reminds me of a YouTube video I’ve seen of Bob Dylan, it’s called the Holiday Blues. And in his own inimitable fashion, with that laconic drawl of his, he asks, “what’s the cure for the holiday blues?” And he says, just go out and do something for somebody, volunteer in a soup kitchen, whatever, and you’ll soon find your blues go away.
Janiva: It’s a funny thing, but it works. It seems almost too simple.
Photography by Nathan David Kelly.
DATC: I really like that song Hammer where you sing “Just got to swing the hammer every single day …and watch the walls come down”. Charlie Musselwhite is fantastic on this. And you’ve got some other great contributors on the album.
Janiva: I’m very excited about this. Very few of my albums have had special guests, but we decided to just take the gloves off on this one and just go for it. And I was very, very grateful that we got yeses from the people that we asked that ended up appearing. I’m very grateful that it worked out.
DATC: And how would you characterize the style of the album? Some have said it sounds like Memphis R&B, or soul, and one reviewer wanted to term it Americana-Soul, which I think is quite interesting. How would you characterize it?
Janiva: I would say Americana Soul covers it. Because the definition of Americana as a genre encompasses elements of several different kinds of American roots music. So it encompasses folk music, blues and also soul music. It encompasses elements of early or traditional country music. And so I think Americana Soul is a pretty accurate place to put it.
DATC: It’s very listenable. I think people from various backgrounds and tastes will find something to really like in this.
Janiva: I hope so. My digits are crossed!
DATC: Let me ask you this: Yesterday was International Women’s Day. What has it been like for you, as a woman, building your career in this industry?
Photo: Earl Gibson III
Janiva: It’s been a tremendous amount of hard work. I’m grateful that I have a very strong work ethic. If you are pushing on the idea that women have a different experience than men in business, I can absolutely speak to that, of course I think that that’s true.
I do not believe that it is the case that men have an easier time than women, overall. I do believe it is difficult for men on different levels. But the fact that there are certain disadvantages because I have different plumbing than you – that’s real. That’s not based on skill, or ability, it’s certainly not based on talent, so those prejudices are based on some very old distorted thinking and philosophy.
And I have to raise my hand on the #metoo movement. So, it’s been very real; it’s been part of the experience. I have absolutely dealt with sexual harassment my entire life. I’m a woman in the world. Anyone who is surprised by that is either not paying attention or is on some level some kind of perpetrator.
Now, it took me quite some time as a young woman in business of music to understand that these prejudices that exist in the business world and in the world at large – it’s really not my problem. If someone sees me as worth less, that’s not my problem, it’s theirs. I get to make a decision whether or not to endorse that perspective. The song Hammer speaks to it: when they tell you “you’re too black, too white, too blues – they’re just words.” Now those can be hurtful. But I have to make a decision. Whose problem is that? Am I going to take that on, am I going to carry that prejudice? – “yes, I’m not worth as much because I’m a woman, or I’m not worth as much because I’m not a white blues artist” – who’s problem is that?
That’s not my problem. I’ll leave that with the person that brought it into the room. Take it with you when you leave. I’m not taking that. Now that needs some discipline. And there are some days – well I’m an artist and some days I’m going to question myself, I’m a human being. But this is not my problem, it’s their problem.
We fight it. I stand up to it all the time, it’s very real.
DATC: Janiva, you’re touring the US during March and April?
Janiva: And May, June, July and August! It’s looking to be a good year and I’m grateful for that. But I definitely want to come over to Europe in October – November. So digits crossed.
DATC: Janiva, great to talk to you, thank you so much.
Amy Helm This Too Shall Light
Birds of Chicago: Love in Wartime
Eric Bibb: Global Griot
Jayhawks: Back Roads and Abandoned Hotels
John Hiatt: The Eclipse Sessions
Larkin Poe: Venom and Faith
Lori McKenna: The Tree
Parker Millsap: Other Arrangements
Paul Thorn: Don’t Let the Devil Ride
Ry Cooder: The Prodigal Son
Ashley McBryde: Girl Going Nowhere
Brett Cobb: Providence Canyon
Brooks Williams: Lucky Star
Kacey Musgraves: Golden Hour
Mark Knopfler: Down the Road Wherever
Milk Carton: Kids Monterey
Pistol Annies: Interstate Gospel
Rosanne Cash: She Remembers Everything
Shemekia Copeland America’s Child
Various Artists: Johnny Cash: Forever Words
Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You
Calexico: The Threads that Keeps Us
Don Flemons: Black Cowboy
I’m With Her: See You around
John Prine: The Tree of Forgiveness
Wood Brothers: One Drop of Truth
