Shelby Lynne, Revelation Road. Be ready to adjust your ears when
Revelation Road begins, because Shelby Lynne is ready to show us
everything. This is the kind of album an artist usually gets to make
only once. Lynne wrote, produced, sings and plays every note on it, and
each one of them sounds like it comes directly from the center of her
wide-open heart.
The road to revelation hasn't
always been a smooth one for Shelby Lynne. The early trauma of losing
her mother and father are part of a
long line of challenges, both personal and professional, and it's
probably a small miracle that Lynne has made it through with the
undeniable strength she has. Still, these songs are miraculous on their
own. They shine a light on the lady's search for love, something that
often leads to heartbreak but never to giving up. That's where
Revelation Road takes us: the realization that Shelby Lynne is a
survivor with a smile and willingness to try again.
In
a time when the cacophony of the world threatens to turn everything
into white noise, it's the quiet sound of a fragile song that can strike
with the most power. "I'll Hold Your Head," "Lead Me Love" and "I Won't
Leave You" express a world where we've all been. And even if we might
not want to go back again, there are lessons to learn and a certain
sureness in knowing we've made it to the other side that allow life to
glow. This woman
knows.
Wynton
Marsalis and Eric Clapton, Play the Blues. Music doesn't get much
more free than this. In a match made in heaven-adjacent, trumpeter
Wynton Marsalis and guitar man Eric Clapton throw open the windows and
let the sunshine in. It is such a joy to hear people play with no
ulterior motive except this is what they love to do. The live concert
recorded at Lincoln Center in New York could just have easily been
performed at Eddie Bo's El Grande Lounge in New Orleans, because the
inherent kicks living inside every song burst through on a mad dash to
freedom.The set list swings wildly from W.C.
Handy classics to Howlin' Wolf showstoppers. Even more
exciting is how everything fits together without fail. There is a deep
lesson to be learned here, and that is left to its own devices American
music can show the way to a soulful balance of life, where happiness and
sadness are not seen as opposites but rather two sides of the same
coin. Music has always been the great leveler, and these fine gentlemen
get down to the real nitty gritty from the get go.
Marsalis'
trumpet sounds like he's leading a parade right down Canal Street, with
plenty of propulsion from Clapton's fiery guitar and hot chops
clarinetist Victor Goines. The rest of the spirited players turn up the
heat whether it's on ballads or barnburners, adjusting inner tempos as
easily as a quickened stride and sure shake of the leg. By the time Taj
Mahal shows up on a "Just a Closer Walk with Thee," it really does feel
like sanctification is the natural next step towards musical
nirvana.
Etta
James, Heart & Soul: A Retrospective. There aren't many soul singers
who have created their own category, but Etta James surely has. She
began singing professionally when she was barely a teenager, and by the
time of the first hit single, "The Wallflower" in 1955, her fate was
sealed. She was going to conquer the charts, tour the world and swivel
listeners' heads like they didn't know what hit them. And it's still
happening today. Sometimes wonders really do happen.
Born
Jamesetta Hawkins in 1938, music became her destiny right away. Singing
with schoolmates became a way to entertain themselves, and as soon as
svengali Johnny Otis heard that voice and changed her name, history
began. These four discs are an illuminating travel through a musical
life with enough ups and downs to make a rollercoaster look tame, but
what is most striking is that no
matter what Etta James was going through the songs always arrived like a
force of nature. The voice never let her down.
By
the time she got to Muscle Shoals in the mid-'60s and recorded "Tell
Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind," one of the great two-sided singles of
all time, James was floating on a cloud of shivering style. Everything
got sprinkled with a gold dust that makes those sessions sound like
they're touched by something celestial even today. Once the singer left
Chess Records for other labels in the '70s, there were still plenty of
surprises covering songs by Randy Newman, Alice Cooper and others. A
lust for life found a different direction, but didn't stop.
Etta
James got the nickname "Peaches" put on her when she was young, and has
spent her life covering the waterfront. If you want to discover just
what one woman can do with a great song, sympathetic band and
arrangement and a mountain of soul,
start right here. Heart & Soul is a full frontal view of musical
achievement that doesn't happen very often, but when it does all bets
are off. This living legend's road never ends.
