Sometimes the music is the message; with the Royal Southern Brotherhood, the music is used to deliver one, and it’s one worth hearing. The tam of Cyril Neville/voc-perc, Bart Walker/g-voc, Tyrone Vaughan/g-voc, Darrell Phillips/b, Yonrico Scott/dr and Horman Caesar/B3 deliver 12 rocking and soulful sermonettes that mix Southern stomping with messages to a generation of millennials.
With the band rocking like it’’s Saturday night on Beale Street, Neville and Walker point out important relationships in life on “Blood is Thicker Than Water” and bemoaning the life of consumerism on “Hooked On The Plastic.” Sounding like a modern day Solomon, the team pulls out the Staples classic “I Wonder Why” while flipping through the book of Ecclesiastes on “I’ve Seen Enough to Know.” The hooks are irresistible, but the messages of “Spirit Man” and “Face Of Love” talk about issues needing to be faced. This is the kind of band you want to sit down with after a gig and have a chat or two. Gotta love ‘em.
Ruf Records