If you like your soul from an old soul, take a listen to vocalist Johnny Rawls. He’s got a sorghum rich voice and he works it like he’s toured the Chitlin’ circuit a few times, as he mixes originals with some clever indigo’d covers here. H e’s got a Staxy team of Johnny McGhee/g, Bob Trenchard/b, Richy Puga/dr and Dan Ferguson/key as well as a punchy horn section of Andy Romanas-ts, Nick Flood/bs, Robert Claiborne/tb and Mike Middleton/tp.
The team punches like Floyd Mayweather on B3 smokers l ike “Tiger In A Cage” and stomping “Born To The Blues” while Rawls shows his funk factor on “Red Cadillac.” He does a clever read of Sam Cooke’s “Having A Party” by starting it off slowly before popping the clutch, while the varnished and polished take of ”Your Love Is Lifting Me (Higher and Higher) is low ceiling sweaty. Rawls shows some moxie by covering a Rolling Stones tune, “ Beast of Burden” and make it sound like it came out of Beale Street in Memphis whle he takes you even deeper into the swamp on ”Every Woman Needs A Working Man.”
Rawls sings like he means it, and he means it like he lived it.
Catfood Records