The last couple of months have seen some fine Blues and Roots releases, but people, the bar has been raised, and Lisa Mills is the one responsible. I’m Changing is one of the best and most pure recordings in recent years. Mills is a singer with a stylistic range that careens from bluesy to jazzy, floats across the spectrum between folk-ish and country-tinged, while deeply centered in singer-songwriter territory, breathy one minute and belting the next, sad and sultry, soaring and sexy, vulnerable and volatile all at the same time. And deeply southern through and through.

Not just another girl with a guitar, this is music made by a woman who knows her strengths and weaknesses, and can sing about them with more authority than a truckload of doe-eyed waifs emoting about first lovers.

If you love old school soul music, the new Otis Clay and Johnny Rawls release Soul Brothers is the just the thing you need. Everything you love about soul music is here, funky guitar, rock solid bass, punchy horns, and the street-wise twin vocals of Clay and Rawls.

This is Southern Soul, think Memphis, not Detroit. As such the album is a mix of covers and originals, that all sound like songs you have known forever. The playing is so tight and flawless, and the vocals so spot-on that slipping this disc in the player is like trying on a comfortable pair of shoes.

Rawls, a member of O.V. Wright’s band for a decade or two, and Clay, a contemporary of both Wright and Rawls, sound like they have been singing together for years. The songs represent an interesting collection, there is a gospel song by Rawls sitting alongside covers of “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” and “Only You Know and I Know,” the latter a Dave Mason song.

One of the highlights is “Momma Didn’t Raise No Fool,” a tribute to a mother’s love and guidance, and a popular theme in soul music. “Living on Borrowed Time” paints of picture of the dangers of life on the street. Both of these songs were written in 2014, yet sound straight out of the 70s, which is a good thing. Along with “Road Dogs,” an autobiographical tome about life on the club circuit, the listener is taken back to golden days of Soul and R&B, before the advent of Rap and Hip Hop. Another track, “Turn Back the Hands of Time” features the smooth backing vocals of Arlen, Jessica, and Jillian Ivey. Like the best of the genre, this music is clearly born out of the gospel backgrounds of both Mr. Clay and Mr. Rawls.

This disc is great for the car, and for your next party. I can only hope this collaboration between Clay and Rawls will bring us more releases to look forward to…

While Rock and Roll touts Elvis as King, and Aretha is arguably the Queen of Soul, the Blues has a Duke, Duke Robillard, that is. And no matter what title you might want to give him, he is clearly at the top of his game.

This time out Duke brought his nasty guitar, his usual crackerjack band with a few friends, and a rich, fat-bottom sound to his new Stony Plain release, Calling All Blues! The result is a consistently excellent batch of tracks that continue to reveal, with repeated spins, a treasure trove of simple yet seductive pleasures. Aided by a three piece horn section and the sultry voice of Sunny Crownover, the album covers a diverse cross-section of blues-based styles, jazzy one moment, bluesy the next, yet playful throughout. At the center of it all is the Duke, master of ceremonies, guitar in hand, lyrical tongue firmly in cheek.

The record kicks off with “Down in Mexico,” a loving tribute to Duke’s favorite vacation destination. Sunny Crownover contributes supporting vocals and the horn section punctuates Duke’s guitar lines with a solid hefty punch. Crownover really shines on “Blues Beyond the Call of Duty,” showing off her ability to bring the emotion to the fore and place her notes right in the spaces Duke and the boys provide for her. The band is in excellent form throughout, and Brad Hallen’s doghouse bass nails the rhythm section right to the dance floor.

Keyboard player Bruce Bears provides the jazzy lead vocal on “Confusion Blues,” another example of the many talents of the Duke Robillard Band.  “Svengali,” one of several highlights on the album, pits Robillard’s gravel-voiced delivery against a slithery guitar and a lyric that displays a subtle sense of humor.

“Nasty Guitar” lives up to its title, providing enough greasy licks to please just about everyone. The best track on the album is “Motor Trouble,” a complaint about that old beater of a car we have all driven at one time or another. The song is a slow boogie, like ZZ Top filtered through a morphine drip, rumbling, cranky, loose and yet not, like an old Detroit classic on the verge of breakdown. Turn it up and hit repeat, this one is just plain fun.

This fall is seeing some fine roots releases and Calling All Blues! is well worth your money…

www.dukerobillard.com

http://www.amazon.com/Calling-All-Blues-Duke-Robillard/dp/B00MUDYJB6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413992411&sr=8-1&keywords=Duke+Robillard

Around my place, these are some of the things that get a lot of play….

Van Morrison Live at Montreux 1980/1974. This has been out for some time, and if you are at all a fan of Morrison this is a must-have. This is a two disc set, from two different years as the title states. The first disc, the 1980 show is breathtaking. Van is focused and deeply into the moment. So focused, in fact, that it’s as if he’s in a state of reverie; as if he sees something beyond the pale and is trying to articulate it for us. This particular backing band is a dream team. Pee Wee Ellis and Mark Isham on horns are a band within the band, as though they have their own muse, their own jokes, and their own truth. The glances they give each other, and the interplay of their parts is so fascinating. They bring all of their talents to bear throughout, and on “Troubadours” they transport the listener to another realm entirely. Guitarist John Platania, a veteran of many Morrison tours, is on display here, a man of great skill and taste. Much more could be said, but the best thing I can say is get it while it’s still in print.

http://www.amazon.com/Van-Morrison-Live-Montreux-1980/dp/B000I5YDBE/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1406515811&sr=1-2&keywords=Van+Morrison

And then there's Kate....

Kate Rusby- Live From Leeds

Speaking of things from beyond the pale, there are angelic voices, and there is Kate Rusby. There are four women who can sing anything at any time and I will rush to hear them: Mavis Staples, Karen Peris, Harriet Wheeler, and Kate Rusby. There is purity in Ms. Rusby’s voice and her acoustic Brit folk, replete with tales of tragic love, press gangs, and lovers separated by class and social expectation. Her band is an absolute delight. This was a Christmas gift in 2013 and I have watched it at least a dozen times since. She is charming and lovely, and if there was any justice in the world the Royal Family would have her named a national treasure.

http://www.amazon.com/Kate-Rusby-Live-Leeds/dp/B00027JYAI/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1406516811&sr=1-1&keywords=kate+rusby

 

Amos Lee: Live from the Artists Den

Arriving two years after Lee’s 2011 Mission Bell cd, this concert film is a welcome addition. Mission Bell is an album of such grace and compassion that it quickly became, for me, a collection of songs that are best termed, “good for the soul.” Fast forward to 2014 and Mission Bell is still in regular rotation in my car cd player. This concert finds Lee performing many of those songs, along with other fine tunes from his catalog, in the refurbished southwest art deco Fox Theatre in Tucson. Lee, backed by the splendid Calexico, is stellar throughout. The set list is dang near perfect. Thank God he quit his day job some years back, I wouldn’t know what to do without him.

http://www.amazon.com/Amos-Lee-Live-Artists-Den/dp/B00AWWX8F0/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1406518535&sr=1-1&keywords=amos+lee