Sharon Jones!

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?

Today's post is a deviation from the norm, as I'm featuring a "contemporary" act. I use those quotation marks, however, because Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings are the hottest proponents of the "deep funk" revival of the last decade or so. Jones and other artists on labels such as Daptone, its predecessor Desco, and Soul Fire record funky 45s and albums that capture the style, flavor and substance of '60s and '70s funk. This stuff is not Afro-wig-wearing postmodernist kitsch. These artists treat their music as if it was still 1968 and they were trying to get a hit record out. I will forego discussing Jones and the Dap-Kings to save space; here's a link to the Daptone Records website's bio of Sharon. If you are in the Atlanta area, Sharon and the band will be performing at The Earl, and opening for them will be the band Cadillac Jones. Georgia Soul maven Brian Poust (my main man!) will be spinning those soul and funk 45s as only he can! It's going to be great! Come out and see them: I saw the band in Chicago almost 3 years ago and it's a killer show.

Today's selection was the lead-off single from their sophomore album, Naturally, and it's a cooker. Dusty Groove America's description of the single accurately puts it in an early '70s, Hot Wax kind of groove. You won't be able to sit still on this one!

SITE ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. February is Black History Month and what I hope to do to commemorate it is to do a series here entitled "The Soul of the Movement," featuring soul songs that fit within the black empowerment / black power / "Black is Beautiful" groove. Some of the stuff I'll be posting here will be more "mainstream" than usual but I think they are equally important. I hope you will enjoy it!

2. The playlist for Episode #4 of the podcast is complete and I hope to have the finished show on here later tonight (when I get home from class tonight I plan to record it). So watch this space! :)