Soul Enriching Journey of McCrary Sisters

Singing comes naturally to the McCrary Sisters, daughters of the late Rev. Samuel McCrary --  one of the original members of the legendary gospel quartet The Fairfield Four. The harmonies siblings Ann, Deborah, Regina and Alfreda produce reflect the singing they grew up with in the home and at their father’s church and they have produced a recording Our Journey (McC Records) which is a result of their years of singing music of praise on a program of songs that might draw some comparisons to the Staples (except the material is more straight gospel and less some of the message songs of that legendary group).

While the sisters are the executive producers, they had assistance from Kevin McKendree, Gary Nicholson, Buddy Miller and others. McKendree is among the musicians on this album that also include Buddy Miller, the late saxophonist Dennis Taylor and guitarists Todd Sharp and Bob Britt. Guest vocals are added by Delbert McClinton, Mike Farris and Patty Griffin. Included are some covers as well as six originals penned by the sisters.

The opening interpretation of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind is simply stunning with its gospel-inflected arrangement and guitarist Ron McNelley’s stinging fills. This is a performance likely would have crossover appeal. There is a country-soul tinge to the Follow Me Up and original by co-producer of this track, Tommy Sims, that would have been at home on a Staples recording with its message of reassurance and comfort. Kevin McKendree and Regina McCrary collaborated on Bible Study, a hot jump blues melody with its gospel lyric about talking about Jesus and a groove that dancers may find irresistible as they sing mama get your daughter and daddy get your song and get right with the bible.

Julie Miller’s Broken Pieces is given a lovely performance that Alfreda takes the lead on as she sings about one can have her heart if one doesn’t mind the broken pieces. Ann McCrary’s Know My Name is a powerful gospel performance with sparse, percussive backing and followed by the fervent Memphis soul-gospel flavor of Give Him My All, a song collaboration between Regina and Bob Dylan that evokes the Staples at their best. He Cares has a softer R&B flavor as Alfreda leads the sisters in telling us he cares for us with what wounds her heart and soul, followed by the a cappella rendition of traditional Dig a Little Deeper in God’s eternal love where Deborah takes lead. On Other Side of the Blues (Since I Met You), Regina is joined by Delbert on a gospel-uptown blues as they sing about meeting their savior they are on the other side of the blues.

The album closes with more down home gospel a cappella singing on the title track about through song, the sisters journey keeps moving along. One of the sisters comments “That’s the way daddy would have done it” and indeed he would be overjoyed by the performances as they sing “through our song our journey keeps moving on.” And moving listeners and audiences is certainly what the performances do. Highly recommended.

I received a review copy from a publicist for this release. Here are McCrary Sisters on you tube performing Blowin' In the Wind.

Lloyd Jones "Trouble Monkey" Worth Searching Out.

A major presence on the Portland, Oregon blues scene, guitarist and vocalist Lloyd Jones brings a compelling mix of blues and funk to this new release Trouble Monkey (Audioquest). Jones has a husky voice suggestive of Delbert McClinton, and as a guitarist occasionally suggests Guitar Slim with his slashing string popping, particularly on the New Orleans R&B flavored When I Get Back Home. Jones handles a variety of grooves and textures and his songs and the arrangements evince a variety of influences, from the high stepping funk of the opening Can’t Get You Off My Mind, to the latin funk of I’ll Be Laughing When They Break Your Heart, with punchy horns. Then there’s the rumba high stepping of Fats Domino’s Rosemary, which finds his guitar string-popping leading into some exciting slide work. I Broke My Baby’s Heart sounds like a vintage piece of deep southern soul, with the horns coming off like the Memphis Horns on an Otis Redding album. Most of his driving band (with a terrific horn section are new to me, although I believe alto saxophonist Warren Rand is a veteran of Robert Cray’s band, and the rhythm section of keyboard wizard Glenn Holstrom, bassist Victor Little and drummer Reinhardt Metz deserve specific praise. Jones wrote most of songs on this album which continue to resonate in one’s head. Even Jones’ cover of a Sleepy John Estes classic, Drop Down Mama, is a fresh and totally original performance. As typical with Audioquest, this is beautifully recorded and packaged. Kudos to Jones, the band and producer Joe Harley for a superb recording. This review appeared in the December 1995-January 1996 Jazz & Blues Report (Issue 207) although this CD may be hard to find as a CD, one can find it as a download. Jones also recorded for Blind Pig a few years later and has a new CD which is mostly solo acoustic, Highway Bound, that I will be reviewing shortly.

Dennis Taylor "Steppin' Up" (Kizybosh Records)

Saxophonist Dennis Taylor had established himself as a saxophonist on the roots music scene with tenures in the bands of Gatemouth Brown, Buckwheat Zydeco, Duke Robillard and most recently Delbert McClinton among others. His sudden passing this past October was a shock to many friends he had made while performing. Shortly after joining McClinton’s Band in the summer of 2008, Taylor approached Delbert’s keyboard player, Kevin McKendree, about doing a project that resulted in the posthumously issued “Steppin’ Up” (Kizybosh Records). This a album of organ trio performances with Taylor’s saxophone, McKendree on the Hammond B-3 and and one of three drummers (Chester Thompson (Weather Report, Frank Zappa, Genesis), Kenneth Blevins (John Hiatt) and Lynn Williams (Delbert McClinton)), with McClinton himself making a cameo appearance, singing on “Since I Feel For You.”

This is album of blowing tenor, funky B-3 and finger-popping groves kicked off with the New Orleans groove of “Lee’s Lick,” which one might guess was dedicated to the legendary Crescent city tenor man Lee Allen. Issac Hayes’ “Cafe Reggio,” has a mellow groove before Taylor takes a robust solo displaying his full tone. Dr. John’s “I Walk On Guilded Splinters” is an interesting choice and Taylor really gets gutbucket here although the accompaniment is rather simple. McClinton takes a low-key approach to the vocal on the Buddy Johnson penned standard, “Since I Feel For You” with Taylor’s tenor complementary to the vocal before his very lyrical solo as McKendree comps.

Taylor’s rendition of Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah I Love Her So,” will get the fingers snapping and after McKendree’s solo, Taylor takes us out in rousing form. Leroy Johnson’s “Lady Day,” is a moody ballad performance followed Taylor’s lively original “Stepping Up,” with McKendree adding the right amount of grease on his solo. There is more second-line groove on Taylor’s “The Gospel Truth” which is followed by Taylor’s marvelous ballad playing on the Lennon-McCartney chestnut, “And I Love Her.” Nice renderings of Percy Mayfield’s “The River’s Invitation,” and the Fats Domino classic “Josephine and three other Taylor originals complete this recording of which “Here’s The Deal,” a hard bop burner and the closing late night blues, “Back at the Teddy Bear Lounge,” are especially worth pointing out.

There is about 70 or so minutes for the 14 performances collected here, the recording of which was completed two weeks before his passing. Taylor's widow, Karen Leipziger and Kevin McKendree completed this as a labor of love and a chance to leave us with this solid musical statement of a marvelous musician and person. This should be available from cdbaby.com.