Theotis Taylor "Something Within Me"

Theotis Taylor "Little Wooden Church"

ETHEREAL SINGER THEOTIS TAYLOR TO RELEASE LONG-LOST RECORDINGS ON BIG LEGAL MESS RECORDS (FAT POSSUM), OUT JUNE 29th

Theotis Taylor’s new album, ​Something Within Me​, will be the first time the world has heard a full length album from this legendary Georgian gospel singer and pianist. Something Within Me ​features newly discovered music of Theotis’ voice and piano that was recorded in 1979 alongside new studio accompaniment from Jimbo Mathus (Squirrel Nut Zippers), WIll Sexton (Amy LaVere), Liz Brasher, and more. Led by producer Bruce Watson and recorded at Delta-Sonic Sound in Memphis, the album captures the ethereal nature of Theotis’ unique style. The NY Times had this to say about his 1990 performance at Carnegie Hall: ​”Mr. Taylor, a pianist from Georgia, had a light touch on the piano that guided his harmonies from impressionistic clouds of sound to boogie-woogie figures. He sang in falsetto, floating blues-tinged melodies that had people in the audience shouting encouragement or murmuring in admiration.”

When Tim Duffy, founder of the nonprofit Music Maker Relief Foundation heard about Theotis Taylor from folklorist George Mitchell he immediately headed down to Fitzgerald, GA to meet Theotis. A friendship was forged and led to getting the original master tape of a long lost album of Theotis’. Big Legal Mess owner Bruce Watson had previously released two of Theotis’ songs as part of his Pitch Gusman Records Story compilation, and he jumped at the chance to do a full length album.

 

"Real music! Beautiful, uplifting music! This would've been lost in time forever, had it not been for the real people, who really took great care to re-recorded it, because they wanted the world to hear what love is like when love makes music!​" - Taj Mahal

 

“Brother Theotis Taylor’s music has become one of the most invigorating parts of my day. His energy, his unbridled spirit and his signature touch on the piano combine to create an entirely singular sound that resonates my body from head to toe.”​ - Phil Cook (Hiss Golden Messenger, Megafaun)

 

Theotis spent most of his life as a custodian, turpentine harvester, farm worker, and as the first black foreman of the City of Miami’s Parks and Recreation Department. Theotis played gospel music all his life and garnered recognition in the 1990s for his appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Folk Masters Series “There’s 12 Gates to the City”: Black Gospel Styles, the Apollo Theatre, and at the NAACP’s 90th Convention. Now in his 90s, Taylor preaches but is unable to play due to a tremble in his arm from many years of hard labor. He will still sing for his congregation if he can find a good person to handle the music. The right spirit can only come from the right person. “You’ve got to be anointed to do it right,” Taylor believes. “​Anointed. ​It’s got to come from above.”

 

Theotis Taylor - ​Something Within Me​ - Tracklist:

Side A

1. Appreciation
2. Fly Away To Be At Rest
3. Thank You Jesus
4. Tides of Life
5. God’s Unchanging Hand

Side B

1. Steal Away
2. Something Within Me
3. Little Wooden Church
4. Stand By Me
5. Our Father

NY TIMES PREVIEWS MARIE/LEPANTO'S 'TENKILLER,' OUT TODAY ON BIG LEGAL MESS

WILL JOHNSON/JUSTIN PETER KINKEL-SCHUSTER PROJECT HITS ROAD SUPPORTING PEDRO THE LION IN FEB AS NYC SHOW, LIVING ROOM TOUR ANNOUNCED FOR APRIL

AMERICAN SONGWRITER, BITTER SOUTHERNER RAVE

Marie/Lepanto - the collaboration between Centro-Matic's Will Johnson and Water Liars' Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster - has a new indie/folk Big Legal Mess album 'Tenkiller' out today, which the New York Times previewed: https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/12/22/arts/music/playlist-cardi-b-migos-charli-xcx-sugarland.html

The two explore literate southern themes and spare, desolate sounds that lead to cinematic grandeur in their incredible music. Here's the track "High Desert" (OK to share): https://soundcloud.com/big-legal-mess/marielepanto-high-desert

American Songwriter gave the set 4 stars, calling it "moving... mesmerizing... unique and enticing."

The Bitter Southerner said, "A pairing made in Southern indie rock heaven… 'Tenkiller' finds their two voices shadowing one another, with Johnson's battered vocals and Kinkel-Schuster's wavering tenor complementing one another… the perfect record for a long-drive on a two-lane."

The duo will tour supporting Pedro the Lion in February and have newly announced a NYC show as well as a living room tour in April.

MARIE/LEPANTO TOUR DATES:

February 8 - St Louis, MO - Old Rock House*
February 9 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar*
February 10 - Tulsa, OK - The Vanguard*
February 11 - Fayetteville, AR - living room show
February 12 - Dallas, TX - Trees*
February 13 - Austin, TX - Mohawk*
February 14 - Houston, TX - Rockefeller's*
February 15 - Baton Rouge, LA - living room show
February 16 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jack's*
February 17 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn*
February 18 - Gainesville, FL - High Dive*
February 19 - Orlando, FL - The Social*
February 21 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle*
February 22 - Atlanta, GA - Terminal West*
February 23 - Nashville, TN - Exit/In*
April 5 - Springfield MO - living room show
April 6 - Omaha NE - living room show
April 7 - Sioux Falls - living room show
April 8 - Minneapolis - Turf Club
April 9 - Madison - living room show
April 10 - Milwaukee - living room show
April 12 -  Chicago - Schuba's
April 13 - Detroit - living room show
April 14 - Toronto - living room show
April 16 - Boston - living room show
April 17 - NYC - Mercury Lounge
April 18 - Philadelphia PA - Johnny Brenda's
April 20 - Baltimore - living room show
April 22 - Asheville NC - living room show
April 23 - Athens GA - living room show
April 24 - Waverly AL - Standard Deluxe
April 25 - Mobile AL - Satori Coffee House
April 26 - Oxford, MS - living room show
April 27 - Little Rock AR - living room show

BETTE SMITH SKYROCKETS TO #35 ON AMERICANA SINGLES CHART AND #35 ON AMERICANA ALBUM CHART, HITS TOP 5 ON ROOTS MUSIC REPORTS R&B AND SOUL CHARTS

BIG LEGAL MESS ROCK & ROLL/SOUL ARTIST SIGNS WITH NEIL O’BRIEN, SHARES NEW MUSIC VIDEO

 

Big Legal Mess (Fat Possum imprint) soul and rock & roll singer Bette Smith has skyrocketed to #35 on the Americana Album Chart and #35 on the Americana Singles Chart at radio. On The Roots Music Report, Smith’s album ‘Jetlagger’ hit the top 5 on both its Top 50 R&B Album Chart and Top 50 Soul Album Chart.

 

Click here for the Bette Smith mini-documentary.

 

She’s earned praise from NPR, Billboard, WNYC, Paste Magazine, MOJO, American Songwriter, and Bust Magazine. Here’s her brand new music video for “Durty Hustlin’” (OK to share).

 

Neil O’Brien Entertainment represents Smith international bookings.

Marie/Lepanto clips

NY Times playlist item (Dec 22, 2017)

No Depression premiere (Dec 6, 2017)

HearYa review (January 29, 2018)

Bitter Southerner album stream (January 25, 2018)

No Depression album review (January 25, 2018)

Paste Magazine session (April 17, 2018)

Bette Smith EPK

Marie/Lepanto postable track

WILL JOHNSON (OF CENTRO-MATIC, ETC.) AND JUSTIN PETER KINKEL-SCHUSTER (OF WATER LIARS) FORM NEW BAND MARIE/LEPANTO, TO RELEASE DEBUT ALBUM ‘TENKILLER’ ON BIG LEGAL MESS (FAT POSSUM) ON JANUARY 26

FIRST TRACK PREMIERED VIA NO DEPRESSION: http://nodepression.com/article/will-johnson-and-justin-peter-kinkel-shuster-premiere-new-track-inverness

NATIONAL TOUR DATES SUPPORTING PEDRO THE LION ON SALE TOMORROW

Will Johnson (of Centro-Matic, New Multitudes, South San Gabriel) and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster (of Water Liars) have collaborated to form “super duo” (No Depression) Marie/Lepanto and will release their debut album ‘Tenkiller’ on January 26 on Big Legal Mess (Fat Possum imprint). No Depression has premiered crunchy first single “Inverness,” praising the band’s “rich vocal harmonies… and careful attention to melody”: http://nodepression.com/article/will-johnson-and-justin-peter-kinkel-shuster-premiere-new-track-inverness

Tickets for a 2018 tour supporting Pedro the Lion go on sale tomorrow.

In the sunken lands of Arkansas along I-55, there’s a road sign that directs you to a pair of tiny, hardscrabble towns in the Delta. It reads: Marie/Lepanto and resides roughly between where each artist grew up: Justin in Arkansas and Will in Missouri. Alternating between lofi folk and distorted indie rock, ‘Tenkiller’ finds their two voices shadowing one another, with Johnson’s battered vocals and Kinkel-Schuster’s wavering tenor complementing one another. Many of the songs then funnel into expansive instrumental breaks. “Inverness” segues into the fingerpicking, creaky “Rest Be Mine.” The widescreen waltz “High Desert” coexists with the ghostly title track, named for a lake in Oklahoma and inspired by Justin’s reading the book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Long mutual admirers, Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster co-headlined a living room tour, only sparking the idea of working directly together when they toured Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis with producer Jeff Powell (Big Star, The Afghan Whigs). Memphis was then earest big city for both artists growing up.

Johnson has released some seventeen albums in his two-decade indie rock career, including as frontman of Centro-Matic and South San Gabriel, member of New Multitudes (with Jay Farrar and Jim James), as Molina and Johnson (with Jason Molina), as official member of Monsters of Folk (with James, Conor Oberst and M. Ward), with Overseas (with David Bazan), and with the Undertow Orchestra (with Bazan, Mark Eitzel, and Vic Chestnutt). NPR has praised Centro-Matic's "superb rock records" and Johnson's own "great images" and "superb songwriting."

Julien Baker listed Kinkel-Schuster’s 2016 solo album among her top ten albums of the year. The NY Times said that Kinkel-Schuster’s prior band Water Liars’ "dark, lonely roots-minded indie rock is affecting, all the more for its sparseness." NPR called the band "a low-key triumph... prone to fits of stark gorgeousness" and Consequence of Sound said, "Kinkel-Shuster's painted howl will stop you in your tracks."

Marie/Lepanto Tour Dates With Pedro The Lion

February 8 - St Louis, MO – Old Rock House
February 9 - Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
February 10 - Tulsa, OK – The Vanguard
February 12 - Dallas, TX – Trees
February 13 - Austin, TX – Mohawk
February 14 - Houston, TX – Rockefeller’s
February 16 - New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jack’s
February 17 - Birmingham, AL – Saturn
February 18 - Gainesville, FL – High Dive
February 19 - Orlando, FL – The Social
February 21 - Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
February 22 - Atlanta, GA – Terminal West
February 23 - Nashville, TN – Exit/In

Marie/Lepanto artwork

Credit: Adam Putman

Bette Smith "Shackles & Chains" official video

Marie/Lepanto Tenkiller (Big Legal Mess, January 26, 2018)

In the sunken lands of Arkansas along I-55, there’s a road sign that directs you to a pair of tiny, hardscrabble towns in the Delta. It reads: Marie/Lepanto.

Situated roughly between Southeast Missouri and Western Arkansas -- the two points where singer-songwriters Will Johnson and Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster grew up -- that dual appellation seemed a perfect handle for their new collaboration. It’s especially fitting as their debut, Tenkiller, is an album permeated by a sense of place.   

“I’ve seen that sign forever, and always had those words, Marie/Lepanto, in the back of my mind,” says Kinkel-Schuster. “With it having the spatial/physical/psychological proximity to both of us, we figured there wouldn’t be a better time to bring it into play.”

For Johnson, the veteran singer-songwriter and longtime leader of Centro-matic, his union with Kinkel-Schuster, of Water Liars and Theodore, fits a pattern. In his work with South San Gabriel, Monsters of Folk, and Overseas, collaboration has long been the cornerstone of his creativity. Like his other endeavors, Marie/Lepanto was born out of a musical kinship and personal respect.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Will’s writing and singing playing, admired him from a far for a number of years,” says Kinkel-Schuster. That admiration grew closer and became mutual after Water Liars toured with Centro-matic during the band’s farewell run in 2014. “Water Liars kinda became a soundtrack for me during that time,” says Johnson.  

A couple years later Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster decided to do a joint living room tour of the U.S. They were on the road a week together sharing stories and swapping favorite records. Musically, the duo’s Venn diagram of influences included lost albums like Jim Sullivan’s 1969 curio U.F.O. to the revered catalog of Minneapolis alt-rock scrappers The Replacements.

It wasn’t long before the notion of a more serious collaboration was in the air. “I’d already secretly hatched this plan for us to make a record together,” admits Kinkel-Schuster with a laugh. “The trust and respect between us had reached a level where it was kind of a no-brainer,” notes Johnson.  

The flashpoint came when the pair stopped in Memphis to see producer Jeff Powell (Big Star, The Afghan Whigs) and tour the famed Sam Phillips Recording studio. Powell had previously worked with Centro-matic and mixed Kinkel-Schuster’s solo debut. After Powell casually suggested they all cut something at Phillips, “it became very obvious that this should be it,” says Johnson, “that we should meet in Memphis and make a record together.”

The Austin-based Johnson and the Arkansas-based Kinkel-Schuster did just that in the fall of 2016, traveling to the Bluff City to record with Powell, resulting in the 10-track Tenkiller. The intimate sessions found Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster sharing writing, playing and vocal duties, yielding an album that falls in the great tradition of indie rock team ups – from Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth to Vic Chesnutt and Lambchop, Peter Buck and Kevn Kinney to Kim Gordon and Lydia Lunch.     

Nearly every aspect of Tenkiller seemed to be affected by that notion of place, starting with the studio itself. Opened in September 1960, Sam Phillips Recording is like some strange, magnificent dream: a mélange of jet-age technology, pyramid facades and pastel-colored walls, all sprung from its creator’s fevered imagination.

“We were fascinated with the building, and when we walked into that room, it felt like we were projected back in 1960s,” says Kinkel-Schuster. “Not much has changed in there since then, and that was very appealing to us. Not to mention the idea of working with Powell again.”

The sessions began unencumbered by the weight expectation or agendas, but with a surfeit of material. “Usually, I’d try avoid coming into a situation like that armed with too much,” says Johnson, “but with the two of us, the songs we were bringing in, it felt like they fit in a good way. The puzzle made sense.”

Tenkiller evinces both the individual identity of its authors, as well as the alchemy of their union. The haunting harmonies of opener “Patient Man” ushers in an album of beautiful laments and finely-etched narratives. Offering a darker more austere vision of Americana, the record moves between the widescreen majesty of the waltzing “High Desert,” the discordant guitar crunch of “Inverness” and the meditative melancholy of “Rest Be Mine” with a seamless grace.

A kind of emotional geography figures heavily in the record for Johnson, who visited Memphis regularly as a child growing up in nearby Kennett, Missouri. “Memphis was the closest city of any importance,” he says. “Knowing I was coming back there, my old hometown started to creep into my psyche.” The album’s centerpiece, “Famished Raven,” is a semi-autobiographical tale about the scales falling from Johnson’s young eyes: “And as the night, it starts to chase you, always in silent ways you flee/Far from the cries all who need you, and who you need.”

“My mother and I were on our own for a long time, then she remarried and I had two new, older step brothers and it changed my life,” says Johnson. “Through them I learned about drugs and the challenges of adolescence, and even young adulthood. Some of the innocence of the time started to fade, and I tried to capture that with that song."  

For Kinkel-Schuster the album’s title track and closing number are also rooted in the real. “It comes from name of a lake in Oklahoma, not that far from where I grew up,” he says. Its lyrics were spurred by his reading of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown’s devastating account of the effects of westward advancement on native peoples: “Tenkiller, tenkiller…what else could they take?”

 “It’s about the way Native American culture was basically destroyed and appropriated by history and white people from the word go,” he says. “I was trying to imagine what it’s like to live with that as a reality.”

Marie/Lepanto will be out in support of Tenkiller, beginning in early 2018, with Johnson and Kinkel-Schuster touring in a two-man configuration. “We’ll start with just us and see who we pick up along the way,” jokes Johnson.

“The truth,” says Kinkel-Schuster, “is the sound we make is something unique, something that happens just between the two of us. That’s what feels special about it and these songs.”

“NEXT BIG-VOICED SOUL SENSATION OUT OF BROOKLYN” (MOJO) BETTE SMITH TO TAPE NPR SESSION AS ACCLAIM COMES IN

Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn soul singer and Big Legal Mess recording artist Bette Smith’s swaggering new album ‘Jetlagger’ is out as of last week and has earned her an upcoming NPR taping with World Café. Jimbo Mathus produced ‘Jetlagger.’ Smith plays Kung Fu Necktie (Upstairs) in Philadelphia on October 25.

 

Here’s what we’re reading:

 

"A rugged, chugging southern soul record... Like Betty Davis or Betty Wright before her, she's imbues tracks with shingly, sawtoothed texture, capable of breaking off a high note with a throaty cry or scraping so low and wide that she threatens to put her bass player out of work."

- Elias Leight, Billboard, July 26, 2017

 

“An incredible debut from the next big-voiced soul sensation out of Brooklyn.”

- Lois Wilson, MOJO Magazine, October, 2017

 

"a batch of tunes as powerful and taut as her wonderfully craggy voice... with a debut full-length as sturdy and uncompromising as Jetlagger, she’s the swaggering proof that there is nothing dated about soulful rock and roll sung with attitude, defiance, and a take-no-prisoners aesthetic."

- Hal Horowitz, American Songwriter, September 29, 2017

 

“A major new voice in soul music… Brooklyn’s Bette Smith possesses a one of a kind voice, deeply drenched in hot soul of the nearly incendiary Southern type. That voice could rock the biggest of stages and move mountains if it had to… Count me as a massive fan. Smith is the sort of artist that you’ll find yourself following her whole career.”

- Sarah Zupko, Pop Matters, September 19, 2017

 

“88 [out of 100]… At last, her vibrant recording debut is here to bring healing and happiness to fans of singers like Sharon Jones, Betty Wright and Naomi Shelton.”

- Annie Dinerman, Elmore Magazine, September 27, 2017

Bette Smith clips

The Bluegrass Situation - Bette playlist (August 28, 2017)

Billboard Q&A (July 26, 2017)

Paste Magazine feature and performance (Nov 9, 2017)

NPR World Cafe session & interview (Dec 6, 2017)

KEXP Song of the Day (January 24, 2018)

Bette Smith "Man Child" video

Director: Emory Parker

VOCAL POWERHOUSE BETTE SMITH TRACES BED-STUY ROOTS BACK TO DEEP SOUTH SOUL & GOSPEL HEADWATERS ON JIMBO MATHUS-PRODUCED DEBUT LP ‘JETLAGGER,’ OUT 9/29 VIA BIG LEGAL MESS

STREAM LEAD VIDEO "MAN CHILD" VIA BILLBOARD HERE: http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/7874090/bette-smith-jetlagger-debut-interview

Brooklyn soul dynamo Bette Smith will release her debut album, ‘Jetlagger,’ September 29 via Fat Possum subsidiary Big Legal Mess. Recorded in Mississippi with producer Jimbo Mathus—who’s played on records by everyone from Valerie June to Elvis Costello—the album finds Smith reconnecting with the Deep South roots of the gospel, soul, and blues music she grew up singing in New York’s rough and tumble Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. The record also fulfills a deathbed promise Smith made to her late brother, Junior, that she’d keep on singing no matter what.

“He told me, ‘I want you to sing; don’t give up,’” remembers Smith, who wears yellow onstage to honor his memory. “It’s all for Junior, now.”

In a premiere and feature, Billboard's Elias Leight writes, "A rugged, chugging southern soul record... Like Betty Davis or Betty Wright before her, she's imbues tracks with shingly, sawtoothed texture, capable of breaking off a high note with a throaty cry or scraping so low and wide that she threatens to put her bass player out of work."

‘Jetlagger’s ten tracks bring together obscure deep cuts, vintage classics, and originals written specifically for Smith, who counted late icon Ray Charles among the fans of her raspy and riveting voice. From a simmering take on Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing” to a feverish rendition of the Staple Singers’ “City In The Sky,” the album showcases Smith’s fiery, mesmerizing delivery, rich with emotion and bruising in its honesty. Mathus dug deep into the Mississippi and Memphis soul bags for material, unearthing hidden gems like the moving “Flying Sweet Angel of Joy” by Famous L. Renfroe, while originals like the raucous soul-rocker “Man Child,” spare and funky “Shackles & Chains,” and Blaxsploitation soundtrack-esque “Durty Hustlin’” draw on Smith’s defiant and wild personality, as well as the hard-won perspective she gained growing up poor in Bed-Stuy. The deeply soulful title cut “I Will Feed You” and the rollicking title track were chosen from over a hundred songs that Smith wrote. First-call Memphis horn players Marc Franklin (Robert Cray, Lucero and Kirk Smothers (Don Bryant, Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper, Buddy Guy) were summoned to complete the album’s sound.

“Everything was recorded live,” recalls Smith, who cites her church choir director father and gospel-loving grandmother among her earliest influences. “I do well when I’m performing like that. There’s New York aggressiveness and passion. I get to a fever pitch. I’m gone. I’m not even there anymore. Something else takes over.”

‘Jetlagger’ follows Smith’s 2016 EP, which earned her international tour dates and rave reviews. Bitch Magazine compared her to Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, praising her “stunning voice,” while Soul Tracks hailed her music as “steaming,” and No Depression exalted her as “a woman with the blues power of both Big Mama Thornton and Bessie Smith, the smooth classiness of jazz/blues singer Joe Williams, the dynamics of Koko Taylor, and the energy of Janis Joplin all wrapped up tight in a relevant Billie Holiday look.”

Smith will perform in NYC’s Riverside Park on Sunday, Sept 10 as part of the West Side County Fair presented by the Parks Department’s Summer On The Hudson series. Stay tuned for additional tour dates and details to be announced.

Bette Smith photos

Credit for all: Shervin Lainez
Click for high res

Bette Smith bio

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Born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bette Smith reconnected with her musical roots in Memphis and Mississippi – and fulfilled a promise to her late brother in the process. Recording her debut full-length album in Mississippi brought her to the roots of the gospel she sang in the church and the soul music she heard on the block on hot summer nights music growing up on the corner of Nostrand and Fulton. The powerful ‘Jetlagger’ comes out September 29 on Big Legal Mess, a Fat Possum subsidiary. “The south came to me and grabbed me and pulled me down there. The southern migration came up and got me. My neighbors in Bed-Stuy influenced me,” she says.

She recalls that Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn was a very different place when she was growing up. “It was rough back then!,” she exclaims. “There was lots of gang activity. One gang came after my brother and my dad came out with a lead pipe to protect him. It was really hairy. My older brother Junior protected me from all of that. He would intimidate all of the other guys.”

She owes even more to Junior. Several years ago, on his deathbed suffering from kidney failure, he made her promise not to give up on a career as a singer. Those last days of his, she sang while he tapped his foot on the hospital bed at Kings County Hospital. “I didn’t know how else to comfort him,” she recalls. He told her, “I want you to sing; don’t give up” and she’s kept that promise, playing gigs from One Penn Plaza in New York to the Boogie Woogie Festival in Brussels, Belgium, always wearing yellow on stage to honor him. “It’s all for Junior now,” she affirms.

Jimbo Mathus produced the album at Water Valley’s Dial Back Sound and sent roughs to Bruce Watson, who swiftly signed Smith on for a full-length. He’s become a secret weapon for Fat Possum and Big Legal Mess Records; in addition to being a solo artist and a founding member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mathus has also produced Shinyribs, Luther Dickinson, The Seratones, and played on records by Valerie June, Buddy Guy, and Elvis Costello. “You exceeded all expectations,” Mathus told her.

The trip was also Smith’s first to the deep south. She recalls, “It took me out of my comfort zone. I got lost in a swamp one time and kind of freaked out! I’m a quintessential city girl.”

Smith beams when talking about the sessions. “It was really wonderful. Everything was recorded live. I felt like I was Tina Turner and Etta James. I do well when I’m performing. It was a real performance that had never been captured before.” Anyone who’s ever seen her live knows how absorbed she gets on stage and these sessions put her in that same place. She continues, “There’s New York aggressiveness and passion. I get to a fever pitch. I’m gone. I’m not even there anymore. Something else takes over.”

Mathus dug deep into the Mississippi and Memphis soul bags, unearthing “Flying Sweet Angel of Joy” by Famous L. Renfroe, a song with which Smith particularly connected. “I believe in guardian angels. Jimbo picked up on that. I feel that I was giving voice for Famous. because he never really got a chance.” Mathus also picked Isaac Hayes’ “Do Your Thing,” which simmers with Memphis heat.

The raucous soul-rock of “Man Child,” the spare funk of “Shackles & Chains,” and Blaxsploitation soundtrack feel of “Durty Hustlin’” were all written or co-written by

Mathus specifically for Smith. She gets rough, wrestling the title track to the ground; the song captures the late nights and lack of sleep inherent in a musician’s life. First-call Memphis horn players Marc Franklin (Robert Cray, Lucero and Kirk Smothers (Don Bryant, Melissa Etheridge, Cyndi Lauper, Buddy Guy) were summoned to complete the album’s sound.

‘Jetlagger’s’ closer, the Staple Singers’ “City In the Sky,” connected her back to Bed-Stuy. She remembers, “My father was a church choir director. I was singing since I was five years old. I take it to church. I just break out, start speaking in tongues.” She also heard gospel around the house every weekend. “My grandmother listened to nothing but gospel,” she recalls, citing Mahalia Jackson and Reverend James Cleveland. “Every Sunday morning, she would get up and put on these records while dressing and praising the Lord. The furniture was plastic-covered. After lunch, it was more gospel music,” she says. Bed-Stuy block parties would also have revivalist-style gospel acts. “I’m steeped in it!,” she adds. Though a Seventh Day Adventist as a child, Smith is now a member of the Church of God in Christ.

Several years ago while singing in Los Angeles, Bette’s voice drew the attention of another artist who came up in the church – Ray Charles, who invited her to collaborate with him shortly before his passing. “It was the first inkling that I had greatness in me,” she says.

Reviewers have noticed, too. On the strength of a 2016 EP, Bitch Magazine compared her to Lauryn Hill and Erykah Badu, praising her “stunning voice [and] powerful but pliable tone” saying that her songs “cut deep” and calling her music “remarkable.” Bitch continues, “[Smith’s] individuality keeps her story in her own hands and gives her firm ground from which to leap into her career. And with that voice, she can aim high.”

Soul Tracks said simply, “Steaming… That voice though!”

No Depression said, “Show stopper… Finally, a woman with the blues power of both Big Mama Thornton and Bessie Smith, the smooth, classiness of jazz/blues singer Joe Williams, the dynamics of Koko Taylor and the energy of Janis Joplin all wrapped up tight in a relevant Billie Holiday look… No lame, whiney female vocals here. It’s all confidence and power. The sexy slur and slide of Bette’s voice, her roll of syllables, the phrasing and intonation all on target, all polished with gratifying verve. But the true sting is in Bette’s ability to know exactly how to interpret a song -- her songs, or anyone else’s.”

She already can’t wait for her next trip down south, when she’s going to meet soul legends Al Green and Don Bryant. She says, “It feels like the circle is coming around. The gospel roots remain the same. This is timeless music – soul, rhythm and blues – Mississippi is the birthplace. When you’re down there, you feel something.”

Robert Finley "I Just Want To Tell You" video

NPR PROFILES SOUTHERN SOUL MAN ROBERT FINLEY AS HIS DEBUT ‘AGE DON’T MEAN A THING’ OUT TODAY ON BIG LEGAL MESS

SINGER DISCUSSES GOING BLIND AS 2ND SYNDICATED RADIO SEGMENT TAPES NEXT WEEK AT MEMPHIS SHOW

NPR aired a profile on Robert Finley nationally this week as his debut album ‘Age Don’t Mean a Thing’ on Big Legal Mess (Fat Possum) comes out today. Finley told NPR that being able to play soul music for a living in spite of going blind “a dream come true… what more could a man ask.” He also described his music as “blues that make a person hold their head up instead of dropping it down.” He and NPR host Jeremy Hobson discussed how money from his father for a pair of shoes went to his first guitar; learning music from watching musicians in church; his religious family disapproving of the blues; what it’s like to go to school to adapt to becoming legally blind; and sensing the energy from the audience even when he can’t see it.

‘Age Don’t Mean a Thing’ is earning praise across the board as he prepares for a Memphis album release show October 6 at Lafayette’s to be taped by syndicated radio show Beale Street Caravan.

Here’s what we’re reading and hearing:

“Not your average up-and-comer… sounds good to me!”
- Jeremy Hobson, NPR Here & Now, September 26, 2016

“More than convincing.”
- Jon Pareles, New York Times, January 18, 2016

“Amazing… great stuff.”
- Rob Weisberg, NPR Music, January 26, 2016

“ Too legit to quit.”
- Hannah Hayes, Southern Living, August 22, 2016

"A delightful mix of old school blues, soul and R&B, with all of it propelled by Finley’s gritty-yet-laid-back voice and equally effortless guitar work. It’s a surprisingly confident effort from a first-time recording artist."
- Sam D'Arcangelo, Offbeat Magazine, September 29, 2016

“A slab of dirty, sexy soul, gyrating around a firm funk backbeat in much the same way as most pairs of hips exposed to this song might. Finley’s Southern croon soars above sensual guitar and horns, reveling in the freedom the music provides and exploring the crannies of the instrumentation.”
- Will Rivitz, Pop Matters, August 15, 2016

“His brand of Southern Soul is tough to resist… a master at work!”
- Soul Tracks, August 29, 2016