Belle Adair - Tuscumbia

(This review first appeared in issue #75 of Shindig! magazine.)

Single Lock CD / LP

Muscle Shoals is famed for its soul music but Belle Adair's second LP makes it clear there are other sounds to be found in modern day Alabama. With a sound rooted in '70s soft pop and melodies and tempos more indebted to Teenage Fanclub than to the purveyors of deep, brassy soul, Belle Adair channel the same introspective melancholia that made the records of Big Star and Badfinger such a bittersweet delight.

Though the record is named after the band's hometown and was produced at the legendary FAME Studios by longtime Wilco collaborator Tom Schick, there's an unmistakable Anglophile tint to it. Personal but universal lyrics, chiming guitar arpeggios, gentle organ washes and Matt Green's understated vocals all help recall the legacy of the British invasion and merge it with some southern state sadness. A successful and intoxicating mix, and one that deserves to resonate far beyond the Cotton State.

Heath Green & The Makeshifters - Heath Green & The Makeshifters

 (This review first appeared in issue #65 of Shindig! magazine.)

Alive Natural Sound CD / LP

Heath Green possesses a voice that's not only lived-in, it may also have hosted a fair share of all-night house parties. Gritty, gravelly and full of that good ol' southern soul, the man sure as hell can sing! Based in Birmingham, Alabama, he's been the city's best-kept musical secret for the last two decades. He and his killer band make a fiery hybrid of soul, blues, rock and gospel, breathing new life into the region's musical heritage and traditions.

Alternating between Saturday night revelry and Sunday morning redemption with the trials of grown-up relationships thrown in, this earthy, blue-eyed and blue-collar soul recalls Jerry Lee Lewis, Otis Redding, The Faces, Joe Cocker and The Black Crowes yet is beholden to none. Equally adapt at guttural howls and soulful sophistication, quite why Mr. Green has not broken through to wider recognition is a mystery. With this album his dues must surely come.

Click here for Heath Green & The Makeshifters' website.