Candice Ivory — “New Southern Vintage” — Nola Blue Records
“New Southern Vintage,” the title of Candice Ivory’s magnificently ambitious new album, is the perfect description of its contents — and its soul.
Ivory, dubbed the Queen of Avant Soul, has pulled together a band of splendid musicians to explore new and traditional blues themes, adding her own vocal passion to this heady blend.
“Today, blues is a global music, known and cherished by people all over the world,” Ivory writes in the album’s liner notes. “But its roots are in the American South – in places like Memphis and Mississippi, where I first met the blues, and in nearby outposts like St. Louis, where I now live. ‘New Southern Vintage’ pays homage to this iconic Southern folk form as well as the heroines and heroes who created it, including my greatest inspirations: blueswoman Memphis Minnie (“World of Trouble,” “Shout the Boogie”) and my own great-uncle Will Roy Sanders (“I’m in Trouble”), who fronted the Fieldstones, the best Memphis blues band of the 1970s and 1980s.”
Ivory is accompanied here by her band, the Blue Bloods: Robert Allen Parker on guitar, Adam Hill on guitar, Khari Wynn on bass and Donnon R. Johnson on drums. She’s added a variety of other artists for the session. In her words:
The album also features several living legends, from Jimmy “Duck” Holmes (caretaker of the Bentonia, Mississippi school of blues guitar) to folk-blues éminences grises David Evans and Andrew Cohen. And because blues is an ancient-to-the-future music – vintage and new – I invited a number of brilliant younger artists to join me on “New Southern Vintage.” My longtime collaborator Robert Allen Parker, Public Enemy’s Khari Wynn, and the other members of my Memphis-based band the Blue Bloods appear on several tracks, as do Ben Levin, Damian “Yella P” Pearson, and Chris Stephenson. There are also some special international guests – Jan Hartmann, Antonio Vergara, Takuto Asano, and Yubu Kazungu – who hail from around the globe and nonetheless fit right into the Southern sounds of “New Southern Vintage,” showing that no matter how far we travel down the blues highway, we can always go back home to the land where the blues began.”
The “new” part of the album — its first eight original songs — focuses on an eclectic mix of electric blues styles featuring the Blue Bloods plus guests. While the new material is often drawn from deep blue roots, Ivory and her mates add freshness and vitality to their spirit. The last five tracks shift the energy more to the “vintage” roots of the blues, with an emphasis on acoustic material, primarily featuring guest artists behind Ivory’s always stunning vocals — the musical glue for the entire album. (You can find the entire musical cast list at the end of this post.)
The opener “Ain’t So Blind” lifts John Lee Hooker’s classic “Boom, Boom, Boom” rhythm into the future, adding furious harp by Hartmann. “Blue Blood” conjures similar magic with a hypnotic Mississippi Hill Country vibe. The Fieldstones song, “I’m in Trouble,” is a more traditional blues that crackles with electric intensity, ridden hard by Ivory’s powerful voice. The eloquent “Foolish Pleasure” adds Kazungu on vocals, Stephenson’s moody Wurlitzer and Hartmann’s elegant harp behind another splendid Ivory vocal.
The fiercely upbeat “Lookin’ for My Baby” pulsates with Levin’s roadhouse piano in a joyous mood shift. Ivory’s “Strong Black Mattie” revives an R.L. Burnside theme with a throbbing rhythm and a lyrical update: “Can’t a girl have some fun?” The ethereal ballad, “Let Your Love Shine On” was recorded in Ecuador, with Vergara on lap steel, electric guitar, and background vocals behind Ivory’s sensitive lyrical reading. The final “new” track is the steamy blues of “Look Away” with Ivory’s vocal soaring, and a razor-sharp Parker guitar solo.
The transition to the “vintage” tracks is a narration by blues musician and preservationist Andrew Cohen titled “Folk Traditions,” a brief explanation of musical traditions, specifically the roots of the blues.
Opening this segment is “Catfish Blues” by the somewhat mysterious Robert Petway, who recorded only 16 songs, but was considered a substantial influence on subsequent blues and rock performers. Holmes plays acoustic guitar and sings with Ivory, while Levin adds a rolling piano background. It’s splendid version, with Holmes highlighting the track.
Ivory offers a gorgeous rendition of “Corrina” (not the 1920s classic “Corrine, Corrina”), a blues standard credited to Clyde Maxwell and famously recorded by Alan Lomax at Maxwell’s farm in 1978. Spare accompaniment from Levin and Evans make this an instant classic of its own. “Crown Royal Bag Blues” is an original Ivory song that captures the spirit of a vintage blues, with guitars from Pearson and Asano, with more sassy piano from Levin.
Ivory closes with interpretations of two songs from one of her blues inspirations, Memphis Minnie: “World of Trouble” and “Shout the Boogie.” Her vocals ache with the despair of “Trouble,” and proclaim the joy of “Shout.” Levin adds piano to both, with his boogie-woogie touch driving hard on the latter with Andy Cohen, who provided the “Folk Traditions” narration introducing this segment, on guitar.
“New Southern Vintage” is an excellent album from Candice Ivory. As its prime mover vocally, and as its producer, she dives deep into the history of the blues while urging it into the future, all while emphasizing the worldwide appeal of this classic American music. It demands the attention, and the enjoyment, of deep blues lovers everywhere.
Here’s “Ain’t So Blind,” from the album:
Tracks and Credits:
1. “Ain’t So Blind” (Robert Allen Parker and Candice Ivory) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Jan Hartmann: harmonica; The Blue Bloods.
2. “Blue Blood” (Candice Ivory, © Players Step Outside Publishing) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Jan Hartmann: harmonica; The Blue Bloods.
3. “I’m in Trouble” (Joe Henry Hicks, © Music River Publishing Company) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Jan Hartmann: harmonica; Ben Levin: piano; The Blue Bloods.
4. “Foolish Pleasure” (Robert Allen Parker) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Yubu Kazungu: vocals; Ben Levin: whistle; Jan Hartmann: harmonica; Chris Stephenson: Wurlitzer organ; The Blue Bloods.
5. “Looking for My Baby” (Robert Allen Parker) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Ben Levin: piano; The Blue Bloods.
6. “Strong Black Mattie” (Candice Ivory) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Chris Stephenson: Hammond B-3 organ; The Blue Bloods.
7. “Let Your Love Shine On” (Robert Allen Parker) – Candice Ivory: vocals; featuring Antonio Vergara: lap steel guitar, electric guitar, and background vocals; Chris Stephenson: Wurlitzer organ; The Blue Bloods.
8. “Look Away” (Robert Allen Parker) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Chris Stephenson: Hammond B-3 organ; The Blue Bloods.The Blue Bloods include Robert Allen Parker: guitar; Adam Hill: guitar (except on “Ain’t So Blind”); Khari Wynn: bass; Donnon R. Johnson: drums.
9. “Folk Tradition” – Andrew Cohen: narration.
10. “Catfish Blues” (Robert Petway, © Songs of Universal Inc, Wabash Music Co) – Featuring Jimmy “Duck” Holmes: vocals and guitar; Candice Ivory: vocals; Damian “Yella P” Pearson: harmonica; Ben Levin: piano.
11. “Corrina” (Clyde Maxwell) – Candice Ivory: vocals; David Evans: guitar; Ben Levin: piano.
12. “Crown Royal Bag Blues” (Candice Ivory) – Candice Ivory: vocals; Damian “Yella P” Pearson: guitar; Takuto Asano: guitar; Ben Levin: piano.
13. “World of Trouble” (Ernest Lawlars) – Candice Ivory: vocals; David Evans: guitar; Ben Levin: piano.
14. Shout the Boogie (Minnie Lawlars, © Memphis Minnie Music Co)Candice Ivory: vocals; David Evans: guitar; AndyCohen: guitar; Ben Levin: piano
Produced by Candice Ivory
Tracks 1-8 recorded by Adam Hill at Electraphonic Recording, Memphis
Additional recording for track 7 by Claudia Correa at AVA Recording Studios, Guayaquil, Ecuador
Tracks 9-14 recorded by Till Palmer at Ecko Records, Memphis
The Blue Bloods:
Robert Allen Parker: guitar
Adam Hill: guitar (except Ain’t So Blind)
Khari Wynn: bass
Donnon R. Johnson: drums
Blues Roadhouse 