I seem to have idiosyncratic taste in music as it is difficult for most people to recommend music to me. But Rick Saunders (of Deep Blues notoriety) is apparently just as weird as I am because when he tells me, “You’re going to love this”, I can be confident that he’s right. Recently, Rick turned me on to the Soul of John Black, and when I say “turned me on”, I mean it in a couple of different ways.
The first album from the Soul of John Black – which is the project of John Bigham who played guitar in Fishbone for eight years and has worked with the likes of Miles Davis and Dr. Dre – The Good Girl Blues is a sultry, sexy collection of music calling to mind a sweaty night in a low-lit juke joint… and what happens after. Rick’s review of the album is pretty spot-on to what I would write about it, except I would have added the phrase “panty-moistening” in there somewhere.
Check out the four-alarm-fire of a track, “I Got Work” (which would have fit right in to my slow jams post), from The Good Girl Blues:
The new album from the Soul of John Black, Good Thang, has more of the same with some sunshiney soul added in. If The Good Girl Blues was about seducing that special someone, songs like “Good Thang” and “Li’l Mama’s in the Kitchen” are the happily every after of the story. Though it’s the jump beat of kiss-off song “Oh That Feeling” that sticks in my head the most.
If you’re way out west, you can check out the Soul of John Black live.
Aug 19 – Quixote’s True Blue – Denver, CO
Aug 20 – River Run at Keystone – Keystone, CO
Aug 21 – River Run at Keystone – Keystone, CO
Oct 08 – Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival – Joshua Tree, CA
Everyone else can settle for finding his albums on MOG, Spotify, Bandcamp, Amazon and the other usual suspects.
The Soul of John Black Official Website