Release Date: 25 November 2022
Label: Ruf Records
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 710347208310
Release Date: 25 November 2022
Label: Ruf Records
Packaging Type: Slip Sleeve (CD or Vinyl)
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 710347208310
Description
Down in Louisiana, they do things differently. The Southern stateâs musical giants have always had their own distinct recipe for American roots: spiced with jazz, steeped in swamp-blues and cooked up a little differently by every artist who performs it.
As a second-generation child of the Bayou State, Kenny Neal has taken his own inimitable guitar, gale-force harp and roadworn voice all over the globe. But in 2022, the Grammy-nominated blues masterâs latest album, Straight From The Heart, finds him drawn by the siren call of his hometown and musical ground zero, Baton Rouge.
âThis is the first album Iâve ever recorded on my own turf, and it truly came straight from the heart,â? says Neal, who both led and produced a crack team of local musicians at his own Brookstown Recording Studios. âAll the tributaries of the blues converge here, flowing into one rich tradition.â?
Youâll hear all of Nealâs travels in Straight From The Heart, but this latest album brings it all back home in every sense. Lining up in the studio alongside his Baton Rouge compadrés, the respect that Neal commands on the scene also drew some special guests, including hot-tip blues sensation Christone âKingfishâ Ingram (who co-writes and plays stinger guitar on Mount Up On The Wings Of The King), pop royalty Tito Jackson (on Two Timing) and two songs with Rockinâ Dopsie Junior & The Zydeco Twisters. Youâll even hear Nealâs supremely talented daughter Syreeta drive the vocal outro of Two Timing.
âIt was like a family reunion,â? says Neal of the good-natured sessions. âIt was excellent because I had all the musicians that grew up under me here in Baton Rouge. And just being in my own studio, not worrying about the clock.â?
Straight From The Heart is a fitting title for a record that salutes the many loves of Nealâs life. Thereâs the brass-driven opener Blues Keep Chasing Me, which tips a hat to his recently departed friend, Lucky Peterson. Thereâs the touching piano-led Someone Somewhere, which salutes his beloved father, harp master Raful Neal, who put him on this path. Elsewhere, Nealâs deep love for every side of his home state is underlined by the zydeco chop of Bon Temps Rouler and New Orleans, whose lyrics reference everything from âsippinâ on Hurricaneâ? to âsittinâ on the Bayou catching catfishâ?.
Faced with such an open-hearted record, itâs impossible not to reciprocate. And as the world opens up and Kenny Neal embraces his natural habitat of the road, this Louisiana icon will bring a little bit of that Baton Rouge spirit onto every stage he treads. âIt don't cost nothing to share a little love and a little respect,â? he says. âAnd we can all rise aboveâ¦â?
Tracklisting
Various Artists
Various Artists
Kenny Neal
Kenny Neal
Roger Chapman
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado
Canned Heat
Dani Wilde, Victoria Smith & Samantha Fish
Eddie 9V
Oli Brown
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado
Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado