New Music Friday - 8/20/21

It’s New Music Friday – Time for the Picks of the Week – a song and an album that have caught my attention and something I think you’ll want to listen to this weekend. So let’s get to it…

Today’s featured single is “You Want My Love” by Earth Wind & Fire featuring Lucky Daye

As a fan of both artists, I was thrilled to get a listen to this track. The collaborative single a reimagining of R&B band’s 1976 hit “Can’t Hide Love”. Behind the board was super-producer Babyface who said of the project, “We really wanted to bring a tremendous, iconic song that is unmistakably Earth, Wind & Fire into the contemporary world of Lucky Daye. The goal was to create a reimagined version of this classic song that reflects Lucky’s unique voice and musical style, while still honoring the original." Mission accomplished. A blending of two R&B worlds, a passing of the torch. Daye has been creating great R&B over the last few years and teaming with legends only cements him as a future star in the music industry.

Today’s featured album is The Ballad of Dood and Juanita by Sturgill Simpson

The chameleon country singer is back with his fourth album in two years. This time his focus is on a bluegrass concept album about love among the legends of the Kentucky frontier.

Here’s the premise to the story: A half-Shawnee toughie, Dood is a wild child of Eastern Kentucky who delights in domesticity after meeting Juanita, “a good woman” who “calmed down the rage.” When she is abducted by the outlaw Seamus McClure, Dood (already shot by the hooligan) saddles up his mule and pursues Juanita, sights set on mortal vengeance. During the quest, his towering and steadfast mule, Shamrock, gets tired, while his trusty hound, Sam, dies. Saved by a band of Cherokees, Dood finally finds Juanita, gets her home, and kills McClure with a single shot from his Martin Meylin rifle, a gun so tied to the United States’ westward advance that Daniel Boone helped make it famous.

It’s romantic and daring and the kind of storytelling you expect from classic bluegrass. The harmonies are gorgeous and Simpson sounds so comfortable in what he’s doing and playing. At every musical fork in the road, Simpson has proven worthy of taking the road less traveled. We’re better for it in the music he produces. Check out my favorite track “Shamrock”.