When soul legend Solomon Burke returned from obscurity in 2002 with Don't Give Up On Me, he was singing material by some of the greatest songwriters of the last half century: Dan Penn, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and Nick Lowe among them. But with the exception of Van Morrison and Dan Penn, the names under the titles weren't exactly the first that come to mind when soul music is the topic. What elevated their offerings from genre exercises or curiosities to near-perfection were Burke's performances. His soaring gospel-soul tenor cut straight to the narrative heart of each song, making each a grand drama of loss, love, or tribulation. It was a thrilling return to fame for Burke, and especially surprising for how different it was from the gospel-infused soul rave-ups that he rode to fame in the 1960s. In a more expansive and sedate setting with a slate of (mostly) excellent new songs, we saw a new side of a great old artist.
It now seems that that album's success was due not only to Burke but to white-boy producer Joe Henry who picked the songs and helmed the sessions. Henry, who has also engineered and produced for quirky acts like Kristin Hersh and Jim White and has released numerous albums of his own, made Don't Give Up On Me a warm and cozy sounding album that put the spotlight right where it needed to be - on Burke's powerful tenor - and leaned instruments right up against that marvelous instrument where need be. Relying mainly on piano and organ, acoustic guitars, quiet kit drums, and hushed backup singers, Henry created a gorgeous, lo-fi old school vibe with the one-band/one-room sound that recalled the glory days of Motown, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals, but with a twist. Henry seems to have realized that trying to ape the sound of classic Stax or Atlantic sides is a sucker's game. Instead, he settled on a sparse, intimate production that sounded classic but was in reality all new and all his own.
Now Joe Henry is producer of the new compilation album I Believe To My Soul, a project which raises the stakes immensely on Don't Give Up On Me. For this album Henry recruited not one but five great voices of soul music: Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, Allen Toussaint, and Billy Preston. All five, though not household names, are legends of Southern soul, among the greats of the genre. Together they bring their strengths in straight sanctified gospel, percolating funk, gritty R&B, New Orleans muck, and classic Memphis soul into one new creation that, although soul has been around for fifty years, sounds as fresh and new as if it were born yesterday.
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