There are several rocking ladies who are finding a very successful niche in keeping the music of Motown alive in the 21st century.
Bettye LaVette (b. 1946) is an artist who grew up in Detroit and toured with Ben E. King, Otis Redding and James Brown. For reasons unknown, it wasnt until 1982 that LaVette finally got a recording contract to create the album Telling a Lie. There has been a resurgence of LaVettes popularity and she has released three albums since 2000. One of the albums, Ive Got My Own Hell To Raise, covers songs by Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Dolly Parton and Sinead OConnor.
Listen to Back to Black, and you would think that Amy Winehouse (b.1983) was a previously undiscovered Motown artist. Sasha Frere-Cohen in The New Yorker likened her music to aural blackface, in other words, Sasha thinks Amy is trying to sound like a black girl. Is there anything wrong with that? This girlfriend doesnt think so. Winehouse's Back To Black album (2006 Island Records) is a phenomenal statement of humor and passion, fun and despair. It is no wonder the large haired Ms. Winehoused for a girl.
Winehouse is just a part of the neo soul movement that includes Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings, and The Dap-Kings are the studio band backing up Amy Winehouse on Back to Black. Think o garnered 5 Grammy Awards for Back To Black proving that Rehab and excessive eye-liner can be goof the ap-KingDs as the Funk Brothers for the 21st century. These guys are soul and funk devotees who have made their trademark in sounding so much like that classic Motown sound that made Detroit famous in the 70s, but The Dap-Kings got started in the 90s in New York City.
Sharon Jones (b.1956) was a small-time singer and odd job holder until she got a gig recording with funk legend Lee Fields. Rapping on the Switchblade track seems to have launched Ms. Jones career, and she began playing with The Soul Providers, an early in carnation of The Dap-Kings. There are three very successful albums of music by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and include: 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007), Naturally (2005) and Dap Dippin (2002).
Enjoy Motown and the seventies on their second time around, and thank the ladies (and gentlemen) who are making it all possible.
