Nashville

Solomon Burke

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2006)
• Original Release Date: September 26, 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shout Factory
• ASIN: B000HEWGQA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,227 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Solomon Burke's return to country is as much a spiritual renewal as it is a reinterpretation of some of Nashville's greatest mainstream and Americana songs. The 66-year old King of Rock & Soul has always plied the gospel, of course, but Music City sometimes forgets to feel it in its bones. Buddy Miller, whose gritty hillbilly pleadings always carry a healthy dose of otherworldly soulfulness, is the right producer to bring it all together, since he invites such sidemen as Sam Bush, Kenny Vaughan, and Byron House, as well as guests/duet partners Patty Griffin, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, and Patty Loveless. This is the kind of album that clicks right off but continues to grow on you, such greasy, rolling blues-rock songs as Paul Kennerley and Barry Tashian's "Honey, Where's the Money Gone" loosening up your sacroiliac and Griffin's affecting "Up to the Mountain" morphing into a secular hymn in Burke's big hands. Not everything completely jells: The R&B chorines on "Vicious Circle" jar next to Miller's plinking banjo and Li'l Abner framework, and this rendition of his searing "Does My Ring Burn Your Finger" cries out for wife Julie's songbird harmonies. But when everybody sets their mouth right--as on Burke's duet with Harris on the George Jones/Tammy Wynette classic "We're Gonna Hold On"--the seas nearly part. Throw in some cockiness from the delightfully twisted psyche of Jim Lauderdale ("Seems Like You're Gonna Take Me Back") and Vaughan's blistering chicken-pickin' electric guitar, and lawdy, momma, ain't that good news today! --Alanna Nash

Product Description
Solomon Burke, the King of Rock & Soul, completes his 21st century trilogy with Nashville, a collection of country songs produced by Buddy Miller and recorded at his Nashville home. Solomon returns to one of his first loves, country music, after the GRAMMY® Award-winning Don’t Give Up On Me and the GRAMMY®-nominated Make Do With What You Got. (His breakthrough ’60s singles on Atlantic Records were in a country vein.)

Nashville contains Solomon’s soulful versions of classic country and country-tinged songs (by Tom T. Hall, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen, Don Williams, and others) and previously unrecorded soon-to-be standards by Patty Griffin and Gillian Welch, who also contribute vocals. Country divas Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Patty Loveless also make guest vocal appearances. It all adds up to one of the most affecting marriages of country and soul ever recorded.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Master At Work, September 29, 2006

By	R. Mix "Funkingroovin" (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am another long-time fan of Burke's, and am rapturous over his revitalized career. 'Nashville' picks up where the brilliant 'Don't Give Up On Me' left off, with Burke again wrapping his warm, rich pipes around songs worthy of them.

For you newcomers, 'Nashville' is no bandwagon-jumper. Burke is a sixties soul man with a jones for country and western that pre-dates Ray Charles' 1962 classic LP 'Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music'. It's no accident that Burke's first hit "Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)" was a C&W-laced ballad.

On the surface, country and western and soul seem like distant relatives, one played and listened-to mostly by whites, the other mostly by blacks. Their instrumentation, tempos, harmonies and presentation are frequently very different.

But both have their roots in native music: C&W stems largely from the hymms and folk songs of Irish and English immigrants, while soul traces its heritage back through gospel, blues and field hollers, which themselves are descended from the tribal music of Africa.

They are also the music of the rural poor and the disenfranchised, who used their music as an aural diary. Their worries and concerns were universal, and crossed all racial lines. It's easy to see how a southern-born black man working in a tire plant in Akron, Ohio could relate to a song like Bobby Bare's "Detroit City". Or how a white woman in Appalachia could possess an innate understanding of LaVern Baker's "Tomorrow Night". Despite the obvious differences, there is a great deal of commonality here.

But I digress.

Solomon Burke is one of the fortunate few whose voice actually seems enriched by age, not diminished by it. And that added texture is put to good use on 'Nashville'. Experience oozes from this CD, and make it as resonant as the last great movie you saw.

Be it the inflamed exchange between soon-to-be-lovers on "You're the Kind of Trouble", the ache in "Valley of Tears", or the resolute conviction of "Tomorrow Is Forever" or "We're Gonna Hold On", Burke nails every song that crosses his path.

If you're already a fan of Burke's, this will delight you. And if you're not, this will make you one. I'm not a huge fan of country music, aside from the occasional Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson or Rodney Crowell album. But filtered through Burke's unique sensibility, well, this CD is going straight to my year's-end top ten.

Like dark chocolate wrapped around a square of jalapeno jelly, what at first seems incongruous turns out to be a perfect match. And it's just a click of the 'Add to Shopping Cart' button away.

28 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gritty Country Soul, September 26, 2006

By	Soulboogiealex (Netherlands) - See all my reviews

Every once and a while an album appears that takes you of guard. Nashville is one of those records. Solomon Burke started his comeback a few years back with "Don't Give Up on Me". It was a commercial and artistic success. The low key production of the songs suited the Bishop of Soul's somewhat ragged voice surprisingly well. Sadly the album was followed up by a lackluster Don Was production. In an attempt to create a classic Soul album Was completely drowned Solomon's voice. A mistake pleasantly corrected on this new release.

Nashville is a genuine Country album. Burke of course is no stranger to the medium. He started his career with the Country tinted "Just Out of Reach". Later on in his career his Southern Soul always seemed to have a slight Country shade. Burke often worked with the legendary Muscle Shoals studios, whose band basically consisted of Country musicians taking their punch at Soul music. Yet Nashville is the first real Country album Burke ever did. Horn sections are replaced with fiddles, string instruments play a dominant role and Burke gets into some close harmony with the queens of Country, Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton.

The album opens with "That's How I got to Memphis", producer Buddy Miller accompanying Solomon on just guitar. The tone for the album is set. Although the record at times goes for a Hill Billy blow out with full band, most of the material here is sparsely produced and the focus is on ballads. Though Solomon's voice is still a power house, it has diminished in strength over the years. Burke has problems in times to remain in key and his voices gained a gritty edge. The acoustic instrumentation of the record allows him to relax his voice and let the material come to live. From start to finish the record is a feast of music, signing and story telling. Notably are a very strong version of Springsteen's "Ain't Got You", the wry "Where Did the Money Go", the moving "Vicious Circle" and the breath taking "We're Gonna Hold On" backed by Emmylou Harris. This record is a keeper, a high point in Burke's rich career and one to help you through many falls to come.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An AMAZING album, September 26, 2006

By	David Mandau (Takoma Park, MD) - See all my reviews

A long-time fan of Solomon's, I was thrilled when I learned that he was going to be doing a country album. Luckily, the result has more than exceeded my expectations. Nashville is a strong collection of songs in a several country and country-ish styles, which make for a varied listening experience. Buddy Miller's brilliant low-key but never low-energy production provides skeletal accompaniment in some places, and stomping hoe-downs in others. No matter what's going on, though, Solomon remains Solomon. His voice is the unifying thread to the whole project, one that's big enough and versatile enough to accommodate all the different songs and settings on Nashville and do what all great singing ought to: not just express, but communicate.