posted by all-musicrecords
The band is composed of Paul Janeway (vocals), Browan Lollar (guitar), Jesse Phillips (bass), Kevin Leon (drums), Al Gamble (keys), Allen Branstetter (trumpet), Amari Ansari (saxophone), and Chad Fisher (trombone).
Here's a new American old-school soul band with the perfect pedigree. St Paul & the Broken Bones are a six-piece from Birmingham, Alabama who recorded their album in Muscle Shoals with help from producer Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes, using vintage technology to replicate the sound of the great southern soul performers of the 60s.
They are not pure revivalists – they write their own material, which is often adequate rather than memorable – but their style is steeped in the musical traditions of the region, and they are helped by a remarkable singer.
"St Paul" Janeway was brought up listening to gospel music in a religious household, originally planned to become a clergyman, and mixes a great preacher's sense of theatre with a fabulous gospel/soul voice and the ability to switch between lyrical and frenzied passages within the same song. They should be exhilarating live.
The Birmingham band's six members squeezed onto the stage, looking like ragtag school kids. Singer Paul Janeway, nerd-tastic in spectacles and a Sunday suit, unfurled a handkerchief. He started to croon, then shout and wail.
The two horn players rang the blues; the rhythm section slipped into a hot pocket; the guitarist pulled out some nimble riffs. Janeway kept hitting notes that I'd only heard before from soulful elders like Bobby Bland. In 15 minutes, the crowd grew from a sparse dozen onlookers to a packed, throbbing organism. Women reached for Janeway. Men swooned. People just walking by paid the $5 cover and pushed to the front.
Since that winter weekday gig, I've watched as St. Paul and the Broken Bones became one of the nation's best live bands.
Every crowd is bigger; nearly every listener locks in and becomes a raving fan.
Now, the group is releasing a debut album that's an ideal counterpart to those frenetic shows.
Produced by Ben Tanner, keyboardist for the Alabama Shakes, Half the City is the album you put on after the night's done, to chill out, make out or cry into that last drink you pour in the kitchen.
It's also the one you reach for the morning after, because you just have to memorize those grooves.
Tanner has eradicated the canned mood that sinks much retro-soul by recording Half the City live to tape in as few takes as possible and mixing it for maximum rawness on the old board at Fame Studios. Slow cookers like "I'm Torn Up" and "Dixie Rothko" allow Janeway to fully flex his enormous tenor, while stompers like "Call Me" are humid with happiness.
Soul scholars will chase the references from Memphis to Motown and back, but the feeling belongs to these six young men, right now.
St. Paul's origin story is common: White Southern kids chase the region's African-American musical spark, led by a singer with astounding lung capacity who came up in the church, as well as a guitarist who'd paid some dues (Browan Lollar once played in Jason Isbell's band) before blossoming into his own sound.
But the little things make a difference. Janeway loves the soul legend O.V. Wright and dark patriarch Nick Cave and the overlooked gospel great Alex Bradford. Lollar fills his riffs with unexpected color, like the magical-realist painter he also is. The horn section has the energy of undergrads, which its members were until they graduated from Samford University last year.
St. Paul and the Broken Bones' music doesn't just mimic the sounds its members love; it regenerates the tradition.
This is what happens when players are unusually in tune with each other and with the discoveries they're sharing. Half the City is the first major recorded statement from a band already growing into greatness. Get it now, while the sweat's still fresh.
Track listing
1. I'm Torn Up - 3:37
Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] – Al Gamble
2. Don't Mean A Thing - 3:06
Pedal Steel Guitar – Daniel Stoddard
3. Call Me - 2:51
4. Like A Mighty River - 3:23
5. That Glow - 3:04
Piano – Al Gamble
6. Broken Bones & Pocket Change - 3:47
B ass [Upright] – Ron Alexander
7. Sugar Dyed - 2:28
8. Half The City - 3:17
Electric Piano [Wurlitzer] – Al Gamble
Organ, Backing Vocals – Ben Tanner
Pedal Steel Guitar – Daniel Stoddard
9. Grass Is Greener - 4:14
Piano – Al Gamble
10. Let It Be So - 3:19
11. Dixie Rothko - 3:32
Piano – Ben Tanner
12. It's Midnight - 2:31
Bass [Upright] – Ron Alexander
Piano – Ben Tanner
Companies, etc.
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Single Lock Records
- Copyright © – Single Lock Records
- Mastered At – Total Sonic Media
- Mixed At – Fame Recording Studios
- Marketed By – Thirty Tigers
- Distributed By – Thirty Tigers
- Recorded At – The NuttHouse
- Manufactured By – The ADS Group – 15783-CD-0003
Credits
- Art Direction – Aaron Gresham, Big Communications
- Backing Vocals – Browan Lollar
- Baritone Saxophone – Jamie Harper, (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6 to 9, 11)
- Bass – Jesse Phillips
- Booking – Frank Riley
- Drums, Percussion – Andrew Lee
- Guitar – Browan Lollar
- Management – Thirty Tigers, Traci Thomas
- Mastered By – Steven Berson
- Organ – Al Gamble (tracks: 1 to 6, 10, 11)
- Photography By – David McClister
- Producer, Recorded By, Mixed By – Ben Tanner
- Recorded By – Les Nuby (tracks: 7)
- Trombone, Tuba – Ben Griner
- Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Allen Bransetter
- Vocals – Paul Janeway
- Written-By – Jesse Phillips (tracks: 5 to 7), Paul Janeway (tracks: 5 to 7), St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Notes
Released: 2014
Genre: Rhythm & Blues, Soul
Length: 39:10
Label - Single Lock Records
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