Barcelona
Time: TBA
Admission: TBA
NAOMI SHELTON & THE GOSPEL QUEENS
If you’re searching for the spiritual home of real soul music in the twenty-first century, then look no further than the Daptone Records’ House Of Soul recording studio in Brooklyn, NYC. For the last eight years, they have been producing authentic rhythm’n’blues music with that original 60s/70s feeling, but still managing to sound contemporary at the same time. The label has brought us Sharon Jones, Sugarman 3, Budos Band and a host of others, and the house band The Dap-Kings, are also well known for providing the funk for more mainstream pop-artists, such as Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson.
Now Barcelona is in for a real treat, a visit from Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens to promote their debut album on Daptone… “What Have You Done, My Brother”, a timeless blend of soul & gospel which brings to mind Ray Charles, The Staples Singers, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett.
Naomi and musical director / keyboardist Cliff Driver, having been making music together, off and on, for over forty-five years, since first meeting at the Night Cap club in Brooklyn in 1963. Naomi hails from an Alabama / gospel background and despite many years performing on the r’n’b circuit, she still finds time to sing every Sunday at her local Baptist church. Between 1947 and 1980, Cliff crossed the United States time and time again, with various rhythm’n’blues bands, before becoming a church organist for nearly twenty years. Then in the late 90’s he came back to the clubs… and cut some 45s with Naomi for the Desco label, which were championed by ‘deep funk’ DJs Keb Darge and Snowboy. Sixty years as a professional musician, would be an incredible achievement for most people, maybe even more so for Cliff Driver, as he has been blind since childhood.
The full band line-up and backing singers The Gospel Queens, finally all came together in 2007 and the album was made, mainly live and direct to eight-track tape, giving it that incredible life and vitality, that you only get from analogue recording. With great songs like “Wind Your Clock”, “What Have You Done” and the direct attack on the US healthcare system and Iraq war “Am I Asking Too Much”, the record is definitely one of the best rhythm’n’blues albums of recent years.
So if you want to discover how great soul music should sound, with rich gospel vocals and a band of musicians, whose experience stretches back to the late 1940’s… then this a show that you shouldn’t miss.
Roger C (Miniguide Barcelona, December 2009)
Time: TBA
Admission: TBA
NAOMI SHELTON & THE GOSPEL QUEENS
If you’re searching for the spiritual home of real soul music in the twenty-first century, then look no further than the Daptone Records’ House Of Soul recording studio in Brooklyn, NYC. For the last eight years, they have been producing authentic rhythm’n’blues music with that original 60s/70s feeling, but still managing to sound contemporary at the same time. The label has brought us Sharon Jones, Sugarman 3, Budos Band and a host of others, and the house band The Dap-Kings, are also well known for providing the funk for more mainstream pop-artists, such as Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson.
Now Barcelona is in for a real treat, a visit from Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens to promote their debut album on Daptone… “What Have You Done, My Brother”, a timeless blend of soul & gospel which brings to mind Ray Charles, The Staples Singers, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett.
Naomi and musical director / keyboardist Cliff Driver, having been making music together, off and on, for over forty-five years, since first meeting at the Night Cap club in Brooklyn in 1963. Naomi hails from an Alabama / gospel background and despite many years performing on the r’n’b circuit, she still finds time to sing every Sunday at her local Baptist church. Between 1947 and 1980, Cliff crossed the United States time and time again, with various rhythm’n’blues bands, before becoming a church organist for nearly twenty years. Then in the late 90’s he came back to the clubs… and cut some 45s with Naomi for the Desco label, which were championed by ‘deep funk’ DJs Keb Darge and Snowboy. Sixty years as a professional musician, would be an incredible achievement for most people, maybe even more so for Cliff Driver, as he has been blind since childhood.
The full band line-up and backing singers The Gospel Queens, finally all came together in 2007 and the album was made, mainly live and direct to eight-track tape, giving it that incredible life and vitality, that you only get from analogue recording. With great songs like “Wind Your Clock”, “What Have You Done” and the direct attack on the US healthcare system and Iraq war “Am I Asking Too Much”, the record is definitely one of the best rhythm’n’blues albums of recent years.
So if you want to discover how great soul music should sound, with rich gospel vocals and a band of musicians, whose experience stretches back to the late 1940’s… then this a show that you shouldn’t miss.
Roger C (Miniguide Barcelona, December 2009)
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