Deltachord

Some rock love songs are sad and full of angst, but others are happy. Being a Beatles fan I’d have to name some of their songs like And I Love Her, Love, Love Me Do, Something, I Feel Fine, and Eight Days A Week.

These are some more great upbeat love songs:  How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) by James Taylor, Layla by Derick and the Dominoes,  Chapel of Love by the Dixie Cups, though that’s getting into the Soul genre.  Ponyno has several upbeat rock love songs to their credit like Stone Cold Love.  Another good one is I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher. Sweet Delilah by the Sea Dragons is a good love song.

Rod Stewart sings some upbeat love tunes on his CD As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook Volume II. He gets into the songs of the crooners and does a fantastic job. Some of those wonderful love songs are Our Love is Here to Stay, I Only Have Eyes For You, and As Time Goes By. Queen Latifah helps with this duet. They aren’t rock songs, but they are sung by a rocker.

Until next time, think about your favorite love songs. Are they upbeat?

It Had to Be You… The Great American Songbook
As Time Goes By…The Great American Songbook: Volume II
LOVE [Vinyl]

Bettye Lavette is still a high energy singer with great stage presence. She has showcased her tremendous versatility throughout her career by singing everything from jazz, blues, gospel, pop, rhythm and blues to folk. The way she sings these various genres tends to make a wonderful, soulful melting pot of the sounds.

Lavette puts so much emotion into her music, the embodiment of emotion includes musing, heartbroken, sassy, laid bare, happy…you name it, she covers it. Her latest achievement is an interpretive album entitled Interpretations-The British Rock Songbook is coming out on 05/25/10.

Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook

Let Me Down Easy: In Concert

Dixon will portray the great Ray Charles on Broadway.  The play’s title Unchain My Heart, was taken from one of Charles’ songs.  According to AP it will open on 11/07/10 with preview performances beginning on 11/08/10.

Benjamin Stuart is the producer, Suzan-LoriParks wrote the script, and the director is Sheldon Epps. First, the movie Ray and now a play–both are accolades that he deserves.

If you haven’t heard Duffy listen to her at YouTube. “Mercy” from her album Rockferry (2008) is pure soul and her band rocks too. She was born in Gwynedd, Wales in 1984 and she is a singer/songwriter. Her genres are rock n’ roll, pop, and soul. Apparently, there has been some criticism of her singing a soul sound because she isn’t black, but hey she sounds good and she isn’t the first, remember Janis Joplin??? Even B.B. King said she had soul so give it a rest.

Duffy

Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino recognizes the great music of Fats Domino and his donation to the Tipitina’s Foundation of New Orleans. He had donated money from his Alive and Kickin’ album, which hit the music scene in 2006.

The Tipitina’s Foundation is a non-profit organization whose goal is stated below. The quote is from their Mission Statement.

The foundation works to support childhood music education, the professional developmentof adult musicians, and the increased profile and viability of New Orleans music as a cultural, educational, and economic resource.

The tribute album is a 2 disc CD, which came out in September of 2007. The funds from its sale will be given to public school music programs in New Orleans and will go to help rebuild N.O. from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, especially a community center in the Lower 9th Ward, which is still a devastated area.

The tribute album project was organized by The Tipitania’s Foundation and is loaded with lauded musicians.

Here is a list of the musicians from Billboard:

“Ain’t That a Shame,” John Lennon
“Don’t Leave Me This Way,” Dr. John
“I Want To Walk You Home,” Paul McCartney
“I’m Walkin’,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
“Blueberry Hill,” Elton John
“Blue Monday,” Randy Newman
“Don’t Leave Me This Way,” Dr. John
“Let the Four Winds Blow,” Toots and the Maytals
“When I See You,” Olu Dara with Donald Harrison
“Trombone Shorty,” Lenny Kravitz with the Rebirth
Brass Band,
“Whole Lotta Lovin’,” Troy Andrews, Fred Wesley,
Pee Wee Ellis and Maceo Parker
“I’m in Love Again & All by Myself,” Bonnie Raitt
& John Cleary
“It Keeps Rainin’,” Robert Plant with the Lil’ Band
O’ Gold
“Goin’ Home,” BB King with Ivan Neville’s
Dumpstaphunk
“My Girl Josephine,” Taj Mahal with The New Orleans
Social Club
“Please Don’t Leave Me,” Art Neville
“I Hear You Knockin’,” Willie Nelson
“I Just Can’t Get New Orleans Off My Mind,”
Irma Thomas and Marcia Ball
“I’m Gonna Be a Wheel,” Herbie Hancock with
George Porter Jr., Zigaboo Modeliste and Renard Poche
“One Night (Of Sin),” Corinne Bailey Rae
“Don’t Blame It on Me,” Bruce Hornsby
“I Live My Life,” Lucinda Williams

Hear Fats Domino:

http://www.rhapsody.com/fatsdomino

Hear cuts from tribute album:
http://www.rhapsody.com/album/goinhomeatributetofatsdomino

References
http://www.billboard.com/
Music Legends Crowd Fats Domino
Tribute Album
June 28, 2007, 7:00 PM ET
Katie Hasty, N.Y.
http://www.tipitinasfoundation.org/about/mission.asp
http://www.p2pnet.net/story/13418
Fats Domini Tribute
Sept, 29,2007
Larry LeBlanc

John “JB” Bigham, the front man for The Soul Of John Black, has amassed an array of credits already. He wrote tunes for Miles Davis and played with Davis at the 10th annual Paris Jazz Festival and appears on Live In Paris, the DVD recorded there.

Bigham played guitar and keyboards for Fishbone, an innovative rock-funk-ska band; he also wrote songs, aided in production, and sang background vocals. Two of the albums he worked on with Fishbone were The Reality Of My Surroundings and Give A Monkey A Brain. He was in the group for eight years.

As a sessions musician he has worked with Eminem, Dr. Dré, Rosey, Joi, Nikka Costa, Bruce Hornsby and Everlast.

Though The Soul Of John Back is basically a duo, bassist Chris Thomas, being the second member, you can find a long list of the other members at:

http://www.myspace.com/thesoulofjohnblack

Thomas has an exciting resume too including working with Harry Connick, Jr, Daniel Lanois, Joshua Redman, Betty Carter, Ellis Marsalis and Macy Gray.

The CD The Good Girl Blues highlights Bigham’s talent as a blues/funk artist. It exhibits his virtuoso abilities on guitar in the blues genre, as he plays all of the guitar parts and this includes acoustic, electric, and slide guitar, plus he plays various styles of blues….from Memphis funk to delta blues to urban blues. You can hear his influences in the songs…Lead Belly, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Blind Boy Fuller, Al Green, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix…and they are a list of great artists.

In Good Girl Bigham plays a hard rocking guitar with call and response backup vocals. Feelin’s has a cool funk sound and slide guitar, even wah-wah. Fire Blues is a slower blues song with spooky electronic sounds and cool tambourine playing. You need to go listen and hear this for yourself. Hey, you’ll also want to listen to the self-titled CD The Soul of John Black, which you can hear at CD Baby.

On the self-titled CD you’ll hear soul, pop-rock, funk, and folk music. This is a Band/Duo that you don’t want to miss!

You can hear The Soul of John Black’s CD The Good Girl Blues at:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/soulofjohnblack2
http://www.myspace.com/thesoulofjohnblack

Website:

http://www.thesoulofjohnblack.com/