Inspecting the final lineup for Bumbershoot 2007, a favorite staple
seems to be missing: a notable soul artist. Over the years, the
festival has hosted several of the genre’s heavyweights, including
Solomon Burke and the godfather himself, James Brown. Mavis Staples and
Bettye LaVette threw down killer sets in 2005 and 2006,
respectively.
This year? Nada. If you want to see a living legend over Labor Day
Weekend, you’ll have to catch Stevie Wonder at the Chateau Ste.
Michelle Winery. But that doesn’t mean Bumbershoot 2007 lacks soul;
it’s just a newer shade.
For starters, there’s Joss Stone. At just 16 years old, she cut her
2003 debut, The Soul Sessions, under the supervision of Betty
Wright (1972’s “Clean Up Woman”). The album included accomplished
readings of songs popularized by soul greats Carla Thomas, Aretha
Franklin, and the Isley Brothers. Since then, this English rose has
shared stages with the likes of Brown, Wonder, Staples, and even Patti
LaBelle.
But can a skinny white chick from across the pond truly sing soul?
Producers Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd of Atlantic Records
certainly thought so. And not only did they captain Dusty Springfield’s
seminal 1969 Dusty in Memphis, the same team worked with “To
Sir, with Love” singer Lulu in Muscle Shoals. (You can hear the wee
Scottish lassie tearing up “Feelin’ Alright” on Rhino’s recent What
It Is! Funky Soul and Rare Grooves box set.) Short answer: Yes,
she can.
Ryan Shaw isn’t a lifelong veteran either, but he knows how to play
the part. Literally. One of his early gigs was performing chestnuts
such as “My Girl” at New York City’s Motown Cafe. Like Stone, his debut
album, This Is Ryan Shaw, is packed with vintage gems by
Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack, and Jackie Wilson. The 26-year-old artist
and his producers took pains, however, to eschew obvious choices.
“We went through hundreds and hundreds of songs,” recalled Shaw
earlier this year. “Every time I would go over to record, they would
sit me down and play anywhere from between 20 to 30 more songs. And I
only recorded the ones that made me smile.”
That kind of gut reaction is at the heart of how Toussaint, vocalist
for Soulive, defines soul music. “Without trying to sound
clichéd, soul really is something that comes from within. It’s
beautiful because it’s uplifting. [The song] can be about some of the
worst things you see, the drudgery of society, and yet you still feel
uplifted when you hear Curtis Mayfield singing ‘Freddy’s Dead’… and
he’s explaining the life of a junkie!”
Even though the New York ensemble is primarily associated with the
jam-band scene, they impressed Concord Records enough that the label
just issued the group’s latest, No Place Like Soul, on the
reactivated Stax imprint. Thus far, the youngsters seem to have lived
up to that venerable label’s reputation. After a recent Stax
50th-anniversary gig in Memphis, Dave Porter (of Sam & Dave) and
William Bell lined up to offer kudos. “William Bell, the singer of
‘Forgot to Be a Lover,’ one of the baddest tunes of all time, was
feeling us? That meant everything to me,” says Toussaint.
Soul might make allowances for age or pigmentation, but
faith—of some variety—seems to be a prerequisite. Both Shaw
and Toussaint grew up singing in the church. “To make not just music
with soul, but music with lots of soul, you have to have some kind of
spiritual base,” concurs Wendell Holmes, singer and guitarist for the
Holmes Brothers. “It doesn’t have to be Christianity.”
“When you look into your own being, you realize you are not an
entity unto yourself,” continues the 63-year-old. “Experiences change
from day to day, and that will make your inner being grow, which in
turns makes the music grow. And that comes out, through the guitar, the
keyboard, and your mouth.”
After 30 years of performing together, the Holmes Brothers would
seem to be the closest thing to a veteran soul act at Bumbershoot 2007.
Except, ironically, Wendell doesn’t think the tag fits. Not
exactly.
“All music is soul music,” he concludes. “Because it comes from the
soul. Even though I am a blues/gospel artist, I also appreciate opera
and classical. That is soul music, too. If it comes the heart, from
real-life experiences, then it is soul.” 
