Photo by Shervin Lainez
There’s nothing wrong with a bit soul music. Actually it’s a very good thing to have. Without it you can almost sense the lack of something. American songwriter EMILY WELLS clearly has plenty of soul. Her music and especially her distinctive voice have. This year she released her new longplayer Mama and it featured a lovely combination of traditional songwriting with experimental elements. Enough to make it sound egdy while not getting too abstract. Something you should experience. Especially live on tour. Which makes it even more fitting that NOTHING BUT HOPE AND PASSION is giving away 2×2 tickets for the musician’s upcoming German tour. Find the dates below her track Passenger.
24.11.2013 Nürnberg, E-Werk
01.12.2013 Cologne, Blue Shell
02.12.2013 Hamburg, Prinzenbar
03.12.2013 Berlin, Berghain Kantine
04.12.2013 Dresden, Beatpol
05.12.2013 Frankfurt, Brotfabrik
All you have to do is write us a mail at win@nbhap.com, featuring the subject “Emily Wells”, your full name and the city of your choice. And if you want to get to know Mrs. WELLS a bit better feel invited to listen to seven of her most lost loved soul songs right here.
01. ESTHER PHILLIPS – “Try Me”
This is the song that made me fall in love with Esther Phillips… When I first heard it I must have listened to it a hundred times.
02. WENDY RENE – “Give You What I Got”
I first heard Wendy Rene playing in a record store and immediately bought it off the record player… I proceeded to fill the summer with the sound of her voice. Her song “After Laughter Comes Tears” was sampled by the Wu Tang for “Tearz”, but this song is the one I always come back to first.
03. OTIS REDDING – “These Arms of Mine”
This might be an obvious choice for a soul mix, but for me this song defines what soul music is: the simplicity of the lyrics, the tenderness in his voice, the ease of the music against the pleading.
04. IRMA THOMAS – “Time is On My Side”
The chorus is an anthem for me and I sing it all the time. I love the Stones, but for me, this recording is the original.
05. ETTA JAMES – “I’d Rather Go Blind”
I was in high school listening to a mix someone had made me, driving against a grey afternoon the first time I heard this song, and boy was I struck. I can remember the way the light looked that afternoon and the intersection turning in the window. Some song do that to you, hit you and you’re never the same again as a fan of music, or as an artist.
06. CARLA THOMAS – “Bring it Home to You”
Though Sam Cooke wrote this song and made it famous, I always go back to Carla Thomas’s version… I think my favorite is the harmonies, the “yeahs”
07. JAMES BROWN – “Try Me”
So I’ll book end this with two very different songs of the same name. This is a voice that makes life worth livin.
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