April 2001

JOHNNY RAWLS
Put Your Trust In Me
JSP 2145

One of the real injustices of recent Handy ballots is the omission of Johnny Rawls from the soul–blues category. Throughout the years, Rawls has matured into a singer of enormous depth. He never wavers from his commitment to deliver chitlin–circuit–certified songs.

Johnny Rawls has all three of those bases covered, and he has a genuine soul-blues pedigree to boot. From his apprenticeships in past bands of O.V. Wright, Z.Z. Hill and Little Johnny Taylor through his constant touring on the chitlin circuit to his current position with JSP Records as producer and A&R man, Rawls has learned what makes the best record.

Rawls and writing partner Bruce Feiner announce their musical slant on opener "Hit by a Truck," the message of which is clear: When life gets rough,, stand tall and take the bad with the good. Rawls pleads Memphis–style soul on "Talk Is Cheap" and the funky ballad "Put Your Trust in Me," a baritone and tenor sax romp. Though "Should Be at Work" is the weakest song lyrically – it merely repeats the same verse – the addition of Phil Guy's and Eddie Kirkland's vocals and guitar turns it into a headcutting contest. "Gonna Keep On" was originally recorded by George Stancell and Mary Taylor; here, Rawls' daughter, the velvet–voiced Destini Rawls, helps make the lover's pledge sizzle.

The disc's artistic tour de force, though, is the melancholy "Sometimes," where layers of strings overlay piano and B–3 underpinnings. The Nutmeg Horns add a trembling bridge to Rawls' modern love song, and there's even a classical guitar rising in the mix. It's an early contender for song–of–the–year honors, and it nicely illustrates Rawls' appeal: He and Feiner write about topics the average person can associate with, and Rawls uses his remarkable vocal range to express the universal emotions found in them. His understanding of blues and soul centers his work on the song and the delivery, and that alone separates Rawls from the rest of the pack. Handy nominators take note: Put Your Trust in Me is one of the year's top soul recordings.

Blues Revue