Summer 1999

One-time backing musician on live gigs for Z.Z. Hill, Joe Tex, Little Johnny Taylor, O.V. Wright and Lynn White, Johnny Rawls has branched out in recent years to record firstly with L.C. Luckett then going solo, as well as writing and producing not only for himself but also for Lonnie Shields, Deitra Farr and Percy Strother.

This 11-track CD of all original material heralds Johnny’s third outing on JSP and is overall more in Southern soul territory than its predecessors ‘Here We Go’ and ‘Louisiana Woman’. The sumptuous medium-tempo ‘I Been Lookin’’ epitomises the genre whilst the even better ‘Can’t Stop Thinkin’ ‘Bout You’ is a haunting ballad with a suitably expressive vocal complimented by subtle guitar fills. The horn-led ‘I Been Broken Hearted; soon switches tempo to become a downhome country-soul winner. Even the tougher bluesy ‘Back In Your Arms’ with its lengthy guitar solo intro from Johnny has a soulful refrain. ‘Lucy’ is a rather ordinary Johnnie Taylor influenced dance track whilst a Stax/Redding style horn riff turns up on the beat-ballad closer ‘I’ll be Alright’. Throughout, producer Johnny accompanies himself on lead guitar and is backed by a really tight little band comprising Roosevelt Purifoy (keyboards), Kevin Bibbs (bass) and Allen Kirk (drums) enhanced on the majority of tracks by The Nutmeg Horns (co-writer Bruce Feiner on tenor sax, Robert Feiner on baritone sax and Jim Hunt on trumpet.) Oh and Johnny does all the horn arrangements in conjunction with Bruce Feiner, too!

All these ingredients make up a strong traditional Southern soul set with bluesy asides and as such is another impressive outing from this multi-talented artist. Ray Ellis