Tag: soul

Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Philip Bailey!

JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the legendary Philip Bailey!

New Video: The Womack Sisters Share Strutting and Urgent “Chauffeur”

Rising Los Angeles-based soul trio The Womack Sisters — Kucha, Zeimani and BG — can trace the origins of their careers to their childhood: The trio were singing before they could even walk. They grew up on stages and in studios across the globe, singing behind their parents, as well as their legendary uncle, Bobby Womack. And adding to The Womack Sisters’ remarkable pedigree, their grandfather was the iconic Sam Cooke

No matter where they called home at the time — LondonThailand, AmsterdamKenyaWest VirginiaThe Bahamas — music and family were always a constant at the center of their lives. Of course, as the sisters grew up, each with their own respective journeys, experiences and heartaches, they managed to find their own voices and their own path.

Each member of the trio has their own individual vocal, but they playfully trade leads and effortlessly (and perfectly) blend their harmonies in a way that only siblings can. 

Back in 2016, a mutual friend introduced The Womack Sisters to Daptone Records co-owner and producer Gabriel Roth, a.k.a. Bosco Mann, who heard them sing and fell quickly and deeply in love with their voices. Shortly after, they met, they went to Daptone’s Riverside, CA-based Penrose Studios to record their label debut, “If You Want Me“/”I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye).”

The rising Los Angeles trio’s long-awaited self-titled, full-length debut is slated for an August 14, 2026 through Daptone Records. The album’s latest single “Chauffeur” is a strutting bit of old-school-inspired soul that showcases the trio’s remarkable vocal range, impeccable sense of harmony and their deeply personal, lived-in lyrics.

On “Chauffeur,” the sisters recount the trials, tribulations they each faced while trying to make ends meet as Uber drives. In each of their respective verses, they recount the hustle and drive required to make ends meet — by any legal means possible — while having greater ambitions, and grappling with the futility of trying to stack meager fares into rent money. While deeply soulful, the song evokes the drive, unease, desperation and seething frustration of someone who has to grind — to barely survive. And it’s rooted in the plain language of struggle and cash flow.

“’Chauffeur’  is about the hustle of life that we all are in – the day to day, trying to survive, and looking forward to your day in the sun,” The Womack Sisters’ Zeimani Womack says. “It’s a song for the underdogs, and the encouragement to keep pushing. Things can be rough and get a little rocky, but as long as you have the faith, you will make it.”

Directed by Shauna Presto, the stylishly shot accompanying video features each of The Womack Sisters as the song’s titular chauffeur, driving passengers who seem completely unconcerned sit in the back seat. They may be struggling to survive but they have their dignity and their dreams of making it.

New Audio: Parlor Greens Share a Mournful Ode to Dear, Departed Loved Ones

Organ trio Parlor Greens features a collection of grizzled veterans and incredibly accomplished musicians: 

The trio’s highly-anticipated sophomore album Emeralds is slated for a Friday release through Colemine Records. Emeralds reportedly sees the acclaimed trip upping the ante, while capturing the band in top form: tour tight and more confident than ever in who they are and where they’re going.  Though the results are stronger than ever, the overall mood of the recording sessions was much different. 

The first time the trio met in Colemine’s Loveland, OH-based Portage Lounge Studio, the meeting was marked by a certain sense of freshness: It was the first time they had all played together. Understandably, it was exciting and unknown territory. But the sessions were underlined by the heaviness each of the individual members were going through at the time. With each individual member dealing with personal tragedies in their own lives, the sessions serves as a genuine moment of joy. Just three talented musicians, writing and playing music, now as friends, in a familiar environment. 

Emeralds will feature the previously released, album opening “Eat Your Greens,” “Drop Top” and the final single, the Jimmy James written “Queen of My Heart.” “Queen of My Heart” may arguably be the most somber tune on the entire album, blending church funeral observance music and Booker T. organ-driven soul in a seamless, fashion. The most heartbreaking part of the entire song is towards the song’s coda: A man named Jabril and his mother Marie, express their love for one another. It’s a touching, very sweet moment seemingly punctuated by a sense of loss — and of memorializing someone who’s profoundly important to you.

“My mom is and always will be my Rock of Gibraltar, I came from her. She taught me many lessons in life, as well as character and integrity, and she didn’t only just mother me, but anyone she came across,” Parlor Greens’ Jimmy James explains. “I miss her with every fiber of my being, and she will always be the queen of my heart.”