JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Al Green’s 80th birthday.
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Al Green’s 80th birthday.
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.”
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