Triple A Radio Styled Soul CD “His Hands” Releases April 4, 2006 On Honest Jons/Astralwerks/EMI Records
The Atlanta-based Sweetheart of Soul, Candi Staton’s self-titled 2004 Honest Jons reissue of her 1969-1973 Muscle Shoals recordings was a surprise worldwide hit. It hit the pop charts in England, France, the Netherlands and Japan. In a genre that considers 5,000 in sales a respectable hit, Staton’s project sold over 100,000 copies. Impressed by the sales, EMI/Honest Jons then commissioned Staton, who had spent the previous two decades in the gospel field, to come back into the secular fold with a new project.
“We decided to capitalize on that momentum,” says Mark Ainley, who runs the Honest Jons label in London, “By recording a new album of southern soul on Candi that will have a decidedly darker feel than her past works.” Produced by Lambchop sideman, Mark Nevers, the resulting His Hands, has already received widespread praise (The London Telegraph called it, “a stunning return and a hard-won triumph.”) from the press in Europe where the CD officially releases this week as Staton continues on a sold-out ten-city concert tour of the continent.
“I hadn’t done that type of music in so long,” says Staton. “I just closed my eyes and began to get off into it. I missed it, I honestly did. I missed singing those love songs, because my life doesn’t just consist of the church.”
The project releases in the USA on Tuesday, April 4, 2006 on Astralwerks Records. Aside from four compositions by Staton, the collection features two other originals (one by Will Oldham) and Staton’s own unique covers of songs associated with Merle Haggard, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Dolly Parton, Charlie Rich and Solomon Burke. Her band has the highest pedigree. Chip Young (Elvis, Willie Nelson) on acoustic guitar, Barry Beckett (Aretha, Bob Dylan) on organ, Upright bass player Dennis Crouch (June Carter Cash) and various members of Nashville’s hybrid band, Lambchop.
Contact: Bill Carpenter at (202) 526-6322 or carpenterbill@mac.com.
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