He May Be Mellow, He May Be Kind

For those of you that like Amy Winehouse but can do without all the cursing, the creepy beehive, and the imminent drug overdose, I have an artist for you: Sharon Jones. Much like Winehouse, Sharon sounds like an old, overweight black lady, but unlike Winehouse she actually is an old overweight black lady, and if we have learned anything from Aretha Franklin, the amount of soul someone is directly proportional to their waistline.

The similar sounds to the two artists are thanks to the Dap-Kings, the backing band for Jones who also appeared on Winehouse’s Back in Black thanks to their new found friend Mark Ronson. But Where back to Black sounded like a retro ode to sixties soul tunes, the third album from Jones and the boys, 100 Days, 100 Nights sounds like it come out of the Stax recording studio.

It hard to say who is more valuable on the disk, Jones or the Kings. Jones sings from her soul without having to wave her hand like some of the modern day pop princesses while the Dap-Kings are crisp throughout positioning themselves as the greatest house band since Booker T & the MG’s. Whoever you decide on, we can at least agree that it is a good thing the two hooked up.

Song to Download - 100 Days, 100 Nights

100 Days, 100 Nights gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.