Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Currently in the works

Malaco has a full house right now and several projects underway:

Soul songstress, Shirley Brown, arrived in Jackson yesterday and is in the studio continuing work on her album. As you may remember, she was here in December working on the project with Vick Allen. Vick is back in the studio with Shirley.

Below is an interview with Shirley and Music Notes:

"Honey, you sound like kinfolk."That's Shirley Brown, her full, twangy voice so warm and familiar. I'm thinking the same thing about the soul-blues star. Both of us have roots in Arkansas: She was born in West Memphis; I made my grand debut in Hot Springs. Memories of her sassy, open-hearted music go way back for me. So - in a musical sense, I guess - she feels like family. But after more than 30 years of touring and making solid records, Shirley Brown remains an overlooked gem. Perhaps best known for her 1974 trend-setting No. 1 hit "Woman to Woman," she has long been a favorite on the Southern blues circuit. She's one of the headliners of the Second Annual Capitol Blues Festival, which stops at Washington's Constitution Hall tomorrow night."People are just getting back to that feel music," says Brown, 61. "I have youngsters that love my music. I never really sang the gutbucket blues - just soul or what we used to call R&B. But it's real. Ain't nothing fake or phony about the music I do."And that has made her a favorite of a celebrated artist who forever keeps it real: the former ghetto-fabulous Mary J. Blige.

written by Rashod D. Ollison
March 27, 2008


We've also got Chuck Strong in the house who is working on his new album. The album was originally produced by Rich Cason - one of Rich's last projects with Malaco before he passed away in March 2007. Chuck came back to fine-tune some vocal tracks and is next in line to be mixed.

Right now, there are so many projects in the works, head engineers, Wolf and Kent have set up two working studios in one, with a computer recording station on the studio floor for vocal tracks.

Artie "Blues Boy" White came by within the past couple of weeks to put the finishing touches on some vocal tracks that has been in the works since the fall.

September 2007: (L to R) David Hood, James Robinson, Clayton Ivy, Wolf Stephenson, Big Mike Griffin, Artie, Jimmy Johnson and Tommy Couch, Jr.

We are excited about these upcoming albums. Stay tuned for release dates!

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