Channeling Womack
by Mark Anthony Neal
Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack, finds R&B crooner Calvin Richardson at a career crossroads. A decade into his recording career, Richardson has not quite lived up to the glimpses of promise exhibited on his stellar, if uneven debut Country Boy (1999) and it’s follow-up, 2:35 PM which was released on Disney’s Hollywood Label in 2003. On the surface, covering the songs of Bobby Womack, a newly minted member of the Rock & Roll Hall Fame, might not seem like the best strategy for a 30-something R&B singer trying to find his footing in the world Auto-tune.
Mentored by brothers and former Jodeci lead singers KC and Jo-Jo Hailey early in his career, Richardson and his decidedly down-home sound never quite found an audience—he was dropped from Universal after the release of Country Boy, as was the case with 2:35 PM. Richardson’s best chance at a mainstream following occurred with his cameo on Angie Stone’s “More Than a Woman” which appeared on Stone’s Mahogany Soul (2001). When the song was released as a single and subsequently nominated for a Grammy Award, Richardson’s vocals were inexplicably replaced by Joe’s, the by-product of the break-up of a long rumored romance between Richardson and Stone. When Richardson released his third project When Love Calls on the independent Shanachie label last year, he was worse than an afterthought; he had been forgotten.
Like Johnny Gill more than two decades ago Calvin Richardson’s sound consistently undermines his appeal to the age demographic that record labels think he should be pitched to. Simply put, Richardson sounds like an old man—more Bobby “Blue” Bland and Sam Cooke, than Akon or Usher. And yet despite the same limitations, Richardson’s contemporary Anthony Hamilton has managed to survive and even thrive because his label has allowed him to write songs that highlight his strengths as an artist. I suspect that Richardson was drawn to Womack, because he has lost some faith in his own songwriting skills—one of the clear strengths of his first two releases, despite their meager sales figures.
Within the history of Soul music, Womack is one of the more compelling figures. Mentored by the greatest of all Soul singers Sam Cooke, Womack’s longevity, like that of Ronald Isley, is remarkable. Womack has sustained himself , in part, because of his skills as a songwriter; Womack’s music has been recorded by artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones, George Benson, the J. Geils Bands, KC Hailey, the New Birth (whose version of “I Can Understand It" might trump Womack’s) and most recently Leela James, who offers a brilliant cover of Womack’s “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” on her latest Let’s Do It Again. Perhaps more important than Womack’s songwriting, is the fact that he is simply a fabulous storyteller—peerless within the tradition of Soul music save the example of Bill Withers. Not quite there yet himself, Facts of Life allows Richardson to find a muse—a musical mentor if you will—that gives his voice meaning.
Richardson is no stranger to Womack’s music covering his “I Wish You Didn’t Trust Me So Much” on Country Boy. The title track, “Fact of Life/He’ll Be There When the Sun Goes” is a somewhat obscure track from Womack that gets to the essence of heartbreak and disappointment (and shame) that fuels his best music. The song presents a first-person narrative of Womack’s experiences on the road, away from his family and seeking company from a female fan. In the story Womack is offended when the woman mistakes his desire for companionship, for an attempt to simply have sex with her. Given the mythology surrounding performers and so-called “groupies”, “Fact of Life/He’ll Be There When the Sun is Gone” offers a unique point of view that highlights the vulnerability experienced by many popular performers. It the kind of vulnerability that is often missing in contemporary R&B, particularly among male vocalists—Maxwell notwithstanding—but that Richardson own vocal prowess consistently evokes. Richardson wears Womack’s vulnerabilities well and manages to make them his own.
On most of the cuts, Facts of Life’s production and arrangements hold on to the integrity of Womack’s original recordings. As such, Richardson’s choices are fairly conservative—tracks like “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha,” “Across 110th Street,” “Harry Hippie” and “I Can Understand It” would be on any introductory collection of Womack’s music. Richardson finds more interesting material from Womack’s often neglected later period (at least by mainstream Rock critics), recording a version Womack and Patti Labelle’s sweet balled “Love Has Finally Come at Last” with Ann Nesby and “American Dream,” Womack’s homage to Martin Luther King, Jr. Both tracks appeared on Womack’s Poet II (1984) recording. Still Richardson manages to stay away from what is perhaps Womack’s most well known tune “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” and that's probably a good thing.
Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack, breaks no new ground, but it is a deserving tribute to one of the most distinctive Soul voices of the last 50 years—and it just might make a forgotten R&B crooner from this generation, matter again.
by Mark Anthony Neal
Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack, finds R&B crooner Calvin Richardson at a career crossroads. A decade into his recording career, Richardson has not quite lived up to the glimpses of promise exhibited on his stellar, if uneven debut Country Boy (1999) and it’s follow-up, 2:35 PM which was released on Disney’s Hollywood Label in 2003. On the surface, covering the songs of Bobby Womack, a newly minted member of the Rock & Roll Hall Fame, might not seem like the best strategy for a 30-something R&B singer trying to find his footing in the world Auto-tune.
Mentored by brothers and former Jodeci lead singers KC and Jo-Jo Hailey early in his career, Richardson and his decidedly down-home sound never quite found an audience—he was dropped from Universal after the release of Country Boy, as was the case with 2:35 PM. Richardson’s best chance at a mainstream following occurred with his cameo on Angie Stone’s “More Than a Woman” which appeared on Stone’s Mahogany Soul (2001). When the song was released as a single and subsequently nominated for a Grammy Award, Richardson’s vocals were inexplicably replaced by Joe’s, the by-product of the break-up of a long rumored romance between Richardson and Stone. When Richardson released his third project When Love Calls on the independent Shanachie label last year, he was worse than an afterthought; he had been forgotten.
Like Johnny Gill more than two decades ago Calvin Richardson’s sound consistently undermines his appeal to the age demographic that record labels think he should be pitched to. Simply put, Richardson sounds like an old man—more Bobby “Blue” Bland and Sam Cooke, than Akon or Usher. And yet despite the same limitations, Richardson’s contemporary Anthony Hamilton has managed to survive and even thrive because his label has allowed him to write songs that highlight his strengths as an artist. I suspect that Richardson was drawn to Womack, because he has lost some faith in his own songwriting skills—one of the clear strengths of his first two releases, despite their meager sales figures.
Within the history of Soul music, Womack is one of the more compelling figures. Mentored by the greatest of all Soul singers Sam Cooke, Womack’s longevity, like that of Ronald Isley, is remarkable. Womack has sustained himself , in part, because of his skills as a songwriter; Womack’s music has been recorded by artists as diverse as the Rolling Stones, George Benson, the J. Geils Bands, KC Hailey, the New Birth (whose version of “I Can Understand It" might trump Womack’s) and most recently Leela James, who offers a brilliant cover of Womack’s “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” on her latest Let’s Do It Again. Perhaps more important than Womack’s songwriting, is the fact that he is simply a fabulous storyteller—peerless within the tradition of Soul music save the example of Bill Withers. Not quite there yet himself, Facts of Life allows Richardson to find a muse—a musical mentor if you will—that gives his voice meaning.
Richardson is no stranger to Womack’s music covering his “I Wish You Didn’t Trust Me So Much” on Country Boy. The title track, “Fact of Life/He’ll Be There When the Sun Goes” is a somewhat obscure track from Womack that gets to the essence of heartbreak and disappointment (and shame) that fuels his best music. The song presents a first-person narrative of Womack’s experiences on the road, away from his family and seeking company from a female fan. In the story Womack is offended when the woman mistakes his desire for companionship, for an attempt to simply have sex with her. Given the mythology surrounding performers and so-called “groupies”, “Fact of Life/He’ll Be There When the Sun is Gone” offers a unique point of view that highlights the vulnerability experienced by many popular performers. It the kind of vulnerability that is often missing in contemporary R&B, particularly among male vocalists—Maxwell notwithstanding—but that Richardson own vocal prowess consistently evokes. Richardson wears Womack’s vulnerabilities well and manages to make them his own.
On most of the cuts, Facts of Life’s production and arrangements hold on to the integrity of Womack’s original recordings. As such, Richardson’s choices are fairly conservative—tracks like “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha,” “Across 110th Street,” “Harry Hippie” and “I Can Understand It” would be on any introductory collection of Womack’s music. Richardson finds more interesting material from Womack’s often neglected later period (at least by mainstream Rock critics), recording a version Womack and Patti Labelle’s sweet balled “Love Has Finally Come at Last” with Ann Nesby and “American Dream,” Womack’s homage to Martin Luther King, Jr. Both tracks appeared on Womack’s Poet II (1984) recording. Still Richardson manages to stay away from what is perhaps Womack’s most well known tune “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” and that's probably a good thing.
Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby Womack, breaks no new ground, but it is a deserving tribute to one of the most distinctive Soul voices of the last 50 years—and it just might make a forgotten R&B crooner from this generation, matter again.
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