"Nothing's Impossible" (the last album produced by longtime Al Green producer and Hi Records founder Willie Mitchell, who died on Jan. 5, 2010; Hear here)
BTW: "Our goals are usually moving targets," Delta Moon frontman Tom Gray tells P&P. "One was to solidify the lineup of the band. Franher Joseph (bass) and Darren Stanley (drums) have been with us over two years now, and for a lot of that time we've been working on this album.
"We've concentrated on playing together in the same room, everybody present with eyes and ears open, having fun and making no excuses. Of course, there are some overdubs on the record, but we wanted that feeling of a band playing together to come through in every song. I had some goals in songwriting, but they're getting foggy now, because I'm already working on the next project. One was to drop a lot of place names, to anchor the album in the American South and then sum up with a closing song about the South itself."
A former member of the Atlanta-based Brains in the early 1980s, Gray knows a thing or two about writing songs: He wrote "Money Changes Everything," which Cyndi Lauper covered for her smash "She's So Unusual" album in 1984.
Did it allow him a financial cushion and confidence to stay in this oft-fickle business?
"Well, of course that song has been very good to me," Gray says. "It has allowed me, as Joseph Campbell said, to follow my bliss. But I like to think even if Cyndi Lauper had never cut the song I would have found some other way. Not long ago a friend told me, after a few drinks, that I don't know anything about real life. My life is just as real as anybody's."
"Last Call" (his final jazz/swing recording before his death from cancer in March 2008; includes a video of "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter," recorded live at Healey's Roadhouse in Toronto on July 21, 2007)
Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez ("SNL" band guitarist-vocalist)
"The Deep End" (guests: Dion, Ian Hunter, Marshall Crenshaw, Big Al Anderson, etc.; Hear here)
(Horizon Music Group, April 6, 2010)
Becky Schlegel
"Dandelion" (producers: Schlegel, Brian Fesler; guests: Randy Kohrs, Josh Williams; first single: "Colorado Line"; Hear here)
(Lilly Ray/IGO, April 6, 2010)
BTW: "We took a more relaxed, spontaneous approach on 'Dandelion,' " Schlegel tells P&P. "We let the songs be free to end up where they were destined to be."
"Slash" (producer: Eric Valentine; guests: Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Chris Cornell, Ian Astbury, Dave Grohl, Fergie, Kid Rock, etc.; Hear here; See here; Read here; MP3 Download)
(Dik Hayd/EMI Label Services, April 6, 2010)
Floyd Taylor (son of the late soul great Johnnie Taylor)
"All of Me" (producers: Earl Powell, Simeo; first single: "All of You All of Me"; Hear here)
"Songs of the Spectrum" (all-star collection in support of Autism Awareness Month in April; contributors: Jackson Browne, Dar Williams, Marshall Crenshaw, Teddy Geiger, Jonatha Brooke, etc.; Hear here)
(SingSOS, April 6, 2010)
Peter Wolf
"Midnight Souvenirs" (J. Geils Band singer's first solo album in eight years; guests: Merle Haggard, Shelby Lynne, Neko Case; Read here)
"Genius + Soul = Jazz" (2-CD deluxe edition; 1961 album; remastered; also packaged with the albums "My Kind of Jazz," My Kind of Jazz II" and "My Kind of Jazz III"; MP3 Download)
"Colour Me Free!" (2009 album, originally sold at sold in Target stores and iTunes; guests: Jeff Beck, Sheila E., Raphael Saadiq, Nas, David Sanborn, Jamie Hartman; Hear here; Read here; MP3 Download)
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