I’m a little behind this month…so forgive my delay!  I’m gearing up for my own live gospel recording next month…so things are a bit awry!  But…here’s some projects you need to be bumpin’…

Anybody that’s read this column over the past few months knows that I love the history of this thing called soul…and it doesn’t get any better than Maria Muldaur’s tribute to the blues women: “Naughty, Bawdy and Blue”.  It contains 12 covers of songs written and recorded originally by Ma Rainey, Sippie Wallace and Bessie Smith.  Bonnie Raitt makes a cameo and Maria does the music proud.  She’s on the road promoting this album as we speak…and as one who has witnessed her live show, I suggest you catch it.  More info on www.mariamuldaur.com.

I love me some Rick James.  I was hooked from the first time I ever heard “Bustin’ Out” and the first installment of the music in his archives is finally available for us to hear.  I heard one of these tracks a few years back on a UK compilation (”Taste”) and knew we were in for a treat if this album ever saw the light of day.  It is introspective and rich…not the bravado or persona that the world has connected with Rick.  “Sapphire” is my favorite cut…but again, don’t sleep on it.  Rick will have you bumpin’ on the funk edged tracks as well.  More at www.rickjames.com.

On the gospel tip, I’m loving my fellow Nashvillian, Benita Washington’s, new release “Renaissance”.  If you’ve never heard Benita before, this is the project to get.  It is a live recording (a real live recording…not the fake ones gospel artists try to pass off these days as live) and you can feel the fire in every note.  My favorite cut is “Song of the Lord”…followed closely by “I’ve Seen Him Work”.  More at www.myspace.com/benitawashington.