About.com Rating
The Bottom Line
Solomon Burke's Web site URL is thekingsolomonburke.com, which is absolutely appropriate. Burke's career doesn't just span decades, it spans generations. Like this album's namesake, Nashville, Burke's craft spans genre lines and speaks to musicians, songwriters, and fans of blues, rock, country and contemporary folk. Most prevalent on the album, though, is a high-clapping amalgam of folk-blues and gospel.
Pros
- That's How I Got To Memphis
- Seems Like You're Gonna Take Me Back
- Up To The Mountain
- Millionaire
- We're Gonna Hold On
Cons
- None
Description
- Incredible guest spots by Gillian Welch, Emmylou, Dolly, Patty Loveless and Patty Griffin
- Like its namesake city, Nashville's music never stops rolling until the CD ends
- Burke's handle on folk-blues, rock, and country suspends all 14 songs impeccably
Guide Review - Solomon Burke - Nashville
If you've never cried from listening to a CD, just pop in Solomon Burke's Nashville and crank up track 3 ? "Tomorrow is Forever." Burke's duet with the great Dolly Parton is one of the highest points on the disk; and if you're not choked up by the end of it, you should get your throat checked.
Burke is a blues master more than anything, but clearly the city of Nashville has moved him to explore other sounds. Toss a fiddle on top of a blues tune like "Ain't Got You," followed by a duet with Gillian Welch, and you've got a turducken of musical genres ? somewhat unexplainable, but tasty as heck.
The more moving parts of the record are between songs, where he opted to let the music flow. It works so well that one can only wonder why artists feel that it's necessary to separate the songs on a CD with silence. In fact, for Burke and Nashville, as well, the music never stops.
His choices of duet partners on this album play out like a best-of list of the women of contemporary folk and country ? Dolly, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless, and Patty Griffin, to be exact. Each lady is a genius in her own right, but the marriage of Burke's innate mastery of folk-blues and these women's sweet, moving command of their own genres is something altogether haunting.
The bottom line is that Nashville is an impeccable record. Buy it.