CITYFOLK, by Son Little
Soulful music can emerge from any location. Son Little’s latest album, CITYFOLK, seems to draw from the mystique of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The dot on the map that attracted Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and Bob Dylan hasn’t lost its magic or mojo.
Then again, Little, a.k.a. Aaron Livingston, has already proven his mojo whether taking the lead or collaborating with Mavis Staples or the Roots, among others. CITYFOLK has collaborative tendencies, with Alabama Shakes musician Ben Tanner—who resides in Muscle Shoals—as host, co-producer, co-mixer, and co-engineer.
Little and Tanner audibly share the belief that American musical genres honor their heritage best when they avoid the amber entrapment of too much traditionalism. Little is a good hand with guitar, banjo, and piano, but he’s also keen to add clavinet, Mellotron, and synthesizers when they fit the mood or deepen the groove.
The groove gets very deep on “Whip the Wind,” especially with experienced session man Nick Lobel’s sensuously slippery baritone guitar and a gradual reduction of instrumentation until it’s just basically acoustic guitar and Little’s hushed repetition of the song title.
Depth takes a different path and tone with “Be Better,” in which Little uses synths and drum programming that delicately echo the churchy elements of George Michael’s 1987 single “One More Try,” and in which accomplished singer Kam Franklin emanates bright emotional implications from well in the background.
Little himself sings as though offering a hand or an embrace. His phrasing is not far from that of Leon Bridges or Ben Harper: mellow enough to be persuasive in the funky “Cherry,” tense enough to ring the alarm in the country-bluesy “Rabbit,” real enough to express human pain through the electronically processed folk of “Paper Children.”
With all that, CITYFOLK sounds at once contemporary and classic. Soulful music can emerge from any location. Here, it comes from within Son Little.
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