Graham Reid | | <1 min read
This great soul singer -- more correctly "The King of Rock and Soul" as he was most often described in the 60s -- is now 66.
In the past couple of years, after decades away from the spotlight, he has sprung back to attention with two strong albums, Don't Give Up On Me, and the slightly less impressive Make Do With What You Got which copied the template of the former a bit too closely.
No one can accuse him of sticking to a winning formula for this album however. He grew up on country music but 40 years ago was persuaded away from it by Atlantic Records' boss Jerry Wexler who heard him as the greatest soul singer of his generation. But now, albeit a bit late, he's gone home to country in the company of guests such as Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris and others.
Produced by Buddy Miller, this album finds Burke thoroughly enjoying himself and digging deep into lyrics by George Jones, Don Williams and Bruce Springsteen. Country meets soul, and the ghost of Ray Charles isn't even in the house. Burke is his own man.
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