It certainly has been a long time coming but September 22,
2017 will finally see the release of Get What You Deserve, the mesmerizing new
album from legendary vocalist Sweet Pea Atkinson. A jovial blend of Blues, R&B, Soul, Funk
and more, Get What You Deserve will be released on Blue Note Records and will
be accompanied by tour dates across the U.S. this Fall. The lead track “Are You
Lonely For Me Baby” is available now to stream, download, or receive
immediately with album pre-order.
Time flies when you’re becoming one of the most celebrated
soul singers of your generation even as you’re mostly working on other people’s
projects. Atkinson’s talents have not exactly lay fallow over those decades, or
his genius gone unnoticed. He’s best known as one of the lead singers of Was
(Not Was), whose top 10 hit in America and the UK with “Walk the Dinosaur” made
the sartorially sharp Detroit native the unlikeliest and nattiest of 1980s MTV
stars. In subsequent years, he’s made his way more as a featured backup
vocalist, spending a decade on the road as the most recognizable member of Lyle
Lovett’s band and appearing on records by Brian Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, Bob
Dylan, Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, Kris Kristofferson, George Jones, Jackson
Browne, Solomon Burke, Richie Sambora and scores of others. He’s also been an
intermittent lead singer for his side project, the Boneshakers.
Get What You Deserve includes seven tracks produced by the
great modern bluesman Keb’ Mo’ and three produced by Don Was. It was Was who
signed Atkinson to a label deal, in the veteran producer’s still fairly fresh
capacity as chief of Blue Note. “It's not hyperbolic for me to tell you that
one of the great honors of my life has been to work with Sweet Pea,” says Was.
“One of the beautiful things about being the president of Blue Note Records is
that you can give a nod to something that just touches you deeply inside-even
if it flies in the face of fashion.” But, Was adds, “it was Keb’ Mo’ who really
dug in with Sweet Pea and turned that nod into something brilliant.”
Atkinson first met Keb’ Mo’ when he was singing backup on
one of his records in the late ‘90s, and he obviously made a fast and lasting
impression. Says the bluesman/producer: “Sweet Pea is one of the last great
R&B/soul singers. He’s a man of charisma and style, a timeless talent who's
greatly respected by his peers, and the epitome of cool. They don't make ‘em
like that anymore. While listening and watching him work, like most people, you
immediately know that he is his own man. I want the world to know what a kind
and compassionate gentleman Sweet Pea is, adored by everyone that knows him.
It's what's behind the voice that reaches the hearts of the people.”
It’s not an album that needs a lot of bolstering by famous
guest stars. The only featured fellow artist is sax player Mindi Abair, who’s
featured on “You Can Have Watergate,” a fairly obscure track credited to James
Brown and recorded by Fred Wesley and the JB’s in 1973; it’s a funk workout
that brings some ensemble action to an otherwise Sweet Pea-centric album. Abair
was a natural to bring in, since the two of them recently collaborated on a
record she has coming out in conjunction with Atkinson’s side project, the
Boneshakers.
The real featured guests on the album are ghosts, though:
all the funk, soul, blues, and R&B greats to whom Atkinson is paying
implicit homage, if hardly emulating. “I love blues — Johnnie Taylor and Johnny
Guitar Watson and Bobby Blue Bland,” he says. This album’s “Last Two Dollars”
is a song Taylor recorded late in his life, in 1996. Far better known is
Bland’s 1974 hit “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City." Then there’s
the smoother influence from Motown and other purveyors of the vocal group
sound. “I’m a singer like Paul Williams of the Temptations and Marvin Junior of
the Dells,” Atkinson says, assessing his own niche as a vocalist. “When Paul
Williams came along and started singing ‘Don’t Look Back’ and ‘Just Another
Lonely Night’” — the latter a 1965 smash to which Atkinson brings new life on
this album — “that’s when I said, ‘I want to sing like them.’ And when Marvin
Junior did ‘Stay in My Corner,’ man, I ain’t heard nobody sing a song like that
before in my life. That man can hold a note for so long, I go, ‘Damn, breathe,
man!’ Marvin Junior, it’s hard to sing like. Paul Williams is a little
easier."
While Keb’ Mo’ did all the initial production for the album,
Was wrapped it up by getting Atkinson to sing two Freddie Scott hits, “Are You
Lonely for Me Baby” (which was also a hit in the ‘60s as a duet by Otis Redding
and Carla Thomas) and “Am I Grooving You.” The producer was inspired by driving
around with Keith Richards and hearing his tape of Scott songs, the latter of
which was covered in the ‘70s on a Ron Wood solo album that Richards played on.
Was had his reasons for steering Atkinson in this direction. “Keb’ Mo’ did an
amazing job of manifesting Sweet Pea’s vision,” says Was. “and Sweet Pea
envisions himself as a lover and a soul crooner…which is all well and good!” he
laughs. “But I think part of his greatness is as a belter, so we just cut a
couple more songs to really show off that side.
His voice is so unique - you don’t have to AutoTune Sweet Pea, and
there’s really no point in punching in words here and there. He’s never going
to sing it the same way twice, ever. There’s nobody else around like him."
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