Tag: Dan Penn

Review: A.J. Croce’s soulful “Just Like Medicine”

 in Americana Music, New releases

By Ken Paulson – –

“Just like Medicine” s A.J. Croce’s most soulful album to date, and with good reason. His compelling collection of new songs is in the hands of producer Dan Penn,  abetted by an amazing band including Colin Linden, David Hood, Bryan Owings, the Muscle Shoals Horns and the McCrary Sisters.

We loved Penn’s production of Greg Trooper’s Make It Through This World, creating a vibe, but also staying out of the way. That same approach is evident here.

Highlights include “The Heart That Makes Me Whole” with Steve Cropper and “Name of the Game,” an unreleased song written by A.J.’s father Jim Croce. Vince Gill joins on guitar.

Croce will bring his new music to the City Winery in Nashville on August 10, joined by Penn, Linden and the Time Jumpers’ Jeff Taylor.

Celebrating the music of Muscle Shoals

 in Americana Music Festival, Reviews

The 2011 Americana Music Festival began last night with an event that illustrates the genre’s greatest strengths: outstanding performances and a respect for what has come before.
The 90-minute concert celebrating the Muscle Shoals sound was equal parts energy and nostalgia, with legendary figures like Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, Jimmy Johnson and David Briggs sharing the stage with some of Nashville’s most soulful vocalists.
With Webb Wilder on hand as MC, the evening walked through the history of FAME Studio and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, from soul to pop and rock.
Highlights were plentiful. From Jonell Mosser’s take on “Dark End of the Street” to Mike Farris’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” to Jimmy Hall’s “Land of a Thousand Dances,” singers delivered faithful, but moving performances. Special treats: Candi Staton’s “He Called Me Baby” and Dan Penn’s “I’m Your Puppet.”
Billy Burnette performed “The Letter,” which was recorded in 1967 by a young Alex Chilton and the Box Tops at FAME. Oddly, he did the live Joe Cocker arrangement that came three years later.
The show closed with Burnette kicking off an all hands-on-deck performance of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll.” The song belongs in the “Played Badly at Weddings Receptions Hall of Fame,” but proved to be a vibrant and fitting close.

(Pictured: A  scarce Muscle Shoals anthology.)