Sing Me Back Home CD

Various Artists/The New Orleans Social Club: Dr. John, George Porter, Jr., Henry Butler, Ivan Neville, Marcia Ball, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Leo Nocentelli.

In the wake of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, albums coming out of New Orleans have taken on an increased significance. Music is, arguably, the most essential part of New Orleans's culture, and as residents work to ensure that their city's heritage is not neglected during rebuilding, each new work of art produced carries with it a component of relief and optimism. 2006's SING ME BACK HOME, from the New Orleans Social Club, might have slipped under the radar if it had arrived years earlier and been composed of a different set of tunes, but now one can't help but view it in the odd new light cast by that disaster. The supergroup--featuring Neville Brother Ivan and Meter Leo Nocentelli--lay down lightly funky, piano-heavy R&B-laced grooves over which towering Crescent City musicians such as Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Cyril Neville (who delivers an urgent, heartbreaking version of Curtis Mayfield's "This is My Country"), and the Subdudes, among others, channel the sorrow, anger, hope, and soul of the city's people. These musicians (and "healers" as they are rightfully referred to in the liner notes) know precisely what it means to miss New Orleans, and they're singing, as the title suggests, to ensure that their city's spirit comes home.

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files.Vibe (p.144) - "[A]n album with uplift and heartache to spare."
No Depression (p.129) - "The gospel-style call-and-response between tracks is inspired throughout, but nowhere as much as in the album's wondrous middle passage."