Robert Finley – Sharecropper’s Son (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 39:21 minutes | 485 MB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Easy Eye Sound
Sharecropper’s Son is the career-defining new album from Robert Finley, “the greatest living soul singer” who in a bizarre twist, found overnight success after 67 years of hard work. Following Finley’s semi-finalist appearance on America’s Got Talent, he returned to the studio to follow-up his critically acclaimed record, Goin’ Platinum! The resulting Dan Auerbach produced album is a soulful masterpiece, rooted in the vintage sounds of southern harmony, rhythm and blues. Recorded at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville with legendary music studio veterans, Finley’s formidable vocals and lyrical stylings take center stage, sharing personal stories inspired by his Louisiana country childhood during the Jim Crow era south. His tales of pain and joy uplift as Finley reflects on his belief that you are never too young to dream and never too old to live.
Listening to his first two albums, one might imagine Robert Finlay to be a son of Solomon Burke, Al Green or Otis Redding. Or their little brother at least: maybe about fifteen years younger, but with an exceptional, old-fashioned soul voice. Like many others before him (like Charles Bradley, for example), Finlay has come to the music scene late in life, releasing his first album in 2016 at the age of 62, after a whole life spent as a part-time amateur singer. Robert Finley is the son of the sharecropper referred to in the title of this third album, which recalls his rural, modest origins as eloquently as an old cowboy hat or a shirt tucked into jeans. He’s a son of the old south, the south of segregation and poverty, a place whose pain stays lodged in the throat and only escapes in song. Now 67, Finley continues to sing like a chiselled old angel, accompanied by Dan Auerbach. The guitarist and singer from the Black Keys, who produced the 2017 album, Goin’ Platinum!, also helped create Sharecropper’s Son and brought its musicians together. This album is a solid, rooted, hearty slice of life. Like soul food, it settles the stomach and soothes away anxieties. Robert Finley sings of only two things: his story, and his hopes. The end result works and holds together: the music is made in the style of Memphis ’68, with brass, bluesy guitars, bass that’s as deep as the bayou and lascivious mid-tempos. Played alongside albums like Al Green’s Call Me and Solomon Burke’s Proud Mary, Sharecropper’s Son is totally entrancing, timeless and eternal. – Stéphane Deschamps
Tracklist:
1. Robert Finley – Souled Out On You
2. Robert Finley – Make Me Feel Alright
3. Robert Finley – Country Child
4. Robert Finley – Sharecropper’s Son
5. Robert Finley – My Story
6. Robert Finley – Starting To See
7. Robert Finley – I Can Feel Your Pain
8. Robert Finley – Better Than I Treat Myself
9. Robert Finley – Country Boy
10. Robert Finley – All My Hope
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