'Love Bless America' is the latest single from US blue eyed soulster ISAAC ARAGON. if you read the savvy soul media you'll know all about it; if you listen to the better soul stations, you'll have heard it.... it's been critically acclaimed and winning plenty of airplay. Surprisingly, maybe, nobody knows too much about Mr Aragon. So, to find out more we hooked up with him and he started by telling us a little something about himself....
I'm 29 years old, and I was born in a small, mountainous area in the northern part of New Mexico, USA. Most of my adult life has been spent in Albuquerque, NM. New Mexico is a crossroads for many very strong and distinct cultures and the music I was raised on was a reflection of that. I was raised with the sounds of Spanish flamenco guitar, Native American drums, Mexican mariachis, Depression era Delta Blues, Rock and Roll, and of course the music that CHOSE me...Soul Music.
Growing up, then, who were you musical heroes and influences?
First I must say that I was brought to music by my parents. They played/sang old Spanish Catholic songs at church every Sunday, and it was they who put a guitar in my hands in the first place. But I didn't quite take to it, not even a little bit...there was no purpose, no incentive. I wasn't spiritually moved by music...until I heard Bill Withers. Bill Withers changed, forever, the trajectory of my life. Simplicity. Raw, sincere human emotion. I never knew how powerful the human voice could be, and how one could say so much with so few words. My discovery of Bill led me on an inevitable journey to Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. Equally powerful musicians and songwriters in their respective ways. These 3 true artists taught me how to speak to the world about society, about politics...and turn it into a palatable, beautiful experience. And it has since been my goal to carry that torch (making soulful, socially conscious music), while defining a voice and sound distinctly my own. A few other notable influences of mine are Donny Hathaway, Gregory Porter, and Allen Stone.
Last Updated on Monday, 08 April 2019 17:10
"My father made the best chilli in the world," says Bobby Sparks II in a deep, sleepy voice that possesses a languid, molasses-rich, Southern drawl. "He used to win chilli cook-off contests all the time. He was known as Chilli Poppa." The quietly-spoken 46-year-old keyboard player originally from Texas - who can heard on Snarky Puppy's latest album, 'Immigrance' - is reflecting on the inspiration behind a spicy number that appears on his debut album, 'Schizophrenia - The Yang Project.' It's a succulent funk jam with a sticky backbeat called 'Bobby Sparks Sr.'s Famous Chili' and is intended as a homage to his late father's famed piquant Mexican stew.
ELI "PAPERBOY" REED was one of the first of the new generation of "for real" soul singers and he's all set to launch his next t album '99 Cent Dreams'. We last spoke back in 2010 when he was riding high with his long player 'Come And Get It'. That album had the backing of the mighty Capitol label and Eli's next LP was out on Warner Bros... before long, though, he was back working for the indie set up Yep Roc – also the imprint for '99 Cent Dreams', so when we hooked up again we wanted to know just what happend at those major labels....
We live in an age where the words 'legendary' and 'iconic' are overused and bandied about my mainstream media commentators with indiscriminate abandon to describe anyone who's been in the public eye for more than a couple of years. But in an era of ephemeral celebrity, SERGIO MENDES is someone who lives up to the true definition of 'legendary' and 'iconic'. A noted pianist and bandleader, he's a bona fide legend of Brazilian music who rose to fame in the mid to late 1960s when he and his group Brazil 66 took the alluring music of his homeland to a wider audience with big US pop hits like 'The Look Of Love,' 'Fool On The Hill,' and 'Scarborough Fair.' Fifty years on and Sergio Mendes, who recently celebrated his 78th birthday, is still going strong. He's the subject of a forthcoming documentary, In The Key Of Joy, which is due for release soon, and is working on a new album, the 43rd of his career. 
"Our music was very difficult to categorise," explains softly-spoken August Darnell, the Bronx-raised creator of the 1940s-era retro hustler, Kid Creole, who together with his band, The Coconuts, brightened up our lives in the 1980s with memorable songs such as 'I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby,' 'Stool Pigeon,' and 'Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy,' all of which were UK Top 10 hits. "You could find our albums in Third World music bins in record stores," the singer/songwriter remembers, "only because there were some reggae or calypso in it. It was just bizarre because in my opinion it was just pop music, whether it borrowed from salsa, jazz, R&B and funk."
