FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY…

His press people are calling him “a true soul survivor”. Who? Well, a certain BOBBY HARDEN (above), who’s played alongside some real soul  greats. He was born in Youngstown, Ohio, but travelled to New York City to pursue his music dreams and to show off his gospel reared voice. Success was hard to come by and Harden ended up working as a wedding singer. His break came when he was invited to join the Blues Brothers Band and he was soon lining up with people like Steve Cropper, ‘Blue’ Lou Marini, Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy and Eddie Floyd. That then led to work with Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, Robert Cray and Delbert McClinton.

Encouraged, Bobby put together his own band, Soul Purpose who won the attention of Charles Bradley’s trumpeter Billy Aukstik and Harden was soon working with artists on the Daptone roster. After Bradley’s death , Aukstik set up his own label, Dala Records, rearranged Bradley’s backing group into The Soulful Saints, and launched Bobby Harden on Dala in tandem with the BQE label. Their first  single ‘Runnin’ (To Get to Your Love)’ won instant plaudits and sold out its vinyl pressing in almost no time.

Bobby and the Soulful Saints  are now preparing an album – ‘Bridge Of Love’ (due May).In the meantime, the first single wins release this week. It’s a boisterous, brassy, retro-flavoured ‘One Night of the Week.’ It’s a splendid cut – full on horns, , high-flying backing singers and Bobby’s world weary, old school soul voice! Magical and highly recommended!

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