HELEN BRUNER & TERRY JONES are two proper soul songwriters and producers who work out of Philadelphia. Terry has a great pedigree; she’s the daughter of the legendary Linda Jones. For her part, Ms Bruner has worked with a shed load of top soul names. They regularly collaborate and indeed they enjoyed a joint Grammy nomination in 2008.
The duo have just released a joint album, ‘2nd Overture’ and it’s already winning rave reviews from the savvy soul media. The set’s a mix of the down-tempo and more energetic items, but all are delivered with a real passion and old school soul conviction.
Maybe the passion stems from the personal losses both women have endured. As we said Terry (who was then just a child) lost her mother, Linda, while Helen’s mother has also passed away. She says: ”In essence, it is as if we are starting over with a different heart and mind, not having my mom as our anchor – hence the title , ‘2nd Overture’.”
On the album, Helen plays most of the musical parts while Terry takes most of the vocals. Right now focus cuts are the lead single, ‘I Can’t Call It’, the gospel flavoured ‘Deeper’ and the tight ‘Ever Stop To Think’. The whole album, though, delivers proper soul… it’s music for grown ups!
