Talk Memphis - CD

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PriceZombie > Music

If Irma Thomas and Carla Thomas were soul sisters, Toni Price could pass as their sound-alike sibling on this release that ranks with Price's debut as her best. Some of the cream of Austin's musicianship pays labor-of-love tribute to the grooves of Memphis and New Orleans, with David Grissom (who cut his teeth with Joe Ely before going on to work with John Mellencamp and the Dixie Chicks) and Derek O'Brien (Price's co-producer and leader of the Antone's house band) alternating on lead guitar and drummers Barry "Frosty" Smith and George Rains anchoring the rhythm sections. In addition to comparatively obscure material from the songbooks of Allen Toussaint ("Mean Man"), Isaac Hayes and David Porter ("Leftover Love"), and Booker T. Jones and Eddie Floyd ("Sorry About That"), Price turns again to her favorite contemporary songwriter, Gwil Owen, whose four selections fit just fine with the soul masters. Whether sounding as sweet as she does on "Sunflower" or as seductive as on "What I'm Putting Down," "Ninety-Nine Pounds," and "The Power," Price never hits a note that doesn't ring true, and she makes the title song by Jesse Winchester her own.