Whether or not you know the full, hard history of Lee Fields, I think 50 years into his music career, 10 years since he found the Expressions, and nearly 7 decades of a life that began in Civil Rights-era North Carolina make 2019 a prime time to celebrate "the coolest motherf***er to sing words into a microphone" (Vice). Across dozens of record labels, countless periods of defeat, and stretches of near-retirement, Lee jumpstarted the legacy of Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, laid the groove for songs by Travis Scott and J Cole, and - with April 5th album It Rains Love (Big Crown) - will affirm his position as the new, benevolent standard of soul. 

 

On Episode 45 of HOWA, I feel very lucky to had a (rather scratchy sounding) phone chat with both Lee and producer Leon Michels (Lana Del Rey, Adele, Beyoncé & Jay Z) on how they've spent the past 20 years or so together, crossing analog and digital mediums, multiple generations of tape saturation, and six consecutive hours of vocal takes at a time to get this music to our ears. 20 years?!?!?

Here’s a link to the album!

https://bigcrownrecords.com/store/it-rains-love/

 

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In this show I take a hint from the Episode number hitting 45 and start cutting into some wax. 

New life to old 45s in the nitty. Just rerun that runout groove!

Grab a knife, sandpaper and a record or 2:) cut to reveal hidden funk.

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Music for 45 comes from Lee Beaumont :) 

I got these tracks ages ago. Sorry it took me so long to feature them. In fact since then he’s been getting busy and there’s plenty of new stuff to be found. Check this here link:

https://goodgluedbarometer.bandcamp.com

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Sponsorship for the show comes courtesy of the wondrous digital minds at Valhalla DSP! 

I’m thrilled to be able to have them on board as I’m such a fan of all their stuff and the JUST released the new DELAY plugin and it’s bonkers

Totally brilliant!!

https://valhalladsp.com