by George W. Harris • October 20, 2025 •
Vocalist Andy James continues to create a strong catalogue of mature music with this album of music inspired by Ray Charles’ country and western period. She’s backed by some of the best and most versatile team of Jon Cowherd/p, Vinnie Colaiuta-Clareence Penn/dr, John Patitucci-James Genus/g, Ronnie Foster/org, Alex Acuna/perc, a horn team of Nicolas Payton/tp, Michael Dease/tb, Joel Frahm-Bob Sheppard/sax, and some country tones brought on by Greg Liesz/pdsg, Steve Cardenas/g and Charlie Bisharat/vi.
The band shows its strength on the instrumental “Wilson’s Gospel” that features Cowherd and Bisharat at the local VFW, while James steps in for an easy swing on the Tin Pan Alley’d “Our Favorite Little Street”. The horns led by Payton are hip as James slinks into an R&B shuffle on “Love You All The Time” and she sashays to Cowherds cords on the sexy samba of “After You”. A little sass is thrown in by James on the swampy title tune, and Patitucci gives a tasty bass line on the gospelish “Tomorrow Song”. The album salutes Charles without imitating him, which is of course the most sincere form of flattery.
