Alexis Wilson Record Release at The Place

Louisville-born, Nashville-based singer/producer Alexis Wilson’s blend of contemporary R&B may not be primed for public radio airplay—she’s neither dead, old, retro nor foreign—but there’s plenty to love in her mature, thoughtful soul music. A little bit crunk, a whole lotta smooth and powered by a stellar set of pipes, Wilson’s tunes are grown and sexy. Hers is the sound of a hard-working woman acknowledging history without ignoring the present—the habitual pitfall of NPR’s music programming, especially in regards to soul and urban music. Tracks such as “Flower Games,” a deep, acoustic guitar-based ballad, and “I deservit”—an ode to spending her own money—evince a wisdom and rationality that are missing from pop radio, even as they rock up-to-date sounds that are just too cool for the left of the dial.
Sun., Nov. 15, 9 p.m., 2009