In recent years, critics have revived the reputations of quasi-soul singers like Nina Simone and Roberta Flack. I listen to both of them, but I prefer the relative vulgarity of R&B singer Esther Phillips, who during her career went from Southern soul to country, and from R&B to disco. With her crabbed phrasing and acid timbre, Phillips influenced Ohio-born neo-soul icon Macy Gray. After weathering somewhat inaccurate comparisons to Billie Holiday — herself perhaps the finest singer of the 20th century — Gray began making first-rate records like 2003’s The Trouble With Being Myself. Meanwhile, her 2018 album Ruby is one of the finest soul releases in recent memory. However Gray created Ruby — it features four producers and a raft of songwriting collaborators — it’s a landmark of seemingly normalized soul. Gray’s voice slides through arrangements that go from War-meets-Sly Stone bass lines to post-blaxploitation horn and string arrangements. The album sounds like Gray simply plugged in a very interesting sensibility in order to write songs that ended up being funny, weird glimpses into her struggle for self-definition. Ruby is hot fun that doubles as some far-out shit — Esther Phillips would be proud. Nashville soul-rock band The Untamed will open. 7 p.m. at The Cowan, 500 Cowan St. EDD HURT
Macy Gray w/The Untamed
