This has been a damn good decade for fans of funk and soul.
Sure, it's harder to find long forgotten gems amid the dollar bins and dusty racks of America's music retail landscape. And yes, eBay has inflated prices, thereby eliminating many options for the less well-heeled funk collector—records that you used to be able to con off unknowing indie rockers for a penny 10 years ago are going for upward of a week's salary now. But that's OK, because as much fun as it is collecting artifacts from a bygone era, participating in a vibrant, living music scene has got it beat hands down.
The Naughty Aughties have seen a wave of labels and bands reinstate funk and soul sounds. From the meticulously curated reissues of the Numero Group to the aesthetic classicism of Sharon Jones and the whole Daptone crew to the international futurism of groups like The Heliocentrics, it's clear to see that these sounds—which had been consigned to history's dustbin—still resonate with people around the world. And that's without considering the Winehouses and Duffys of the world that peddle toned-down versions for Top 40 consumption. Each new band and each new record expands the vocabulary, widens the aesthetic tenets and pushes the whole genre further and further from the dreaded "revival" tag, away from being just another retro fad. At the center of this cultural maelstrom you'll find Charles Walker and The Dynamites.
Forgive the terrible, horrible pun, but things are really blowin' up for The Dynamites right now. There really isn't any other way to describe it. They just got back from a booze cruise to Belize, they're going to Europe again this summer and they're working on a new record that local record maven and Grimey's impresario Doyle "D-Funk" Davis claims is "absolutely killer, next-level shit." I don't take Doyle's word lightly when it comes to funk, so I've gone ahead and found a reconstructive surgeon to help out after I have my face melted. I advise that you do the same. And you better do it quick because they're bustin' down the new sounds this Saturday at Mercy Lounge.
While we're at it, let's book some plane tickets and a few hotel rooms. The Dynamites are playing with deep soul legend Betty Harris in New Orleans and it'll be worth a road trip. Harris is one of the world's great lost soul singers, a vocal dynamo from the highest echelon of talent who never saw recognition befitting her prowess. Harris started her career as an apprentice for '50s R&B queen and Jackson, Tenn., native Big Maybelle, broke into the pop charts with Bert "Twist and Shout/Hang on Sloopy" Berns, and spent five years with Alain Toussaint cutting the kind of gritty New Orleans R&B that makes your soul shiver. As an added bonus she released "There's a Break in the Road," a perfect specimen of feedback-drenched breakbeat science, on Nashville's SSS International Records before falling off the musical map for 30-plus years. Just the thought of The Dynamites tearing into "Break" inspires multiple nerdgasms. (It should be noted that in critical circles, this is a very common response to anything involving The Dynamites. Do not take it with a grain of salt.)
Like the city itself during its pre-freeway heyday, The Dynamites have become a nexus for the modern R&B circuit, bringing former hit makers like Harris and Harvey "Disco Lady" Scales out of the woodwork and bringing new bands along for the ride. Last winter they brought Ruby Velle and The Soulphonics up from Atlanta and it was love at first listen. For this show they've got a new band named The Junkyard Horns opening and, while we don't know a damn thing about them, with a name like that and the Dynamite seal of approval, you know it's going to be fun-key. Which starts the cycle all over again, refreshing the well spring of sound that makes hearts sing and rumps shake, and keeping the funk alive.
Email music@nashvillescene.com.
