In February 2022, Boulevards, the project led by musician Jamil Rashad, released its fourth studio album, Electric Cowboy: Born in Carolina Mud. That album culminated years of slow building and provided the Raleigh, N.C. native the breakthrough he deserved. After an 18-month rigorous run, he wasn’t ready to take a deserved break.
Upon Electric Cowboy’s release, Rashad’s creative ideas continued to flow. He reached out to friends and collaborators, like writer Gentle Nature and J.J. Whitefield of German funk group The Poets of Rhythm and began to mold his new ideas into full-fledged songs. After the campaign for Electric Cowboy wound down, Rashad returned to his home state of North Carolina and got to work on his fifth studio album.
As the song ideas flowed, Rashad explored the importance of self-reflection and personal experiences, in particular themes of love and vulnerability. Drawing from that prism and channeling the joy of his recent engagement, the artist had plenty of positive momentum heading into the recording sessions.
Carolina Funk: Barn Burner on Tobacco Road is a tip of the cap to his home and will be released by the New West Records imprint Normaltown Records on June 28th. At Killion Studios in Los Angeles, Rashad teamed with producer Sergio Rios (Neal Francis, Say She She, Orgone) to create an album chock full of a memorable uptempo “Southern Fried Funk.” For the first time in Rashad’s career, he recorded live and straight to tape, capturing the true essence of these songs, which was brought to life by Dan Hastie (keys), Dale Jennings (bass) and Sam Halterman (drums).
With an assist from Whitefield, Rashad captured the raw, crunchy sounds he’d been hoping to incorporate into his recordings. The album also features the handy work of Mike Buckley (Daptones, Budos Band, Jalen N’gonda), who composed the horn parts, Blake Rhein (Durand Jones & The Indications), and Kendra Morris (Colemine Records). This is the album that finally captures the energy of Rashad’s high octane live show onto wax. Black Pumas virtuoso Adrian Quesada and Will Grantham mixed Carolina Funk: Barn Burner on Tobacco Road, giving Rashad the exact sound he sought to capture.
Like any great artist, Rashad writes in a fashion that is true to himself, yet has the ability for his rapidly expanding fan base to relate to. With Carolina Funk: Barn Burner on Tobacco Road, Rashad shows that he can’t stop and won’t stop channeling his creativity into funk-powered hits.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for “What We Live For,” a tune that Rashad points to as one of his favorite songs from the 10-song collection. Backed by a disco-funk groove machine, the song finds Rashad celebrating love with a danceable anthem as he projects a timeless cool. When the brass band explodes with a flourish of bright horns, the song really soars only to come back down to Earth with Rashad’s smooth and soulful crooning. Ultimately, it offers more proof of this versatile artist’s ability to channel infectious grooves into music that is simultaneously fresh and classic.
Rashad describes the inspiration behind the song:
Love is what we live for. Celebrating the love you have for one another. Learning to love another person unconditionally. I’ve learned that it is a skill to show up for your partner and takes practice like anything else in the world. After the honeymoon phase is over, it takes work to keep the love growing.
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