Samantha Martin & Delta Sugar are one of the premier soul bands in Canada. Lead vocalist Martin has been nominated for thirteen Maple Blues Awards to date, and that’s before unveiling this project, The Reckless One, Martin’s sixth album, either under her own name, Samantha Martin and The Haggard, or with this 11-piece blues/soul band, Delta Sugar. Her previous album with Delta Sugar, 2014’s Send the Nightingale garnered Maple Blues nomination for Best Female Vocalist, Best Songwriter, Best New Group, and Best New Album/Producer. Their second effort, 2018’s Run to Me was the one that earned them a nomination for Juno Blues Album of the year. So, this one comes with high expectations.
On this twelve song album, with eleven penned by Martin, already released as a single is the deep soul ballad “I’ve Got a Feeling,” one like many that show the influence of Southern Memphis-like soul on Martin, who can clearly wail with the best singers in the genre. The large ensemble sound is felt immediately in the big chorus opener “Love Is All Around.” The other released single is the danceable “Don’t Have to Be,” also penned by Martin. A dynamic frontwoman, her stunning voice that is capable of jet engine roars and by turns delicate nuances of a gut-wrenching lyric. While Martin is a powerhouse unto herself, the vocal blend that Delta Sugar produces is unadulterated gospel-tinged uplifting music, the kind we fell in love with during the vintage era of soul in the ‘60s and again with artists Sharon Bell and Amy Winehouse.
Other highlights include the soul ballad, “Better to Have Never” and the funky “Love is All Around.” The big loud wall of sound production technique, blends pop and rock in “Sacrifice” while “All That I Am” emotes early 70’s nostalgia. Meanwhile, the cover of Bob Dylan’s “Meet Me in the Morning” is given a distinctively southern accent too as the B3 swirls and choir-like backgrounds surround her lead. Samantha comments, Samantha comments, “after a series of intense tours and big changes in my personal life that left me feeling ungrounded and emotionally raw, I felt intense pressure to write and record another record before we lost the momentum. Those feelings were channeled into my writing, and it is a deeply vulnerable collection of songs for me. When it came time to get back in the studio to record the songs, I really let go of the process and put all my trust in the producers, and the band to help me realize the vision. I felt… reckless.”
While the album gets off to an almost over-the-top energetic start, as it unfolds some of the songs begin to sound a bit the same, or maybe the initial blast of power is simply wearing on the ears. At least this writer got that sense with “So I Always Know” and “Pass Me By,” the latter especially resembling a relic from the power rock radio of the ‘80s. As such, “Better to Have Never,” the slow-burning ballad provides relief as it’s one of the most tastefully rendered tunes. The latter two tunes, “All That I Am” is a bit too poppy and “Who Do You,” brings in illy-chosen psychedelic elements, as if nodding to Janis Joplin in her prime.
Yet, given the few missteps, Martin & Delta Sugar are no retro act. These are Martin’s songs, delivered with passion and power, drawn in part from forbears but mostly sounding fresh and contemporary just the same.
