Janiva Magness is not only among the top blues vocalists but also an uncompromising song archeologist. She digs deeper than most song interpreters, realizing that she has to see herself in the story if she’s going to sing it. Across her sixteen preceding albums, she has written material too, but mostly, she is the blues version of Emmylou Harris, best known for her ability to put her stamp on the songs of others. She doesn’t usually pick the obvious ones either, although the names of many of these writers on Back To Me are undoubtedly familiar. Bill Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Doyle Bramhall II, Tracy Nelson, and Irma Thomas are among the ten selections. She always professes that she has more interest in the B-sides, unearthing the unfamiliar. Along the way, she touched on blues styles from Chicago to Texas and mixes in soul and funk as you glean from these writers listed. She’s resilient and although much of her past material exposed hurt and suffering, she has emerged with joyful projects such as 2016’s Love Wins Again. Though she’ll always be burnished with heartbreak, she’s on solid emotional footing here.
That’s partly due to working again with her longtime guitarist and collaborator Dave Darling, who also again steps into the producer’s chair. Darling heads the core band of drummer W.F. Quinn, bassist Ian Walker, and keyboardist Sasha Smith. Many other musicians grace select tracks, including the guests, whom we’ll touch on as we proceed.
The opener is Darling’s “Masterpiece,” one of the strongest tracks, although the ubiquitous presence of Joe Bonamassa is growing to an annoying level. This fiery tune, incorporating Chicago blues shuffle and Texas stomping, also benefits from the searing blues harp of TJ Norton and Smith’s teeming Hammond B3. The title track, written by multiple writers, begins as a smoldering slow blues with minimal instrumentation beyond Nick Maybury’s stinging guitar framing Magness’s emotive, rattle-the-walls vocal. The tune reaches several peaks and ends with her voice alone – “I just wish there was a better way.” She brings that same level of power to the heavy backbeat of Bill Withers’ “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh,” also imbued by the stellar multiple keyboards of Phil Parlapiano. As is often her wont, she layers in her background vocals. Yet another talented guitarist, John Schroeder, takes the lead on Bramhall II’s loping “November,” with Magness alternating her belting mode with sensuous crooning while exhibiting remarkable range. Schroeder stays aboard, teaming with guest Sue Foley for the duel guitar attack, backing Magness on the roaring “Holes,” all three of them unleashing unbridled fury.
Magness taps into “I Was Good To You, Baby,” snarling defiantly on the co-write by two of Louisiana’s best songwriters, Buddy Flett and David Egan. It’s a flat-out stomper featuring Schoeder’s crunchy guitar, Smith’s keys, and more of her layered vocals. LaMontagne’s “You Can Bring Me Flowers” has a sparser, porch-like feel with sharp guitar bursts from another guitarist, Robert “Chalo” Ortiz, and rolling keys from Parlapiano. Ortiz stays in for Tracy Nelson’s piano-driven torch ballad, “Down So Low,” which reveals every crack and nuance in Magness’s vocal chops as she and Ortiz engage in vocal-guitar call-and-response. “Do I Need You” is a song by multiple soul writers. Ann Peebles becomes obvious when Magness sings, “I can’t stand the rain.” The distinctly NOLA piano intro suggests Allen Toussaint, who is indeed the writer of “Hittin’ on Nothin’,” which became a hit for Irma Thomas. Guest guitarist Jesse Dayton takes the honors here, while for the first time, Magness invites background singers Bernie Barlow and Allen Sovory to join her on the joyous chorus.
Although it’s debatable why so many musicians participated in this project, the only reasonable answer is that she and Darling wanted to throw a blues party. It’s so welcoming for those familiar with Magness’s history to hear her sing so unabashedly freely.
