Blues-soul duo Lil’ Red & The Rooster—Columbus-born vocalist Jennifer Milligan (Lil’ Red herself) and her French husband, guitarist Pascal Fouquet—have headed into some beguiling and adventurous territory for their latest album, 7.
Long celebrated for fusing together a transatlantic sonic groove, a neat blend of the Old World and the New, they recently returned to Ohio with their Parisian rhythm section in tow, to join forces with keys legend Bobby Floyd, known for his work with everyone from Ray Charles to Dr. John to Count Basie Orchestra, to create a heady, genre-bending cocktail of blues, jazz, retro-soul, and gospel—a mix of the most iconic and quintessentially American music, a swirl the duo themselves call a sonic “soul balm”.
It’s a showcase of all those rootsy and revolutionary sounds whose seeds were first sown on American soil. From the Hammond-washed, groovesome country-rock’n ‘n’ soul of opener “Wilds Rising” to the pure blues of “Melancholy Mood” and from the gentle jazz jive of “Midnight on the Rocks” to the Latino surf rock of “Mr Saboteur.”
And if the songs are connected by a celebration of the signature and sensational sounds of days gone by, they are also part of an overall message of freedom and empowerment. Not in an overtly political way, but as a general reminder to let nothing hold you back. Life is for living…go for it.
But, not only is this a tribute to the sounds and styles that have been hatched and sent out into the world from those uniquely American soul clubs and blues bars, truck stop jam bands and gospel choirs, it is also the sound of the torch being handed to new players who are, even as we speak, carrying it into a bright new future.
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