Royal Southern Brotherhood - The Royal Gospel (2016)

Damn, these Royal Southern Brotherhood guys are a prolific bunch…the band is about to release its fourth studio album in a like number of years on June 24th, 2016 when The Royal Gospel hits the streets. Like all of the RSB’s previous albums, The Royal Gospel will be released by the good folks at Ruf Records. The album features a line-up of singer Cyril Neville, guitarists Bart Walker and Tyrone Vaughan, drummer Yonrico Scott, and new bassist Darrell Phillips. Guest keyboardist Norman Caesar provides some tasty B3 organ on several songs.

The follow-up to 2015’s Blues Music Award-nominated Don’t Look Back album, The Royal Gospel was recorded in a mere seven days in February 2016 at Dockside Studios in Louisiana. Working with noted producer David Z, the band played together live in the studio, their chemistry allowing them to capture many of their performances in a minimum of takes. “We walked in not really knowing what we were gonna do,” Philips says in a press release for The Royal Gospel. “Cyril and Bart come to us with chord progressions, tempos, and ideas and we build together. We’d just fall right into the thing and all of a sudden, there’s the song. On this record, we came together as a band. It was a magical thing to witness.”

The Royal Gospel pushes the band’s blues-rock roots even further, taking advantage of Walker and Vaughan’s intertwined guitars to build a more electric sound that rocks. Hard. Listening to a preview of the album, a number of songs stand out. “Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire” burns like an open flame with its scorching fretwork and soulful vocals. “Blood Is Thicker Than Water” features stellar instrumentation, and the intro alone will blow your mind, the song itself a high-octane mix of the Neville Brothers’ New Orleans soul and blistering blues-rock guitar.