Soul Provider
is the third long-player from Memphis' octogenarian sacred soul queen
Elizabeth King
. With her powerful contralto, she's performed on gospel radio for decades. Her first single, "Testify," appeared in 1969. In 1970 she was frontwoman for the otherwise all-male
Gospel Souls
, who cut five singles and an album, but the latter went unreleased. She retired from recording and sang only in church or on the radio for nearly 40 years. In 2019,
Bruce Watson
coaxed her back into performing and signed her to
Bible & Tire Recording Company
. In 2021, aged 77, she released her debut album,
Living in the Last Days
, followed by 2022's
I Got a Love
.
was recorded at Delta Sonic Sound in Memphis with
the Sacred Soul Sound Section
(
Will Sexton
on guitar, bass, and keyboards;
Matt Ross-Spang
on guitar;
Mark Edgar Stuart
on bass, and
Will McCarley
on drums and percussion). The ten-song set also employs a host of guests who include
Jimbo Mathus
and guitarist
John Paul Keith
. The album offers a more soul forward presentation. Some of the songs were written by members of her band, some are
King
originals; there are gospel standards and a cover of
Lou Reed
's "Jesus."
The title-track opener was written by
Mathus
. He plays guitar, organ, and sings backup alongside Mississippi singer-songwriter
Schaefer Llana
. It's a souled-out love song to God that sounds like it came from
Goldwax Records
during the '60s. There's conviction in
's voice which rises above
Jamison Hollister
's upright gospel piano and fiddle as she sings about traveling south of heaven on the Jericho Way with God. Organ, fiddle, and guitars bubble and roil above the stately drum kit as she testifies, "I'm walking in circles/I know who I am/I finally understand ...." The second single, "Stretch Out," is a slow, funky gospel-blues penned by
. Her vocal, buoyed by
Alex Greene
's organ and synth, is given added depth by the
Sacred Soul Sound Section
. "Tables in the Temple," composed by
Keith
, also revels in the blues. His guitar supports
Gamble
's Wurlitzer electric piano atop a four/four drum shuffle and call-and-response between
and her vocal chorus.
Sexton
's "Anything I Could Ever Want" is a burning Southern funk workout adorned with brassy horns, gritty wah-wah guitar, a filthy bassline, and cracking breakbeats. It's followed by
's "Jesus" from the
Velvet Underground
's
White Light/White Heat
." She renders it faithfully and without irony, using psychedelic trappings such as reverbed flutes, sitar, and backmasked production. The set closes with the standard "I Couldn't Hear Nobody Pray." The band's slow, swaggering shuffle allows
vocal freedom. She digs deep into the grain of her voice for the nuanced spiritual truth in her DNA.
is easily as consistent as her previous albums, but it's also rawer, more intimate. It's the most startlingly immediate date in her catalog. ~ Thom Jurek