Yola

One Liner: Soul and country combined by a sweet sounding lady

Wikipedia Genre: Americana, country, soul, Roots rock
Home: Bristol, England

Poster Position: 17

Weekend Two Only.

Thoughts:  Uhhh, what?  I have to admit to judging a book by its cover here.  You pull up her Spotify and its a large African American woman with a curly mop of hair all over her head.  OK, the brain thinks, this will be some R&B or rap or something.  NOPE.  This is some freaking fantastic country soul that smacks me across the backside.

Ah, her sole album was produced by Dan Auerbach - does that dude touch anything that isn't gold?  And also, she's from freaking England?  What is happening here?

Her Wikipedia bio says that her family banned music when she was young, which is odd, but that she pushed through and became a singer anyway, backing up big acts like The Chemical Brothers and Massive Attack and acting as lead singer for something called Phantom Limb.  Apparently her parent also didn't care for her, so that she ended up homeless in London.  That is wild.

Just one full album, 2019's Walk Through Fire, which is freaking fantastic.  And a 2016 EP called Orphan Offering, which is also good, but not nearly so classic sounding as the full album.  "Ride Out in the Country" makes me want to love someone for the rest of my life.  "Rock Me Gently" has me fully ready to do that very act. The top track as of now is the album opener, "Faraway Look," with 908k streams.

Feels like something from fifty years ago, straight out of Nashville, filled with odd harpsichord and other touches - but her voice kills when she ramps up to the chorus.  She's won an award from the UK Americana Awards, and has two pending from the Americana Music Honors & Awards in Nashville.  Random aside here - Jason Isbell has won the Album of the Year for this awards ceremony every other year since 2014.  Pretty wild.

Anyway, this whole album just has a perfect vibe.  Strong but tender, groovy but straight-forward, just feels like a long-lost treasure unearthed for me now.  I'll give you one track from the earlier EP, but honestly you should go listen to this whole album right now.  Old track with the most streams is "Dead and Gone," with 463k.

Still a good track, but I think the polish and additional touches from Auerbach on that full album take it a step above this sound.  Reminds me a little of that track from the Romeo & Juliet soundtrack that was something about kissing.  But her voice is the killer piece here.

One more, just for good measure:

Hell yes, I'd go see her play.  This stuff is different and yet great.