"The handful is cool. The handful is a monster," says the King of Soul, Solomon Burke, of the handful of pop and rock's finest songsmiths enlisted to pen tracks for his new album, Don't Give Up on Me, due this July. Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Brian Wilson, Carole King and Joe Henry (who produced the album) are among the artists who have chipped in songs for Burke's next record, and his first release since being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.
For his latest release, the iconoclastic Dr. Burke also finds himself on Mississippi blue label, Fat Possum. "I figured with me being an undertaker what better label to sign with than that one," Burke says laughing. "But seriously, isn't it fantastic? Bob Dylan sent me a song, man. Carole King, sent me a song. My mind is just blown that these people even knew me enough to send me a song. It's unbelievable, I can just go on and on. I wish I could've recorded two albums that's how many great songs I had. I haven't been this excited since the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thing. Now if I could just hit that lottery."
Costello even flew to the studio to go over his contribution with Burke. "He sat there and sang with me and produced it with me, showed me how to go over each word. I was freaked out, man, because he's such a great singer himself. I'm like, 'Hey, can I get your autograph, man?'"
In addition to Costello, Burke tapped the Five Blind Boys of Alabama to sing on his interpretation of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill's "None of Us Are Free." "It was a ball," Burke says of the collaboration. "Five Blind Boys came and we rocked the house. We had church, we closed it out. The only thing we didn't do was raise an offering."
Burke says the album was recorded live, "just like the old days," but that Don't Give Up on Me isn't just a rehash of his classic gospel soul stylings of yesteryear. "We're way past that," he says laughing. "This is a whole new bag. The bag was so good they had to go out and get a bag more."
ANDREW DANSBY
(March 14, 2002)