Album: Lee Fields, Faithful Man (Truth & Soul)

Lee Fields is the male equivalent of Sharon Jones: a veteran soul stylist backed up by a crack band well schooled in the nuances of soul dynamics – in Fields's case, The Expressions.

As a vocalist, Fields exhibits clear affinities with the pleading style of Bobby Womack and O V Wright, whether desperately "Still Hanging On" despite manifold tribulations, or regretting how he had remained a "Faithful Man" until he met you. What's not in doubt is how faithfully he's stuck to the core deep-soul verities, with a delivery that vaults from spoken sermonising to raw, impassioned hurt in an instant, supported by skilful arrangements of guitar, organ and horns that echo the varied emotional depths once plumbed in places like Memphis and Muscle Shoals.

DOWNLOAD THIS Faithful Man; I Still Got It; Still Hanging On; Wish You Were Here