Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - I Learned The Hard Way

Is it polite or relevant to mention a female singer's age here?  Well I think it is because it's refreshing to know that Sharon Jones is a 55 year old who sounds as vibrant and vital as anyone half her age, if not more so.  Along with the Dap Kings, she is currently catching on with radio stations and concert-goers worldwide.  And if you didn't know, you would really believe this band had been performing at sell-out venues since 1968.

The band began life 10 years ago and are now on their 4th studio album, of which I Learned The Hard Way is the title track  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKZdzxX3qFc
The previous albums are Dap Dippin (2002), Naturally (2005) and 100 Days, 100 Nights (2007) and are released by the independent Daptone Records (where The Dap Kings are the house band), in Brooklyn, New York. Although their names may be unfamiliar, The Dap Kings have been utilised extensively but largely unheralded by Mark Ronson on Amy Winehouse's Black to Black, Al Green's Lay It Down and also for the soundtrack to the film American Gangster.   Sharon has performed in the studio and onstage with the likes of David Byrne, They Might Be Giants, Rufus Wainwright and Lou Reed.  So they have been around a bit and we will have been listening to them unawares for some time.

They are leading the current revivalist movement that sets out to capture the spirit and sound of funk/soul music as it was during the mid-1960s to mid-1970s. This is achieved by rejecting modern digital recording methods in favour of traditional analogue recording equipment. Also the musical instruments used are limited to those that would have been available up until the mid-'70s.   And the music is all the better for it, I say.

http://www.sharonjonesandthedapkings.com/