Miss Lavelle White

Thanks to our friend Sarah in Texas, today I can write about an a great soul and blues artist I just discovered instead of writing about how I think Flight of the Conchords is mediocre and symptomatic of how most beloved things in indie culture are overrated.

Sarah sent me a link to Lavelle White’s website and listening to her sing is like a breath of fresh air. Lavelle is an 78-year-old soul singer out of Texas, who recorded for the Duke and Peacock labels in the 50’s and 60’s, and toured with Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Bobby “Blue” Bland and many others, but never released a full length album until 1994. From what I’m told, Lavelle is a pretty fierce woman – she wears tight gold lame pants onstage and lets her audience know that she is not to be messed with – or else. She is in possession of one of those voices that immediately emerges as singular and you can hear the accrued experience – both as an artist and a woman - in her voice. She sings with immense power, but has none of the melisma and oversouling that has afflicted so many singers who continue on in music inspired by soul.

Download: "Soul Deep"