Matriarch of the Blues
Encyclopedia
Matriarch of the Blues is an album by Etta James
Etta James
Etta James is an American blues, soul, rhythm and blues , rock and roll, gospel and jazz singer. In the 1950s and 1960s, she had her biggest success as a blues and R&B singer...

, released in December 2000 through the record label Private Music
Private Music
Private Music is a United States record company founded in 1984 by experimental musician Peter Baumann, as a home for instrumental music. Initially signing such artists as Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Patrick O'Hearn, and Baumann's former bandmates Tangerine Dream, the record label specialized in New Age...

. The album's title reflects James' nickname as "matriarch of the blues". Marking James' return to blues following attempts at country music and jazz and pop standards, the album consisted primarily of rhythm and blues covers. James' sons, Donto and Sametto, are credited as engineers
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

, mixers
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

 and producers
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

, among other contributions; the album features Mike Finnigan
Mike Finnigan
Mike Finnigan is an American keyboard player and vocalist, his specialty being the Hammond Organ.-Career:Finnigan has toured and sessioned for the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Sam Moore, Crosby Stills and Nash, Dave Mason, Buddy Guy, Manhattan Transfer, Taj Mahal, Michael...

 on the Hammond organ, guitarist Leo Nocentelli
Leo Nocentelli
Leo Nocentelli in New Orleans, Louisiana is one of the founding members of the New Orleans funk band, The Meters. He has been credited for popular funk songs such as "Cissy Strut", "People Say" and "Hey Pocky Way"...

, and performances on multiple instruments by Jimmy Zavala.

Matriarch of the Blues received mixed critical reception. Following its release, the album reached a peak position of number two on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Top Blues Albums chart. Billboards final issue for 2001 included Matriarch as number ten on its list of Top Blues Albums for the year. The album was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...

 at the 44th Grammy Awards.

Background and promotion

Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

considered Matriarch of the Blues to be James' reclamation as the "mother of the blues" following recent attempts at country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 and jazz and pop standards
Standard (music)
In music, a standard is a tune or song of established popularity.-See also:* Blues standard* Jazz standard* Pop standard* Great American Songbook-Further reading:* Greatest Rock Standards, published by Hal Leonard ISBN 0793588391...

. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

grouped Matriarch in a "trifecta" with James' previous two studio albums, Life, Love & the Blues
Life, Love & the Blues
Life, Love & the Blues is an album by Etta James, released in 1998 through the record label Private Music. The album reached a peak position of number three on Billboard Top Blues Albums chart....

(1998) and Heart of a Woman
Heart of a Woman
Heart of a Woman is an album by Etta James, released in June 1999 through RCA Records. The album consists of eleven love songs from James' favorite female singers as well as a recording of her most popular song "At Last". Recorded in March 1999, Heart of a Woman was produced by James and John...

(1999). Prior to the album's release, James performed at the eighteenth annual San Francisco Jazz Festival
San Francisco Jazz Festival
Debuting in 1983, the San Francisco Jazz Festival is an annual three-week celebration of today's best music, with over 30 concerts. Produced by SFJAZZ, a non-profit organization dedicated to jazz and jazz education...

 at the Masonic Auditorium. The concert lasted over three house and featured an eight-piece band, members of which included her sons Donto and Sametto.

Composition

Matriarch is composed of rock, soul and blues standards between five and seven minutes in length. People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

magazine contributors described James' vocals as "deeply funky". Mike Finnigan
Mike Finnigan
Mike Finnigan is an American keyboard player and vocalist, his specialty being the Hammond Organ.-Career:Finnigan has toured and sessioned for the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Etta James, Sam Moore, Crosby Stills and Nash, Dave Mason, Buddy Guy, Manhattan Transfer, Taj Mahal, Michael...

 performed the Hammond B3 organ, Leo Nocentelli
Leo Nocentelli
Leo Nocentelli in New Orleans, Louisiana is one of the founding members of the New Orleans funk band, The Meters. He has been credited for popular funk songs such as "Cissy Strut", "People Say" and "Hey Pocky Way"...

 featured on guitar, and Jimmy Zavala contributed performances on multiple instruments. James' two sons—Donto and Sametto—produced and engineered, and played drums and bass, respectively.

The album begins with the sound of a motorcycle engine. Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

's "Gotta Serve Somebody
Gotta Serve Somebody
"Gotta Serve Somebody" is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980. The song was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It stands as Dylan's last hit single, peaking at #24...

" is delivered, according to Parke Puterbaugh of Rolling Stone, with "the air of Old Testament-style authority it demands". James does not modify the lyrics, singing "You can call me Bobby, you can call me Zimmy". "Don't Let My Baby Ride", originally by Deadric Malone
Don Robey
Don Robey was an American record label executive, songwriter and record producer, who used criminal means as part of his business model...

 and O. V. Wright, adds a bit of sensuality to the album with the line "If his jeans are too tight... you might see what you like." Other covers include Al Green
Al Green
Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...

's "Rhymes", "Try a Little Tenderness
Try a Little Tenderness
"Try a Little Tenderness" is a love song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods, and recorded initially on December 8, 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra followed by both Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby in 1933...

" (Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, Harry M. Woods
Harry M. Woods
Henry MacGregor Woods was a Tin Pan Alley songwriter and pianist. Woods is sometimes credited as Harry Woods.-Early life:...

), and Otis Redding
Otis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...

"Hawg for Ya". The tempo of The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

' "Miss You" is slowed down to a "sensual simmer". James modified the gender mentioned in the lyrics, singing "Puerto Rican boys just dying to meet you". Following "Hawg" are Malone's "You're Gonna Make Me Cry", which features vocals by Finnigan, Sandy Jones' "Walking the Back Streets", and Benny Latimore
Latimore (musician)
Benjamin "Benny" Latimore , usually known professionally simply as Latimore, is an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist....

's "Let's Straighten It Out
Let's Straighten It Out
"Let's Straighten It Out" is the name of a hit soul song by R&B/blues singer Latimore. From his debut album More, More, More, the single spent two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart in November, 1974. It also peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.The single was...

". Closing the album are John Fogerty
John Fogerty
John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...

's "Born on the Bayou", "Come Back Baby" (Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

, Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...

), and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...

's "Hound Dog".

Reception

Matriarch of the Blues received mixed critical reception. Allmusic's Matthew Robinson wrote that James "coast[ed]" through the album and the backing band lacked "youthful vitality". Robinson thought the album's opening track "Gotta Serve Somebody" came across more as a "sleepy suggestion". However, he felt the "draggier pace and intermittent woofs" in "Miss You" added sex appeal and complimented the "funkification" of "Born on the Bayou" and "Hound Dog". Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

 contributor Gene Bright wrote a positive review of the album but was disappointed with James' cover of "Miss You", writing "the song just can't be slowed and manipulated with any success". People magazine contributors felt that the motorcycle introduction was unnecessary and considered the album to be more "full-throated gospel-rock" than blues. However, they wrote that James sounded "as sexy and full of sass as she did nearly half a century ago". With James' sons contributing to the album, Bill Milkowski of JazzTimes
JazzTimes
JazzTimes is a magazine that dates back to Radio Free Jazz, a publication founded in 1970 by Ira Sabin when he was operating a record store in Washington, DC. It was originally a newsletter designed to update shoppers on the latest jazz releases and provide jazz radio programmers with a means of...

called the album a "real family affair" and "worthy follow-up" to Heart of a Woman. In his review for Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...

, Barry Walters complimented Donto and Sametto's rhythm performances. Walters admitted that James all of the notes available to her in the 1960s but wrote that her "interpretive abilities are sharper than ever".

The Morning Call
The Morning Call
The Morning Call is a daily newspaper based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The newspaper is owned by the Tribune Company, whose other publications include the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and Baltimore Sun....

Larry Printz published a negative review, concluding that James' performance was mediocre and that the "nuances in [her] once-formidable voice are long gone". Printz also criticized the slow tempo throughout the album and accused James of "coasting" on her legendary status. James Sullivan of Entertainment Weekly wrote that James' "voice isn't quite the nasty snarl it once was, but the attitude remains". Sullivan thought "Hound Dog" was the album's best composition. Rolling Stone Marie Elsie St. Léger wrote that James provided a "healthy dose of rootsy feminism and mettle" with her "passionately seasoned and gravel-edged voice". St. Léger also complimented James and her performance for having "inimitable depth" and for "making no apologies and needing no permission to sing it like she feels it." Parke Puterbaugh of Rolling Stone named "Don't Let My Baby Ride", "Hawg for Ya" and "Come Back Baby" as the album's greatest tracks. In his review, Puterbaugh concluded that the album is a "solid return to roots", allowing James the right to reclaim her titular throne.

Chart performance and recognitions

The album reached a peak position of number two on Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Top Blues Albums chart. The album entered the chart at number seven the week of December 20, 2000. Matriarch climbed to number four by the week of January 27, 2001. By its fifteenth week on the chart the album had fallen to number seven and by its twenty-fifth week on the chart (week of June 16, 2001) the album remained at number thirteen. Billboard final issue for 2001 included Matriarch of the Blues as number ten on its list of Top Blues Albums for the year. James and the album were nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album was awarded from 1988 to 2011. From 2001 to 2003 the award recipients included the producers and engineers as well as the artists...

 at the 44th Grammy Awards, but lost to Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton
Delbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....

 for the album Nothing Personal.
Chart (2000) Peak
position
Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Top Blues Albums
2

Track listing

  1. "Gotta Serve Somebody
    Gotta Serve Somebody
    "Gotta Serve Somebody" is a song by Bob Dylan from his 1979 studio album Slow Train Coming. It won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male in 1980. The song was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It stands as Dylan's last hit single, peaking at #24...

    " (Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...

    ) – 6:48
  2. "Don't Let My Baby Ride" (Deadric Malone
    Don Robey
    Don Robey was an American record label executive, songwriter and record producer, who used criminal means as part of his business model...

    , O. V. Wright) – 5:16
  3. "Rhymes" (Al Green
    Al Green
    Albert Greene , better known as Al Green, is an American gospel and soul music singer. He reached the peak of his popularity in the 1970s, with hit singles such as "You Oughta Be With Me", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Love and Happiness", and "Let's Stay Together"...

    , Teenie Hodges
    Teenie Hodges
    Mabon Lewis "Teenie" Hodges is a Memphis, Tennessee musician, best known for his work as rhythm and lead guitarist and songwriter on many of Al Green's popular soul hits, and those of other artists such as Ann Peebles and Syl Johnson, on Hi Records in the 1970s.Born in Memphis, "Teenie" began...

    ) – 4:35
  4. "Try a Little Tenderness
    Try a Little Tenderness
    "Try a Little Tenderness" is a love song written by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods, and recorded initially on December 8, 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra followed by both Ruth Etting and Bing Crosby in 1933...

    " (Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly, Harry M. Woods
    Harry M. Woods
    Henry MacGregor Woods was a Tin Pan Alley songwriter and pianist. Woods is sometimes credited as Harry Woods.-Early life:...

    ) – 4:47
  5. "Miss You" (Jagger/Richards
    Jagger/Richards
    The songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, known as Jagger/Richards , is a musical collaboration whose output has produced the majority of the catalogue of The Rolling Stones....

    ) – 5:59
  6. "Hawg for Ya" (Otis Redding
    Otis Redding
    Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...

    ) – 3:45
  7. "You're Gonna Make Me Cry" (Malone) – 6:17
  8. "Walking the Back Streets" (Sandy Jones, Jr.) – 7:07
  9. "Let's Straighten It Out
    Let's Straighten It Out
    "Let's Straighten It Out" is the name of a hit soul song by R&B/blues singer Latimore. From his debut album More, More, More, the single spent two weeks at number one on the R&B singles chart in November, 1974. It also peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.The single was...

    " (Curtis, Latimore
    Latimore (musician)
    Benjamin "Benny" Latimore , usually known professionally simply as Latimore, is an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist....

    , Scotomayer) – 5:24
  10. "Born on the Bayou
    Born on the Bayou
    "Born on the Bayou" is the first track on Creedence Clearwater Revival's second album, Bayou Country. It was released as the B-side of the single "Proud Mary" and reached #2 on the Billboard Charts.As the songwriter, John Fogerty, commented:...

    " (John Fogerty
    John Fogerty
    John Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...

    ) – 4:41
  11. "Come Back Baby" (Ray Charles
    Ray Charles
    Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...

    , Lightnin' Hopkins
    Lightnin' Hopkins
    Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...

    ) – 5:57
  12. "Hound Dog
    Hound Dog (song)
    "Hound Dog" is a twelve-bar blues written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and originally recorded by Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton in 1952. Other early versions illustrate the differences among blues, country, and rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The 1956 remake by Elvis Presley is the best-known...

    " (Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
    Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
    Jerome "Jerry" Leiber and Mike Stoller were American songwriting and record producing partners. Stoller was the composer and Leiber the lyricist. Their most famous songs include "Hound Dog", "Jailhouse Rock", "Kansas City", "Stand By Me" Jerome "Jerry" Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011)...

    ) – 3:43

External links

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