I was thinking about a car. A Cadillac car at that and not some modern day shed like a CTS but something like a 1960 Coupe De Ville. Yes, one of the cool Cadillacs. Of course, if I had such a cool car, I’d want the right tunes to play upon its trusty eight track. Listening to Jamila Ford’s soulful “Enough” album solved that problem.
In fact, it didn’t take much more than the first song on this album to make me reach that conclusion. “Ordinary People” has that old fashioned – and I mean that in a good way – groove just like you used to get in a Curtis Mayfield song and Ms Ford doesn’t miss and hit the wall with her impassioned delivery. Make no mistake here - she’s much more than a supper club singer doing a retro turn. As a songwriter, she has a finely honed ear for commerce and you could imagine the likes of Mariah Carey getting right into “Thank You For Loving Me” but that’s not the thing, or should that be “thang”, as it is Ms Ford’s voice that steals your heart. Her timing and phrasing hit the mark every time and it doesn't take long for her sassy and streetwise sound to take control of timeless urban grooves like “Make Me Forgot” or even a super cool stripped down acoustic workout like “Never Explain”.
The lady can sweat pure emotion. I know it because I can feel it.
Available from CD Baby.