Because of her blues-based comeback in the '90s, Etta James is usually thought of by the general public as a blues singer, but there's a good deal more to the picture than that. In many ways, James resembles a female Ray Charles in her unerring ability to tackle (and sometimes combine) all of the strands of American popular music, from rock & roll to R&B, blues, country, gospel, jazz, and pure pop and soul, while still maintaining a distinct feel and sound that is all her own, and she has done this throughout a five-decade career that is astounding for its consistency. This set, recorded in the mid-'80s in Nashville, finds James surrounded by a gospel choir and tons of handclaps as she tackles Hank Williams' "I Saw the Light," a pair of songs written by Jim Weatherly, "Storms of Troubled Times" and "Jesus Is My Kind of People," and several traditional gospel favorites like "Down by the Riverside" and "Swing Low Sweet Chariot." It's Etta James, so you get all the power and emotion she brings to everything she sings. ~ Steve Leggett
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