This is exactly what Cummings is able to do on “I Need.” It is the kind of song that makes a statement of who he is musically now, and what his desires are for the future. It takes a major effort to move into a modern age without losing all the power of its page. Blues is not a style of music that easily progresses. It is exactly the kind of sound that Cummings has spent his life perfecting. It is the sound of one who will do everything he can to stand up to the forces that attempt to take him apart. The lead track, “Need Somebody,” begins the album with a sonic slugfest of back-alley power. The evocative way the lyrics capture Cummings’ life and his early days in music captures with exquisite detail how someone in his world went on to make such a strong impact on modern blues and beyond. Written by Cummings, the 13 tracks feel like a compelling and extremely emotional summation of what the artist has seen and done. One of the most striking things on TEN is the songs themselves. I knew in a flash we were onto something. The music that started to be played in the studio sounded like it was being created on a whole new level. I knew immediately this was exactly the band that I needed to have with me to take my new songs where I wanted them to go. ![]() ![]() “There was a moment when I looked at the players in the studio with me,” Cummings says, “and I felt giddy. A dream team of musicians quickly became involved in the TEN sessions, including drummer Greg Morrow, bassist Glenn Worf, keyboardist Michael Roujas and guitarist Rob McNelley. It didn’t take long for exactly that to happen. “When you walk into a room with a producer like this, it feels like there is a whole new world of possibilities ready to open up,” he says, “and I felt like things were really turning in an exciting new direction.” Cummings knew a new vista for his music was right in front of him. With Ainlay’s credits working with Mark Knopfler, both solo and with Dire Straits, and George Strait, Miranda Lambert, Emmylou Harris and many others, it was immediately obvious that this new album would be one for the ages. When Albert Cummings started making plans for the sessions that would become TEN, his first sign that this would be a turning point for him was when he connected with producer Chuck Ainlay. Music, being one of the world’s tried and true joys of life, has always had a way of bringing healing and inspiration to listeners, and at no time in recent decades has it been needed more than now. And it comes at exactly the perfect time, when the world is looking into what might be in store past the challenging experience of the pandemic for the last two years. Now, it’s an irrevocable truth that the musician has made his full-on breakthrough. It’s the kind of recording that shows exactly why all the accolades and excitement have been deserved. Albert Cummings arrived strong right at the beginning and has kept growing over a course of endless tours and nine previous albums, right up to today with the release of the album TEN. Some appear full-blown right from the start, and others can take a whole career to get to that elevated place. Deb Talan is some lovely damn proof of that.In the trajectory of watching great musicians develop, there is no set timetable. ![]() ![]() But playing songs for people is a close second. so jaded.) She played clarinet, wrote songs on piano, later taught herself to play guitar in college, got obsessed with Shawn Colvin, was a vegetarian for 4 years, ended that with a hotdog and a swim in lake Michigan, started a band in Portland, OR with her friend Mark, named it Hummingfish, wrote a lot of fun songs that people danced to ‘til they were all sweaty in that hipster/grungy/geeky Northwest kind of way, moved back to the east coast 6 years and a divorce later and began playing solo in Boston coffee houses (read: 4 different Starbucks that she also poured espresso at) opened shows for Catie Curtis (a songwriter hero of hers) met up with Steve Tannen and formed The Weepies, played shows all over the country and the world, toured in a real tourbus! moved to LA, got married to Steve, made 5 records and 3 amazing boy-children together with him, had songs placed in loads of movies and tv shows, moved to Iowa, got breast cancer, got chemotherapy and relied heavily on marijuana for pain and nausea relief(Legalize, for gods’ sakes, can we grow up as a country, please?) recovered from breast cancer, made a solo album, struggled with mental health issues (Childhood Incest Survivor, lucky to be alive, music has helped, and so have many blessed healers) and relationship issues for 6 years, got divorced from Steve. Granted, her style has changed a bit since writing the forever-unknown smash-hit “Through the Window” about feeling numb, like life was going on somewhere out there but not accessible to her (at 14. Deb Talan has been writing songs since she was 14 years old.
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