If heard in a grocery store, you’d think Walk Through Fire an obscure soul record from the late Sixties. Credit producer Dan Auerbach, the Black Keysman whose obsession with pre-synthesizer recording methods is almost cliche by now, but not at the expense of Yolanda Quartey herself. From Bristol, UK, the singer/songwriter steeps in Aretha Franklin, Arthur Alexander, and her countrywoman Dusty Springfield – gospel, R&B, and country all at once. On “Deep Blue Dream,” “Shady Grove,” and “Ride Out in the Country,” this solo debut makes all the right moves to sail past retro on its way to timeless. (2:45pm, Tito’s stage)
This article appears in October 11 • 2019.
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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.
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