St. Paul & the Broken Bones

Half the City (Single Lock)

How to explain a guy that looks like Drew Carey and sounds like Otis Redding? As incongruous as his appearance may be, Paul Janeway takes the soul revival to an equally outrageous place with a voice that hovers between sexy sweet and flat-out dirty. Hailing from Alabama’s suddenly exemplary music scene, the horn-fueled Broken Bones don’t re-create one funky groove after another. They make them sound more like the truth than any band since the Seventies. That musicianship carries Janeway and crew far, songs including “Like a Mighty River” and “The Glow” evoking Redding and Al Green. Throughout, there’s a sense that the band lives to let it all hang out – beg, scream, and shout. Alabama Shakes’ Ben Tanner sat in the producer’s chair, while recording and mixing were done in Muscle Shoals. Half the City, bona fide all around. (10:05pm, Tap Room at the Market)

***.5

This article appears in March 14 • 2014.

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