Review- Boulevards: Carolina Funk
Jamil Rashad calls Boulevards - the moniker he performs under - a cosmic soul artist. But from where I sit, his latest release is still digging up a hip-shaking mother lode of old school funk.
Photo by Ian Tilghman
Carolina Funk: Barn Burner of Tobacco Road, his fifth studio album, is a worthy follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2022 long player, and finds the North Carolina native still wandering in the platform-shoe footsteps of giants like George Clinton and Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner.
If the groove fits, keep wearing it.
This is physical music that dares you to listen and not move. But, it also continues Rashad’s introspection with deep-in-the-mix lyrics exploring both love and recovery. (2022’s Electric Cowboy: Born in the Carolina Mud, was his fourth studio album, but the first he made sober.)
“A lot of years, spend wasted down in tears
Drinking gin dug my hole I’m sleeping in
Many times I fell falling back,
Running wild from fear and that’s a fact, I find my way far from here
In a place that’s safe from all the fear”
That’s from “Who Am I,” the third track that might also be the theme for much of the 10-track album. But it’s not all navel gazing. “Do It Like a Maniac” and “Run & Move” – the first single - will fill dance floors in the clubs.
“Do It Like a Maniac” recalls the best of James Brown with a shuffling drum open and a tight but jangly electric guitar chord riff, all propelled by Rashad’s funky western, “Giddy up now!” exhortation. And the command seems pretty straightforward.
“Let your soul attack
Do it like a maniac”
The Michael Buckley arranged horns take center stage on “Run & Move,” as Rashad describes a lover who seems at once ill-treated and aware of his own darker tendencies.
“Hoppin’ on a train to ride
I got to leave my girl behind
I’ve always been a man of pride
And holding on tight to survive
I’ve been running from myself, I know I’m hard to love but you keep going
But you ain’t no friend of mine, no you ain’t girl.”
He even throws in a curious reference that triggered memories of O.J. Simpson’s legendary pre-arrest car chase.
“See what we gonna do y’all is hop in a Ford Bronco
That’s what we gonna do
Hit the road keep on runnin’”
Known for his powerful live shows, Rashad said his goal with this album was to capture that feeling.
“After Electric Cowboy was released, I thought hard about my intentions for the next album,” Rashad said in a statement. “The objective was to make a record that echoes the spirit of my live shows, and reflects the truest me. Working with Sergio Rios as a producer allowed me to refine my vision while preserving the raw, infectious sound that feels most authentic to me.”
Rashad is an unabashed lover of comic books, and the cover art – an illustration of Rashad as Django running from a burning Candyland plantation after saving his wife.
As with Electric Cowboy, he’s riding with a solid posse of collaborators, including L.A. native Gentle Nature (aka Nick Gendian-Feig), J.J. Whitefield of the German funk group Poets of Rhythm, and producer Sergio Rios, whose credits include projects with Neal Francis, She She She, and Orgone. Boulevard’s studio band includes Rios and Whitefield on electric guitar, Dan Hastie on keys, Dale Jennings on bass, Sam Halterman on drums, and Terin Ector on percussion. Michael Buckley arranged the horn parts and played horn and flute, along with Andrew McGovern. Backing vocals are provided by Kendra Morris, Maureen Murphy, and Devon Fowlkes.
This is an artist who has grown with each of his five studio albums. It’s a good trajectory.
Learn more about Boulevards at the links below: