John Lennon said \u201cAll you need is love\u201d\u2014to which Billy Buchanan might have replied, \u201cYeah, okay, but how about a big ol\u2019 scoop of joy<\/u> with that?\u201d<\/p>\n
Multitalented North Floridian Buchanan makes his living much of the time performing one of a series of covers shows he\u2019s put together: \u201cI\u2019m A Soul Man\u201d (the songs of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, The Platters, The Temptations, James Brown, etc.); \u201cThe Pioneers of Rock & Soul\u201d (upbeat numbers by Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, and so on); and \u201cLovers Lane\u201d (love songs from the likes of The Drifters, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye and Lionel Richie). A common thread in each of the above shows is Buchanan\u2019s acknowledged idol, the great Sam Cooke.<\/p>\n
Buchanan also sings worship music, produces for other artists, and puts together Christmas shows every time the season rolls around, all of which would appear to leave little time for crafting, recording, and performing original tunes\u2014but somehow, for this irrepressible performer, it does. While his most recent album is a live set of classic rock and soul covers (2019\u2019s Live! Act 1<\/i>), his 2014 release Fact, Fiction, & Other Contradictions<\/i> is all originals in much the same musical vein.<\/p>\n
That familiar \u201960s rock and soul sound\u2014lean, nimble guitars, driving rhythms, Hammond organ and a fat horn section\u2014is exuberant all by itself, and only magnified by the pure, unfiltered joy Buchanan pours into every groove. This is a man who loves what he does with a unquenchable passion. <\/p>\n
The autobiographical mission statement \u201cMusic In Me\u201d kicks things off in fine style, a driving soul-funk number featuring guitar, organ, horns, and a falsetto chorus that lifts the song onto another plane. The propulsive soul anthem \u201cYour Love Is So Deep\u201d follows, rich with Motown stylings, right down to the simplicity and directness of the lyric (heard again on the steady mid-tempo message song \u201cMan To Man\u201d).<\/p>\n
Album highlight \u201cSam & Otis\u201d is a bounding, giddy, hand-clapping, finger-snapping tribute to Buchanan\u2019s two biggest musical heroes, one hundred percent guaranteed to set your hips to swiveling. It\u2019s perfectly paired with \u201cYou Love Me,\u201d a sweetly passionate love song featuring big bluesy guitar as Buchanan expresses his amazement at being loved in a gently urgent voice that reminds of both Otis and Keb\u2019 Mo\u2019.<\/p>\n
Buchanan\u2019s luminous positivity comes through again in \u201c27,\u201d an airy, thoughtful number deconstructing the \u201c27 Club\u201d legend: \u201cHow many heroes have to fall before we learn our lesson? \/ There\u2019s nothing cool about being dead at twenty-seven.\u201d The similarly message-driven \u201cThe Joneses\u201d finds Buchanan decrying materialism and the rat race to an effervescent James Brown funk groove, leading into the beautiful ballad \u201cThe Song I Never Wrote,\u201d expressing all the feelings otherwise left unsaid.<\/p>\n
The album closes out strong. \u201cThat\u2019s When the Rain Comes\u201d is a hard-driving, heartfelt number about a fallen addict trying to put his life back together. \u201cIt Won\u2019t Be Long\u201d finds a bounding bassline supporting a song about taking on prejudice and persevering to achieve justice in the end: \u201cIt won\u2019t be long \/ Got to hold on.\u201d Finally, the title track delivers a blast of deep, churning funk with a bit of a Sly & The Family Stone feel to its dense arrangement as Buchanan delivers a grooving sermon on the dangers of practicing deception.<\/p>\n
Buchanan is a performer first and foremost, with a flair for drama and charisma for days. His original lyrics, heartfelt as they are, sometimes lean on cliches, but his abundant passion and tremendous conviction sell every word. Billy Buchanan is a man on a mission\u2014to bring back the sounds of classic rock and soul, but also to infuse his audience with both joy and a sense of purpose. And I am there for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10608],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-46071","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-billy-buchanan","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46071"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46071"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}