Angela Johnson | B-Side

With six solo releases in 12 years, Johnson is taking another leap of faith, but this time it’s for no one but herself. Choosing to mine the spirit, energy, and deceptively simpler musicality of songs from the 1970s and ‘80s, the silver and bronze eras of the music she loves most, Johnson only tackles one cover, Teena Marie’s “Déjà vu,” here with the renown Onaje Allan Gumbs on grand piano. Throughout Naturally Me, the supremely talented trio of Lisala Beatty, Tiffany T’zelle Wilson, and Darius Booker vocally support Johnson’s confident foray into classic sounds with a modern, genre-blending approach that is strictly Angela Johnson. With the brightness of Diana Ross, the earthiness of Aretha Franklin, and the jazzy gospel doo wop of Natalie Cole, Johnson intimately sings about: keeping the home fires burning (“I Don’t Mind”), on not giving up on love (“He Saw Love In Me”), cleverly fighting to make ends meet (“I Promise [M.O.N.E.Y.],” featuring an incandescent Raul Midón on vocals and acoustic guitar), the need for a mental oasis from the daily grind (“A Beautiful Place”), and devastatingly about the Trayvon Martin case from a mother’s perspective (“Black Boy Lullaby”). Exploring the timeless sounds of artists like Prince and Steely Dan on “Say Yeah,” Johnson boldly writes about being fed up with America’s political and economic conditions and rallies a rousing call for community mobilization and a return to the earth for the natural foods we as a people once used to keep healthy in body and mind, a particular concern for the community-minded vegan. On the foot-stomping rock, soul and gospel hybrid jamboree, “Music Is My Religion,” Johnson instrumentally shares her expanded consciousness through her first spiritual language, the universal language of music. •••• The B-Side Podcast is produced by Charlie Hoxie, Kecia Cole, Ro Johnson and Sachar Mathias; recorded by Onel Mulet and Steve de Seve; and edited by Emily Boghossian and Khyriel Palmer. For more information on B-Side and all BRIC RADIO podcasts, visit www.bricartsmedia.org/radio