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Mark Nash's avatar

Aww how lovely! Happy anniversary to you and your wife Michael! I love that story of how you met and maintained the long distance romance with letters and mixtapes before following your heart to London. Im an unapologetic romantic and stories like that feed my soul.

I adore that Lady Blackbird album and ranked it third in my AOTY in 2021. I’ve been eagerly anticipating a follow up.

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Thank you, Mark. It is such a gorgeous album and it sounds so good on LP. The stand-up bass, piano, and Blackbird's voice, beautifully fill the space and warmly surround you. Astonishing music!

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elle kennedy fell's avatar

Beautiful piece! ☺️ Happy anniversary❣️

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Deborah Brasket's avatar

What a beautiful love story, and some wonderful songs I've added to my playlists. Happy anniversary to you and your Lady Love.

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Steve Goldberg's avatar

What a fun read! It was like a braid of love letters all intertwined! I love how unique each version of Ruler of My Heart is. It's calling out for a black metal version, I think.:)

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Rich Headland's avatar

Beautiful story, Michael, and a happy anniversary to you! I love Irma's version of this, but the Lady Blackbird cover is sublime too.

LB's version of Reuben Bell's 'It's not that easy' is also incredible! Goose-bump stuff. I think I first came across that track on an excellent comp series - Dave Godin's 'Deep Soul Treasures' - which is impeccably curated. I'm not sure Irma's 'Ruler of my heart' was featured on it, but it definitely included 'Anyone who knows what love is (will understand)', which is an all-time favourite of mine...

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Thank you kindly, Rich!

There are several, but I have that particular volume of Godin's comp series!  I 100% agree on how brilliantly curated the series is (well, that particular volume as it is the only one of the series I own). I also love LB's painful version of Tim Hardin's "It Will Never Happen Again." It's a definite tearjerker!  As I said to Brad Kyle in another comment, I am shocked that LB is still very under the radar here in the States. I have even recommended some of our indie record stores to stock her album.

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Brad Kyle's avatar

Happy anniversary, Michael, to you and your bride! What a great song and singer is Lady Blackbird....thanks for sharing!

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

Thank you, Brad. Lady Blackbird's 'Black Acid Soul' is a powerhouse of an album and her rendition of "Ruler of My Heart" is only a hint at what lies within the grooves. I am shocked it has yet to gain traction over here. She performs in prestigious venues like the Royal Festival Hall in London, yet the last time she played Portland it was a tiny basement Jazz bar.

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Philip Dale's avatar

So beautiful.

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Rosalind's avatar

To my soulmate, life partner and ruler of MY heart, I love you from the bottom of my soul x

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Michael K. Fell's avatar

❤️

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David Perlmutter's avatar

Allen Toussaint was a singular musician, songwriter and producer. The New Orleans music scene was very fortunate to have him in their ranks.

Because of legal wrangling, Redding lost songwriting credit for "Pain", with the credit instead given to "Naomi Neville" (a Toussaint pseudonym).

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