Charlie Hunter & Lucy Woodward - Music! Music! Music! CD

An exhilarating blast of blues, soul and funk, Music!Music!Music! marks the recorded debut of the musical partnership between guitarist Charlie Hunter and vocalist Lucy Woodward. Recorded in High Point, North Carolina, with longtime Hunter collaborator Derek Phillips on the drums, Music!Music!Music! showcases the dazzling interplay between Hunter's funky guitar and Woodward's stunning voice, while also beautifully capturing the spontaneity and good vibes of the duo's live performances.

The album's eleven tracks range from the old-world blues of Blind Willie Johnson ("Soul of a Man") and Bessie Smith ("You've Been a Good Ole Wagon") to the tormented soul of Nina Simone ("Plain Gold Ring," "Be My Husband," and the immortal "Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"), from jazz standards ("Angel Eyes" and "Music! Music! Music!," popularized by Ella Fitzgerald and Teresa Brewer, respectively) to bluegrass and alt-country classics (Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard's "The One I Love Is Gone," Lucinda Williams' "Can't Let Go"), from the smoky Fifties R&B of Ruth Brown's "I Don't Know" to the Technicolor Eighties funk of Terence Trent D'Arby's "Wishing Well." "We'd already worked out all the arrangements and grooves during our tours together," says Woodward of the album. "We sort of planned for this all year, found the right time to do it -- and pressed 'record'!"

Soulful, spacious and deliciously in the pocket, Music!Music!Music! reverberates with the thrilling intensity of the duo's live shows, and crackles with the electricity of two talented performers stretching out together from their respective comfort zones. "It was just fun, man," says Hunter of the recording sessions. "I've done so many records in my lifetime, everything from jazz to working with hip-hop people, really avant-garde stuff -- but this is the first record I've ever done that is really a partnership with a singer. I'm really happy with how it came out."