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Release Date: February 11, 2003

Emory Joseph can tell you why his music sounds the way it does. "When I was growing up in St. Louis, it was obvious that even if the races and the classes weren't mixing much on the street, their music was. At any time of day--if we weren't listening to Jack Buck calling the Cardinals on KMOX--the AM dial was giving up everything from hard-core soul and rock'n'roll, to hot gospel, jazz, 60's pop, and southern rock -- remember southern rock? -- everything, with no barriers up about race or format. And at night time, when everything was quiet and the cloud cover was just right, you could get New Orleans' soul, Memphis' R&B, Chicago's blues, and even music from 'The Opry' on your little transistor-- it was the 'night music' I loved--pretty heavenly memories really."

Apparently, it all found a home in an ultra-absorbent noggin--Joseph's remarkable recording debut, Labor & Spirits, cuts through the decades to deliver a melodic, across-the-dial celebration of all that is 'Americana Roots' music, unencumbered by any notions of niche-marketing, beats-per-minute, current trends or hip video cachet. It is a literate, lusty, evocative, good-humored and refreshingly, even unabashedly romantic piece of work. In short, it is pure music for its own, glorious sake.

That an artist can pop up--seemingly out of nowhere--and arrive as mature, fully-formed and self-possessed as Emory Joseph has, is mind boggling. But from jump-street, the thirty-something singer/ songwriter has purposely and steadfastly been at work in and around music, while avoiding the usual musicians' paths.

He says he's "been all over the place doing different things." And has a list of hats he's tried on that includes being a shoe-er of horses, sailor of boats, spinner of records (KPIG), and a "cooker and slinger of much hash."

"I've had quite a few records worth of material over the years--it seems I was always working in some studio or another. But my instinct about music has always been to wait for a time when I was sure that the music I'd put out matched the life I wanted to live. I'm glad for exactly how things have turned out. I've got a family that loves me, and a record I love."

The self-produced Labor & Spirits is a decidedly hi-fi production offering indie producers a primer for how to blend the old and new schools of just about everything together. He treats his tunes to the kind of "anything goes" stylistic cross-pollination that once found Robert Palmer enlisting Little Feat and The Meters to sneak Sally through the alley, sent Ry Cooder to help Randy Newman burn down the cornfield, and freed up the Wicked Pickett to turn "Sugar Sugar" bubblegum into greazy, rib-stickin' barbecue.

Aiding and abetting guitarist Joseph and his soulful, acrobatic pipes is an eclectic, all-star cast headed by experience- and groove-rich bassists T-Bone Wolk (Elvis Costello, Hall & Oates) and Myron Dove (Santana, "Gatemouth" Brown), keyboard wizard Jon Carroll (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Danny Gatton), ace multi-instrumentalist Duke Levine (John Gorka, Sleepy LaBeef) and an all-world tag-team of tub-thumpers--Kenny Aronoff (Mellencamp, John Fogerty), Dave Mattacks (Richard Thompson, Paul McCartney) and Levon Helm (The Band). With additional tracking help coming from people like acoustic master Mike Marshall, and session singers Soozie Tyrell (Bruce Springsteen) and Everett Bradley.

The album was mixed and mastered by Nathaniel Kunkel (Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Little Feat), and recorded "all over the place" by Cookie Marenco (Max Roach, Tony Furtado,)--who was also instrumental in assembling musicians (Aronoff, Dove, and Carroll) for the initial sessions.

How he got these people together is basically how he says he tries to do everything else, "Be a great fan, and be smart enough to recognize good advice when it's offered."

Emory Joseph will tell you that his love of music is only matched by his love, "bordering on obsession," for good food and the places you find it. If this record is any indication, you should never turn down a chance to eat at the man's house.

Labor & Spirits is a rich, bubbling stew of organic roots, fatback rhythms, meaty hooks, tasty chops and lyrics as sweet and tender as a mother's love--all delicately spiced so as to please any discerning palate. Dig in once, and you'll be sure to come back for more.
www.emoryjoseph.com

PUBLICITY:
Grassroots Media * 800 18th Ave. South, Ste. B * Nashville, TN 37203
615.340.9596/kim@grassrootsmedia.com or traci@grassrootsmedia.com