Como Now:The Voices Of Panola Co.,Mississippi

Living Blues (p.66) - "Stevenson's emotion-charged, unpolished performance of 'If It Had Not Been For Jesus' is the disc's most compelling selection....Stevenson executes powerful melismas and sustains with aplomb..." Mojo (Publisher) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "16 performances by ordinary people singing extraordinarily, with total engagement and honesty, rough, ready and rip-roaringly righteous, thrilling and moving..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.100) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he Jones Sisters' own 'Talk With Jesus' is a masterwork in beautiful harmonising. It's further proof that Daptone is one of the most exciting and innovative soul labels in existence today." Clash (Magazine) (p.106) - "[S]tick with it; the warmth and soul of the singing shines through and make this an essential listen." URB (p.84) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "These songs are filled with intensity and drama....Tales of individual spirituality manifest throughout....The compilation succeeds because at its core it is 100% real music." Signal To Noise (p.75) - "Spirituality and music have been intricately linked in many ways across many of the world's cultures, but in Como, Mississippi the connection seems especially solid, direct, unassailable and irresistible."

This collection of a cappella gospel performances was recorded on a single afternoon at the Mt. Mariah Church in tiny rural Como, Panola County, in northwestern Mississippi. Notwithstanding the impeccably pristine quality of the recordings, one gets the feeling that it could have been any given afternoon in at least the last hundred years or so -- indeed, folklorist Alan Lomax made copious recordings in this area back in the 1940s and '50s -- but it just so happens to have been July 22, 2006, when many of the county's best singers gathered in response to a newspaper ad placed by producer Michael Reilly with the backing of Daptone Records. Hence the second word in this compilation's title, and the emphasis of label head Gabriel Roth that this is a contemporary recording of contemporary people, and intended for contemporary listeners. It is, in a sense, a field recording, but that hardly makes it a dusty, academic affair, and it shouldn't belie the fact that these are consummate, seasoned performers, folks who've spent their lives steeped in a vibrant musical and spiritual tradition, and for whom singing and religion are intrinsic and inseparable. The singers, who perform as soloists and in duos and small groups of family members, range in age from the 81-year-old Brother Raymond Walker (who sings with Sister Joella, his wife of 50-plus years) to the five twentysomething Jones Sisters. The songs -- some original, many of them traditional gospel numbers -- are presented simply and unadorned, aside from some cases featuring truly soul-stirring familial harmonies, but they are unspeakably rich in emotional intensity, raw conviction, and unadulterated musicality. Daptone is responsible for some of the finest soul recordings of the new millennium, but never before have they offered anything as simply staggering and passionately, profoundly eloquent. ~ K. Ross Hoffman