A SOULFUL HOLIDAY IN THE SHOALS
- By Alan Richard
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
FLORENCE, Alabama — John Paul White has been around — a top-notch singer, songwriter, and producer, Grammy winner, and now college professor in this legendary but still under-appreciated American music mecca, the Shoals area in north Alabama.
Last week, White left little doubt that few endeavors are as close to his heart than the annual holiday concert to benefit the University of North Alabama Entertainment Industry degree program, in which he teaches. He leads the event and served as the evening’s emcee. (Photos by Josh Weichman)
This year’s show on Dec. 3 at the Norton Auditorium at UNA was a charming mishmash of artists and styles — so much that the audience at times didn’t know what hit them. Acts as varied as a promising local hip-hop group Bold Bloom made the most of their time on stage, along with unabashed rock ‘n rollers, gospel shouters, singer-songwriters, and soulful country and Alabama-raised luminaries Jamey Johnson and sisters Allison Moorer and Shelby Lynne.
“It’s a lot of work, but I love it,” he told the audience.
The show opened with local musician Caleb Elliott on cello and UNA Professor Charles Brooks on vibes (chimes) performing a quiet, tasteful rendition of O Holy Night. It couldn’t have been prettier or more festive.
Then, Bold Bloom, an eight-piece ensemble (at least for this appearance), grooved and rapped their way through Donny Hathaway’s This Christmas (made famous by Stevie Wonder) and the more contemporary classic Favorite Time of the Year.
The long list of musicians in the concert, about 50 in all, is impossible to list but included Tanner, Thad Saajid, and Grayson Wright on keys; Chad Burdine and Justin Holder on percussion; bass and guitars by Parker McAnally, Gary Nichols, Zac Cockrell, and Jimbo Hart; new Shoals-area resident Jay Tooke on others drums, and a full string section.
Many of the players were from the Shoals, the home of Single Lock Records that White owns with Ben Tanner (of Alabama Shakes), Reed Watson, and Will Trapp.
A pure and gorgeous singer, White himself played a rocking version of Hazy Shade of Winter by Paul Simon and his own ballad, Writing to Reach You from his solo album The Hurting Kind.
“It’s a lot of work,” he told the audience, “but I love it.”
Huntsville singer-songwriter Rob Aldridge, the first true rock ‘n roll act of the night, tore up Tom Petty’s Christmas All Over Again and The Kinks pre-punk protest song Father Christmas, but the set seemed too loud for some of the audience. Aldridge warned the crowd to put on their running shoes before he began his set.
Local rocker Jamie Barrier of the groups The Invisible Teardrops and the Pine Hill Haints played a rustic take on Christmas Day in the Morning with banjo and mandolin. On Who Wants to Stand Alone, Barrier jumped and kicked in the air like Pete Townsend with his guitar slung especially low.
Nashville singer-songwriter and producer Mary Bragg, played her beautiful, poignant take on the Counting Crows’ A Long December, and Easy, a song from Bragg's excellent forthcoming album, written with Liv Greene, recorded at SunDrop Studios with White and Tanner as producers.
White joined Bragg on harmony vocals, a great pairing, calling her one of the best singer-songwriters with whom he's worked.
R&B and country singer Tiera, originally from Gardendale, Alabama, and a former UNA scholarship recipient, sang the modern gospel classic Mary Did You Know and her beautiful original song, Christmas Feeling.
The artist, whose full name is Tiera Kennedy, sang on Beyonce’s Cowboy Carter album, recently opened shows for The War & Treaty, has worked with Shania Twain, and is set to perform at the Grand Ole Opry on Dec. 15.
Soul singer Paul Janeway of St. Paul and the Broken Bones belted out Silent Night and a raucous rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, like Otis Redding appearing from some other astral plane.
Montgomery native Jamey Johnson, with a deep baritone voice that's “like a warm gulf breeze” as White put it, sang warm and soulfully on The Christmas Song and South Alabam Christmas — and dueted on trumpet with Allen Branstetter, adding a bit of New Orleans to the mix. Johnson's signature white beard looked suspiciously like Santa’s.
Shelly Fairchild, a frequent Grand Ole Opry performer originally from Mississippi, her soulful version of Joni Mitchell’s River, then led a giant ensemble of musicians and singers on a sped-up, Cissy Houston-style version of Go Tell It on the Mountain. (See photo at the end of this story.)
There are always surprise guests at this benefit show — Jason Isbell appeared last year — and this year was no exception. Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer, sisters who grew up in Alabama, appeared and sang a duet on Where I’m From, from the album I Am Shelby Lynne that won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Lynne wrote the song with Bill Bottrell:
Heaven knows this ain't no Margaret Mitchell
Where the oak trees meet the pines
I know it might sound kinda simple
Oh but it's mine
Oh it's mine
Thought I heard a logman cuttin' timber
Down the Mississippi line
I'm up the old Tombigbee River
High as the pines, all the time
Moorer, a writer on Substack and former Academy Award nominee, joined Lynne on Not Dark Yet, the title cut from their 2017 duet record, penned by Bob Dylan. Talk about country-soul:
Well I was born here and I'll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I'm movin' but I'm standin' still
Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb I can't even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don't even hear the murmur of a prayer
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
Stylishly dressed in similar black suits, they continued their sibling harmony on the closing number, Winter Wonderland. Then entire flock of talented musicians from the show lined up and took a bow, with wishes for a good holiday and to all a good night.
Special thanks to Mary Bragg for the invitation, John Paul White and colleagues for their gracious hospitality, and photographer Josh Weichman for the incredible images.
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