The Capitalist Blues

by Leyla McCalla

Overview

From the moment she left the Carolina Chocolate Drops to pursue a solo career, Leyla McCalla married edification with liberation: a musical testament to the fact that knowledge is power. Vari-Colored Songs, her 2014 ode to Langston Hughes, created this complex template, but 2019's The Capitalist Blues may be the richest example of her deftly executed, deceptively freewheeling attitude. Certainly, the problems endemic to late-stage capitalism weigh on McCalla's mind on The Capitalist Blues -- the title is kind of a giveaway -- but her album isn't a lament or a warning. It's a rallying cry, filled with careening fiddles, squalls of dirty guitars, New Orleans rhythms, vaudeville shuffles, sunbeaten ballads, banjo tunes, and songs sung in French. It's everything that makes America great, distilled into an album as unruly as the country itself and blessed with an intellectual rigor that's bracing. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	01/25/2019
Label:	Jazz Village
UPC:	3149027009621
Rank:	51205

Tracks

1. The Capitalist Blues
2. Money Is King
3. Lavi Vye Neg
4. Penha
5. Heavy as Lead
6. Me and My Baby
7. Aleppo
8. Mize Pa Dous
9. Oh My Love
10. Ain't No Use
11. Settle Down

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Leyla McCalla   Primary Artist,Vocals,Tenor Banjo,Guitar (Electric)
Paul Robertson   Trombone
Yolanda "Peb" Windsay   Vocals (Background)
Bruce Brackman   Clarinet
Corey Ledet   Accordion
Jon Gross   Tuba
King James   Bass,Bottle,Bass (Electric),Guitar (Electric)
Daniel Tremblay   Guitar,Guitar (12 String)
Ben Polcer   Piano,Trumpet,Glockenspiel
Will Smith   Trumpet
Jolynda Phillips   Vocals (Background)
Belony Beniste   Choir/Chorus
Jonas Attis   Vocals,Choir/Chorus
Free Feral   Viola
Peterson Joseph   Kone,Choir/Chorus
James Carrier   Kone,Cowbell,Choir/Chorus
Luckson Colobry   Choir/Chorus
Junior Lamarre   Choir/Chorus
Joe Ashlar   Organ
Louis Michot   Fiddle
Carl LeBlanc   Tenor Banjo
Topsy Chapman   Vocals (Background)
Andre Michot   Lap Steel Guitar
James Singleton   Double Bass
Steeve Christophe Valcourt   Choir/Chorus
Jason Mingledorff   Sax (Tenor),Sax (Baritone)

Technical Credits

Bruce Barielle   Mastering
King James   Producer
Leyla McCalla   Composer,Liner Notes
Daniel Tremblay   Composer
Lakou Mizik   Composer
Andrew Gilchrist   Mixing,Engineer
Growling Tiger   Composer
Neville Marcano   Composer