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Jo Harman Announces ‘Signature Soul’

In a world where vocals are tuned to an inch of their life and producers ‘comp’ vocals from numerous takes, it’s refreshing to see a modern day vocalist doing it for real; sitting in the same room as the musicians, much in the way the likes of Dusty and Aretha did ‘back in the day’.

After a three year absence, Jo Harman recently returned to the recording studio, where she cut an entirely unedited set, aptly entitled ‘Signature Soul’ reflecting the inimitable nature of Jo’s work as both a vocalist and as a song writing artist about whom noted French Daily Newspaper ‘Le Voix Du Nord’ described as ”…the most beautiful soulful voice of England. A bewitching voice, an impressive stage show, Jo Harman mixes intimate ballads, energetic rock, soul, blues, acoustic and gospel, brought together by the magic of a music that is at once classic, innovative and timeless.”

Basically, what everyone played and sung in the moment is what you hear on this record. ‘Fixing’ and ‘editing’ is impossible anyway, simply because there is no or little separation between the players involved, singer included. The way that Jo and the guys approached this was pretty much that Take One was the run through to nail the changes and for the players to come up with some parts, Take Two was to test it out and Take Three was the record.

On material that might ordinarily involve added instrumentation, overdubs included, Jo and the guys had nowhere to hide. Raw, exposed, naked, just those four instruments and THAT voice. Real, natural, organic, soul.

• Don’t Let Me Down (Lennon – McCartney)
• Keep You Guessing (Harman – McKewan)
• The Angel Leaves Her Watermark (Wood)
• Say That You Want Me (Harman – Davies)
• Loving Arms (Jans)

‘Signature Soul’ is a new ‘Live in the Studio’ recording by Jo Harman featuring the ‘Funkestra House Band’ recorded at Masterlink Studios, Surrey UK.

Official release expected around March and will be available in Vinyl, CD/DVD format (Including videos of each song plus a mini documentary of the project) and CD only.

PRODUCED BY JO HARMAN AND (BANDLEADER) STEFAN REDTENBACHER
CO-PRODUCED, RECORDED AND MIXED BY JAMES WELCH FOR MASTERLINK PRODUCTIONS
JO HARMAN – VOCALS
MIKE OUTRAM – GUITAR, BACKING VOCALS
ROSS STANLEY – HAMMOND ORGAN, FENDER RHODES
STEFAN REDTENBACHER – BASS GUITAR/BAND LEADER
MIKE STURGIS – DRUMS AND PERCUSSION

Additional live backing vocals on ‘Say That You Want Me’, James Welch.

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