Trade Winds – first reviews for third ‘Soul Trilogy’ single

‘Performance best described as EPIC, soulful, spine-tingling vocal from Jo, and those BVs take it off the scale’ Clive Richardson, Founder of main UK soul station ‘Solar Radio’ and curator of Shout Records whose roster includes likes of James Brown, T Bone Walker, Solomon Burke, Four Tops, Sam and Dave, O’Jays etc etc etc. (ie should know a good vocal when he hears one!)

‘My goodness, is there anything that Jo Harman doesn’t make special?’
Chris Rizik, Editor of US based Soultracks.com, the world’s biggest soul music resource.

It has been a decade now since Jo Harman travelled to Nashville to record her most recent body of original work, the critically acclaimed and commercially successful ‘People We Become’ album, yet her reputation and standing have only continued to grow in the years since. Even a global pandemic and the arrival of new motherhood — a five-year-old and two-year-old twins — have done little to slow her momentum. In a crowded music landscape, Jo seems to be increasingly appreciated as an artist of rare authenticity, depth, and ability.

During this (somewhat ‘fallow’) period, Jo has felt a renewed pull towards Black American music of the late 1960s and early 1970s — songs that offered powerful commentary on social injustice. More than half a century on, their themes resonate strongly with her own concerns about society in today’s troubled times.

This has led her to record her own interpretations of a trilogy of songs, beginning with ‘Someday We’ll All Be Free’, followed by ‘Don’t Give Up On Me’, and now the Ralph MacDonald/William Salter composition ‘Trade Winds’ — a song whose message she feels profoundly. Trade Winds completes this trilogy of 70s soul classics, each chosen for lyrics that speak directly to Jo’s deeply held reflections on the present day.

All of this comes ahead of plans to finally release new original material from Jo from 2026 onwards, which may — at last — develop into the long-awaited third album.

In the meantime, we hope Trade Winds will be as warmly received as Don’t Give Up On Me (already surpassing a quarter of a million Spotify plays) and Someday We’ll All Be Free, which was named Record of the Week by multiple radio stations and reached the Top 5 of the UK Soul Chart.

The ‘Trade Winds’ single is released with the following tracks:

‘TRADE WINDS’ – Main track, new single.

‘BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS’ – Previously unreleased studio ‘out take’ (very much worth a listen!)

‘CYPRUS AVENUE’ – Radio edit, a track only previously available on the LP vinyl version of ‘Signature Soul’ (with Redtenbacher’s Funkestra)

‘TRADE WINDS’ – ‘TV Mix’ instrumental version, with backing but no lead vocals