STEVIE J

The Diversity Project

Blue Skunk Music

By James Porter

Stevie J (Stephen Johnson)  is a Jackson, MS based singer and guitarist who started in the gospel field before transitioning over to the blues, playing behind Bobby Rush, Denise LaSalle and Mel Waiters and becoming a studio musician with Malaco Records. There is significance to the album's title: covering both bases, Disc One is the straight blues disc, while Disc Two is closer to the chitlin'circuit soul scene he came up in. While both discs have unnecessary attempts at modernization ("Married Girlfriend" on Disc Two even has him singing through Autotune!), this is still a respectable attempt all the way around.

Even so, Disc Two is the better half. After you get covers of Funkadelic's "Cosmic Slop" and John Mayer's "Gravity" plus the Autotune trifle out of the way, what you have is a pretty good example of Mel Waiters-ish soul blues. Some of it might venture too far into contemporary soul if your tastes are grounded in 12-bar shuffles - one track even has a guest rapper - but if you have a taste for modern cheating songs (electronic drums and all), this is right in the wheelhouse.

Disc One isn't exactly for purists either - to call it, this disc is more in a Kinsey Report, "new blue blood" bag.  Like Donald Kinsey, Stevie J possesses a smooth, pleasant voice, as well as hot guitar skills. There is no denying his passion and his abilities, but the blues disc seems slightly forced and self-conscious. Several songs are less about life experiences and more about the blues itself. This is well-executed for what it is, but I suspect it's the "soul" disc that will get the most spins.

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