King Louie, LaRhonda Steele - Rock Me Baby (2015)

Tracklist

01. Twenty Nine Ways
02. It's Your Thing
03. Rock Me Baby
04. Phenomenal Woman
05. I Love You More Today Than Yesterday
06. What a Difference a Day Makes
07. For You My Love
08. Walking the Dog
09. You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman
10. I Wish
11. Blue Moon



Louis "King Louie" Pain and LaRhonda Steele are popular and critically acclaimed Northwest artists who have worked together numerous times over the years, but this is the first time they've teamed up for a recording. The result is something very special: a deeply funky and soulful CD, dedicated to two phenomenal women: the late great Linda Hornbuckle and Janice Scroggins. The CD is already receiving regular airplay in Portland, San Francisco, and NYC, and rave reviews are beginning to appear in prestigious music magazines world-wide.

"Rock Me Baby" features a fresh, stripped down, spontaneous sound that sets it apart from other contemporary blues, jazz, and soul CDs. What makes the approach work is the talent & soul of the performers. Pain has been dubbed, “Portland’s boss of the B-3” by The Oregonian. He toured & recorded with the late Evidence Records bluesman Paul deLay for a decade, and he’s worked with such internationally known artists as Solomon Burke, Howard Tate, Bo Diddley, Bernard Purdie, and Martha Reeves, as well as with a “who’s who” of Portland-based blues, jazz, & soul artists. Pain has performed innumerable times at Portland’s top blues & jazz club, Jimmy Mak’s, including 17 years and counting with legendary drummer Mel Brown on Thursday nights.

Steele began her musical journey in Jones, Oklahoma, singing her first solo in church at age 13. Since moving to Portland, she’s worked with most of the top local artists, including the late Obo Addy, with whom LaRhonda performed at Lincoln Center. LaRhonda is a cancer survivor who has emerged from her successful battle with the disease a remarkably powerful and joyous performer. As she puts it, “I’ve been through the fire.”

Guest saxophonist Renato Caranto is arguably the best in the NW. He’s worked with many of the same local artists as Pain and Steele, toured in 2014 with Grammy-winning Esperanza Spalding, and is currently touring with country legend Merle Haggard.

Original Blues Brothers frontman Rob Paparozzi flipped when he heard "Rock Me Baby," and he, Pain, and Steele are tentatively planning a series of European gigs together in the summer of 2016.

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