Janiva Magness has returned with her 17th album, Back for Me, produced by her longtime friend, producer, and collaborator Dave Darling. The album is a powerfully engaging, emotionally rich collection from a dynamic artist who continues to renew and redefine her widely celebrated relationship with the blues. Janiva’s far-ranging search for songs has unearthed a treasure chest of lesser-known gems by well-known artists (Bill Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Doyle Bramhall II, Tracy Nelson, Irma Thomas) and deep-dive discoveries that connect with the rich feelings embodied in her voice and music, cherished by her fans. “I have always been into the B-sides,” she says. “There’s a freshness to doing a B-side rather than a well-known hit. I absolutely love the idea of shining a light on material that people are not familiar with.”
Back for Me is the 17th album for Magness, who has been honored with seven Blues Music Awards (including being named B.B. King Artist of the Year in 2009) and a Grammy Nomination for her 2016 album, Love Wins Again. In 2019, she published her memoir, Weeds Like Us, a vividly portrayed account of both the traumas of her youth (her parents’ suicides and her often-nightmarish experiences in the foster care system) and the hard-earned triumphs that have fueled her growth as an artist and in life.
Darling anchors the album’s core band, also featuring drummer W.F. Quinn Smith and bassist Ian Walker, with keyboardists Sasha Smith and Phil Parlapiano, guitarists John Schroeder and Robert “Chalo” Ortiz, Nick Maybury, and blues harp player TJ Norton also appearing on various songs. Ace guitarists Joe Bonamassa, Sue Foley, and Jesse Dayton put their stamps on their respective special guest appearances.
It’s a powerhouse set moving from the Chicago-via-Texas churn of “Masterpiece” (written by Darling and featuring searing guitar from Bonamassa) to the aching gospel-soul-funk of Bill Withers’ “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh,” to the haunting resignation of Bramhall’s “November” and Nelson’s torch ballad “Down So Low,” to the sly release “Hittin’ on Nothin’” – written by Allen Toussaint and originally sung by Irma Thomas, and blasting guitar, courtesy of Jesse Dayton.
She credits the band for bringing layers of dimensions to the songs. Aside from Darling, Parlapiano, and Schroeder, the main musicians were new to Magness, but as soon as the sessions began, she felt the fresh energy they brought.
“We tracked together live,” she says. “That’s one of the reasons that it sounds as solid as it does. And the other reason is because these guys have worked together on other albums with Dave and other projects, so they have a history. That brings an automatic intimacy to the backbone of the songs. And because they’re basically all a bunch of badasses.”
It’s that vulnerability that Magness sought in songs as she put Back for Me together, a search that took her deep into the mines of the blues and R&B for material she could internalize and personalize.
TRACK LISTING
Masterpiece (featuring Joe Bonamassa)
Back For Me
The Same Love That Made Me Laugh
November
Holes (featuring Sue Foley)
I Was Good To You Baby
You Can Bring Me Flowers
Down So Low
Do I Need You
Hittin’ On Nothin’ (featuring Jesse Dayton)
TOUR DATES
Feb 19-23 Montreal, Quebec FAI
Mar 19 Pawling, NY Daryl’s House
Mar 20 Philadephia, PA World Café Life
Mar 21 Rochester, NY Mountain Stage
Mar 23 Syracuse, NY 443 Social Club – SOLD OUT
Mar 23 Syracuse, NY 443 Social Club – Matinee
Mar 26 Petaluma, CA Mustic Theater – Krush on the Road
Mar 27 Bakersfield, CA World Records Live
Mar 28 San Francisco, CA Biscuits & Blues
Mar 29 Santa Monica, CA McCabe’s
Apr 2 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
Apr 4 Derry, NH Tupelo Music Hall
