Product Description
CANDACE IVORY - NEW SOUTHERN VINTAGE
RELEASE DATE MAY 09, 2025. ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!
Candice Ivory was born near Memphis, TN, to a family steeped in the musical traditions of the Mississippi Delta. Several family members belonged to prominent gospel groups such as the Salem Harmonizers, and her great-uncle Will Roy Sanders was an internationally known blues singer. With Sanders’s encouragement, she began performing professionally at 14, singing in jazz and blues bands led by Beale Street legends Billy Gibson, Calvin Newborn, and Charlie Wood. Ivory also joined the famed Memphis band CYC, whose members later worked with Justin Timberlake, Bobby “Blue” Bland, the Gamble Brothers Band, Tinsley Ellis, and the New Memphis Hepcats.
At 18, Ivory successfully auditioned for Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead residency at the Kennedy Center. While at Jazz Ahead, she met Carmen Lundy, who became her first voice teacher. Ivory continued her musical education at the New School University in New York, studying voice with Miles Griffith, Richard Harper, and Junior Mance while taking composition lessons with Cecil Bridgewater.
By 21, Ivory had recorded her debut album. In addition to composing and singing, she plays a wide array of instruments, from piano and organ to percussion. Ivory has performed across the United States and Europe. She resides in St. Louis, MO.
CANDICE IVORY
New Southern Vintage
Nola Blue Records
It’s hard to fathom how Candice Ivory managed to gather such a diverse genre of musicians, including internationals, to create an album that’s an amazing combination of classic and modern blues sounds. But she did. The title of the 14-track disc says it best: It’s vintage and it’s fresh.
Memphis-born Ivory pays tribute to iconic Southern folk and blues, taking inspiration from Memphis Minnie, along with Memphis and Mississippi blues sounds from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Her great uncle, Will Roy Sanders, fronted the Memphis blues band The Fieldstones, and wrote “I’m In Trouble” on this record.
The record features a few living legends, including Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, of Bentonia, MS, and blues guitar fame, and blues folk luminaries David Evans and Andrew Cohen, along with Ivory’s long time collaborator Robert Allen Parker, who wrote or co-wrote six originals with Ivory.
But it also includes some young artists from other musical genres, such as Public Enemy’s Khari Wynn and international favorites like Jan Hartman who is great on harp throughout the album. Another star is keyboardist Ben Levin, who also treats us to a few whistles on “Foolish Pleasure,” along with swampy sounds of harp and guitar.
Ivory handles nearly all of the vocals. She is backed by Holmes on the classic “Catfish Blues,” one of the best on the album. This version has a brooding foreboding sense, reminiscent of Muddy Waters. It is preceded by an interesting spoken track narrated by Nathan Cohen called “Tradition” which describes some abstract customs and is immediately followed by a cool transition into “Catfish Blues.’’
Other standouts on the record are the opening track, “Ain’t So Blind” an up-tempo number, reminiscent of John Lee Hooker; “Strong Black Maddie” a remake of the old tune that makes Maddie empowered and resilient; and “I’m In Trouble” a classic shuffle with a great guitar solo by Parker, a member of Ivory’s Blue Bloods Memphis-based band which backs her on much of the album. Besides Parker, the band consists of Adam Hill on guitar, Khari Wynn on bass, and Dannon P. Johnson on drums.
Also noteworthy are Memphis Minnie’s “World Of Trouble,” a slow blues with great piano by Levin; and the closer, “Shout The Boogie” a Memphis Minnie explosion of boogie-woogie fun. It’s the perfect ending.
Ivory acknowledged that all the musicians on the disc listen to and enjoy blues, but have unique, distinctive styles and diverse backgrounds. “I think one of my gifts as a producer is being able to put musicians in the best space to highlight the things they are good at,” she said.
– Karen Nugent