Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: True Grit

“There ain’t nothing retro about me; retro is some young person trying to do something from back then. I am soul,” says Sharon Jones, of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, with good-natured indignation and a throaty, infectious laugh that evokes Tina Turner. “I mean, I’ll be 54 years old on May 4^th so ain’t nothing retro here. I ain’t learnin’ nothing…I open my mouth and I sing soul.”

And that’s just what she does on her and the Dap-Kings’ fourth album, I Learned The Hard Way. A lesson in old school R&B, the album is full of raw emotion, intense funk and cathartic soul, with beautifully arranged and interpreted songs.

Jones may be soul, but she’s a down to earth diva. It’s evident in the gritty vocal power she brings to her recordings and performances with her band Dap-Kings (who backed Amy Winehouse on Back To Black, lending the album its authentic R&B sound), and it’s evident in her unpretentious, friendly, straight-talking demeanor.

When I call, she’s in the middle of making meatballs for dinner – on-stage she may be a diva but off-stage Miss Jones is all about keeping it real. The former Ryker’s Island corrections officer, who was born in Augusta, Georgia and grew up in NY, is a force to be reckoned with. She’s paid her dues in life and show business, she knows who she is and what she wants. She’s a woman who is clearly comfortable in her own skin (despite having been told she was too short and black to succeed).

Songs In The Key of Life
Jones, who has been singing professionally since the 1970s, first got together and recorded with main songwriter and bassist Gabriel Roth and Philip Lehman (at the time who were known as Soul Providers) in 1996 for a project with Tim Lee. Roth started Daptone Records, with the Dap-Kings as the house band, in 2001 and released their first album with Jones a year later.

More recently, Jones has been bearing her soul to the mainstream – she had a cameo in the 2007 movie The Great Debaters, sang a duet with Michael Bublé for his 2009 album Crazy Love, and contributed to a concept album by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim (a tribute to Imelda Marcos). But the Dap-Kings are family and with whom Jones gets to truly express herself.

“This is our life – this is what we want to do so this is what you’re going to hear from us,” states Jones unapologetically about the Dap-Kings and their sound (which comes partly from recording on vintage equipment). Jones doesn’t care about the technical details – it’s her job to sing. “Those guys write it and I have to tell the story and bring it alive,” explains Jones.

It’s her constant infusion of life, of sweat, tears and down and dirty emotion, which makes the Dap-Kings more than just a retro outfit that skims along the surface of style. Jones may have nothing left to learn about soul but she’s willing to get real and share a lesson or two she learned the hard way – you’d be a fool not to listen.