Review: G Love Blends Genres on Solo Effort 'The Juice'
With the advent of streaming and the capability to have almost the entirety of recorded music history at access with a click, genre lines have begun to blend. But G Love doesn't blur genre lines so much as dance gleefully back and forth across them. On his new album, The Juice, out Jan. 17, there's his usual mashup of rock, folk, hip hop, jam, and reggae. But the most forward genre on the album is blues.
The Juice not only features G Love's take on the blues, but also three generations of blues musicians as guests. The most prominent blues presence on the album comes from its producer, 68 year old blues legend Keb' Mo', no stranger to blurring genre lines himself. Keb' Mo' contributes guitar and vocals on four of the albums eleven tracks, and his unique voice lends another element to all of them.
One of those songs, album standout “Birmingham”, also features the second generation of blues players on the album, Robert Randolph. Like G Love, Randolph is a favorite on the jam festival scene due to his willingness to experiment and the pair combine to deliver the album's most danceable track, driven by Randolph's pedal steel.
Another standout is the album's title track. “The Juice” finds G Love in political and social commentary mode, railing against a culture of hate and fear by employing the same fun rhythms and raps that made him a star. Like Michael Franti, G Love comes off as an evangelist for a free spirited hippie ethos or, as he says in the song “just like Cat Stevens, we ride a 'Peace Train.” Lending guitar to the song is the third generation of bluesmen on the album, Marcus King. King, who has his own album releasing the same day, noodles his way throughout before being unleashed at the end for a fat Southern rock guitar solo.
The song most likely to permanently stick on G Love's concert setlist is “Shake Your Hair.” Stylistically, it's a bit like Billy Joel's “We Didn't Start the Fire”, except instead of historical events, G Love rattles off all the digital and commercial distractions that infiltrates life in America, including McDonalds, Starbucks, satellite TV, and cell phones, before diving into social ills like the 1%, trickle down economics, and Chinese imports of questionable ethical origin. Of course, this is G Love we're talking about, so the solution is obviously to dance your cares away. “Shake your hair, like you just don't care.”
It's hard to inject a sense of true musical enjoyment into a studio album, which is why I typically prefer live albums where they can be had. But G Love and Keb' Mo' pulled it off on The Juice. Whether he's talking about politics, love, food, or wine, G Love always seems to be having a great time and it's hard not to find his implied smile creeping onto your face as you listen.
G Love has a full slate of tour dates scheduled for Jan-Mar, including some with opportunities for VIP meet and greets. You can find out if there's a show near you here.