Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings – Naturally

R&B is hardly a hotbed of feminism these days, as Destinys Child proclaim their status as independent women while shimmying in outfits that would make seasoned Vegas showgirls blush. The era when strong-willed ladies like Aretha Franklin demanded Respect and the Honey Cone marched down to the newspaper to find better men via the Want Ads seem long gone. Or is it?

Augusta, Georgia, native Sharon Jones broke out a couple years ago with a vintage-sounding interpretation of What Have You Done For Me Lately? so gut-bucket funky it had folks wondering if Janet Jacksons version was actually the cover, not vice-versa. On Naturally, her sophomore album with Brooklyn octet the Dap-Kings (led by songwriter and band leader Bosco Mann), Jones throws down ten energetic tunes that recall the complex, confident sentiments expressed by greats such as Betty Harris and Candi Staton.

On Your Thing Is A Drag, she lets her lover know he can stay home if he cant keep up when theyre out on the town; My Man Is A Mean Man lays down the law for a no-good beau over hip-shaking conga fills. And Stranded In Your Love, featuring Lee Fields, is one of the finest should-I-or-shouldnt-I exchanges between former paramours ever committed to wax.

Jones isnt a screamer or shouter; her singing is enthusiastic but controlled. Yet just when you start to wonder if her delivery is a little too letter-perfect, she rips into This Land Is Your Land. As she sings Down by the welfare office/I saw my people, indignation ignites her pipes. Jones and her crew chew up Woody Guthries folk chestnut like starving men gnawing on barbecued ribs. But is this reworking the best thing about Naturally? Nope. Its that the other nine tracks are just as noteworthy.