“Hey Daddy” – Derrell Thomas

“Hey Daddy”
Derrell Thomas
Full Circle Records (2015)
www.fullcirclerecords.us

Most likely because of the primacy of the family matriarch, but also because of gospel’s roots in Victorian-era hymnody, gospel music is brimming with songs about Mother. “Mother Bowed,” “Mother Prayed for Me,” “I Can See Everybody’s Mother,” “Mother Sang Those Songs,” and so on.

Father is far less represented but no less important.  Evelyn Turrentine-Agee’s 2010 “My Daddy” is a Father’s Day favorite, but the radio airwaves this Father’s Day will undoubtedly also include spins of Derrell Thomas singing Lesley Brice and Qasim Coleman’s “Hey Daddy.”

To a cool soul melody and arrangement, Thomas loves on the fathers who are family men, who instill confidence in, and teach valuable life lessons to, their children.  This portrait of powerful fathers is a welcome departure from the more common “Papa was a Rollin’ Stone” image of Pops in popular music.