Dwight & the Sweet Singing Souls – Music Is My Way of Life (Quartet Boyz 2008)

Music Is My Way of Life
Dwight & the Sweet Singing Souls
Quartet Boyz Records 2008

Dwight Gordon is a quartet singer and guitarist who in the past three decades has worked with the likes of the Mighty Clouds of Joy, the Williams Brothers, and with his own group, the Racy Brothers. He is now the owner and CEO of a new record label called Quartet Boyz Records. The Texas-based label sports groups such as Lil’ Blair and the Violinaires, The Concert Supremes, Gifted, Chuck and the Guiding Clouds, The Holy Sons, and a new aggregation out of Dallas called Brotherly Luv.

On his own project, Music Is My Way of Life, Gordon triple-tracks his voice in the grand tradition of Clara Ward, Patti Page, and others who did what is only possible in the recording studio: harmonize with yourself. Calling himself Dwight & the Sweet Singing Souls (“Triple S Dwight”), Gordon backs several high-energy lead quartet singers on twelve tracks that vary from churchy traditional to urban hip. Lyrically, the album is redolent with words of encouragement and examples of struggles overcome, all steeped in the tradition and testimony of quartet music.

To my ears, Rev. George W. Easley takes top prize, with his old-school hard singing on the project’s two finest tracks, “Let it Shine” (aka “This Little Light of Mine”) and “Wade ‘N the Water,” the latter a 21st Century take on the classic spiritual.

Terrel “Midge” Gatlin’s fine lead work on the slow Southern cooker “He Didn’t Bring Me This Far” and Bill Willis’s straightforward delivery on “C What the End’s Gonna B” are also deserving of special mention.

“Mighty High” is present as well, in recognition of Gordon’s own contribution to the Mighty Clouds’ massive 1975 crossover hit that went to #2 on Billboard’s Disco chart. It’s a nearly note-for-note cover of the original, complete with the sweeping and lush instrumentation.

The CD concludes with a June Bugg remix of “You’re My Savior,” a laidback ’70s groove that sounds as if it were plucked off the soundtrack of a Melvin Van Peebles film.

The bottom line is that there are plenty of reasons to like Music Is My Way of Life, not the least of which is the production quality. While sound production can be a real challenge for indie quartet labels – too many projects suffer from muffled harmonies and overbearing bass and keyboards – Quartet Boyz seems to have it under control.

Three of Four Stars