Mick Hucknall: "Tribute To Bobby"

With TRIBUTE TO BOBBY, one of the U.K.'s most soulful and distinctive voices - Mick Hucknall - pays homage to one of the most legendary vocalists from the American South, Bobby “Blue” Bland. The twelve-track disc is the solo debut album from the Simply Red frontman, and it features Hucknall's emotionally direct and worldly-wise interpretations of songs that were originally popularized by Memphis-based blues icon Bland.

TRIBUTE TO BOBBY relies heavily on Bland's string of immortal '50s and '60s era hits for Duke Records, a canon that music writer Don Snowden has called, “among the most formidable in the entire blues pantheon.” Hucknall's fresh takes on these evergreen classics both honor the original sides and renew them with 21st century production values (handled by Hucknall's longtime collaborator Andy Wright). Highlights include an impassioned version of “Farther Up The Road” - Bland's first #1 R&B single - that opens the album, plus inspired covers of “Stormy Monday Blues,” “Chains Of Love,” “I Pity The Fool,” “Cry, Cry, Cry” and more.

Bobby “Blue” Bland has been a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 1992. When his induction was first announced, the New York Times wrote, “Mr. Bland has a vocal style that bridges the gap between blues and soul perfectly: his tone can be as rough as macadam, but it's balanced by an underlying sweetness and tenderness that renders even the most painful phrases uplifting.” Mick Hucknall's stirring contemporary take on Bland's signature songs more than does them justice with a simply superb TRIBUTE TO BOBBY.