Southern Comfort by Anthony Hamilton
Southern Comfort is the second compilation album (fifth overall) by American R&B and soul singer-songwriter Anthony Hamilton, released April 3, 2007 on Merovingian Music in the United States. The album consists of previously unreleased tracks written and recorded by Hamilton between 2000 and 2002, before the release of his debut album, Comin' from Where I'm From—similarly to 2005's Soulife. It debuted and peaked at number ninety on the Billboard 200 chart during the week of April 21, 2007, dropping off the top one hundred the following week and leaving the chart completely two weeks later. It fared better on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and the Top Independent Albums, where it reached numbers thirteen and three respectively. It was also his first album to have a Parental Advisory label.
The thing about neo-soul is that, typically, it's heavy on the neo, light on the soul. Enter the corrective genius of Anthony Hamilton's <i>Comin' From Where I'm From</i>, the straight-up modern soul set so many of his peers had promised so many times before. First off, consider the production. Sure, hip-hop beats and synths are present and accounted for, but they flavor the early-'70s-vintage (i.e. real) instrumentation that forms the album's deep, earthy groove. Secondly, and more importantly, Hamilton's a natural-born songwriter wrapping his goes-down-like-good-bourbon vocals over some serious personal and social issues. "Mama knew love like the back streets/Used to wipe pee just to make the ends meet," he sings, Bill Withers-style, on "Mama Knew Love," as evocative a slice of social reality as anything on <i>Songs In The Key Of Life</i>. The on-bended-knee-plea "Baby I'm A Mess" will tear you up inside. "Cornbread, Fish & Collard Green" is as satisfying a freak jam as anything Prince ever wrote.
