Wendy Sweetlove
Most people’s first impression of Wendy Sweetlove is that of a warm, sassy woman with a quick wit and an even quicker smile.
Two sentences later, she becomes a layered, articulate, clarion call with an unapologetic voice, huge pipes and a steamy punchline for every payoff.
Growing up in Simi Valley, the daughter of a teacher and a preacher, she grew up surrounded by dancing, hymns, schoolbooks and strange tongues. Outside the church she clung to Joni Mitchell, Otis Redding, Millie Jackson, BJ Thomas, Stevie Wonder, and the great chorus of 60s and 70s soul and folk writers that defined her formative years and gave her an inspiration and a refuge.
In her early professional life, Sweetlove was a respected backing singer, sharing the stage with grammy and tony award-winning artists. It was there that she started to learn the craft of how to share a story through a song.
Now on her debut album ’Dirty Sunday’, every song shows a facet of Sweetlove’s full spectrum of emotional experience.
Whether it’s singing about an unexpected betrayal in “Sucker Punch” (with the percussive keys in a nod to Stevie Wonder and soaring wails akin to Sharon Jones ), to celebrating a life of courage in “Burn it Down” (with echoes of Mavis Staples and the Blind Boys of Alabama), to the playful ‘day after’ anthem of “Dirty Sunday” (hear: Johnny Cash and The Alabama Shakes), this album leaves the listener torn between loving a woman who aches over her complicated youth and partying with your best ‘wing man’.
The album is produced by Drew Sherrod, and mixed by Chris James, with a hand-picked band of extraordinary musicians who recorded the 12 song album live at the legendary EastWest Studios.
This is a classic soul album, that was crafted traditionally and finished with modern flair. Leave yourself some time for this one. Once you put it on, you’ll be captured until the last note rings.