The wisdom of Solomon

It remains something of a mystery how a man with an incontestably magnificent voice, and a highly unusual and multifaceted life to boot, could remain relatively unknown during a career five decades long. Not that Solomon Burke’s soaring talents went unnoticed by other musicians – indeed, he is one of the most revered and influential vocalists in the business – but these professional plaudits were never translated into platinum sales or international fame.

This slow-burning injustice may finally be put right with Burke’s latest album Don’t Give Up On Me. The ambitious idea behind the record, masterminded by the singer’s new label Fat Possum, was to call the bluff of the innumerable musicians who cite Solomon as an influence on their work: in short, to contact them personally and ask them to contribute previously unreleased songs for a new album.

The response, in Burke’s words, was “mind-blowing.” Among those whose songs ended up on the final cut of Don’t Give Up... are Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan. “It’s been a blessing,” enthuses Solomon. “These writers are just unbelievable. To have these guys think enough of me to even consider, to suggest writing a song for me would be amazing. To have an entire album’s worth of the stuff, it just totally blows my mind! I’m very blessed, very honoured and very grateful.”

Pennsylvanian Burke was immersed in a font of music and religion from the cradle. By age seven he had already earned the title ‘Wonderboy Preacher’ and cut a million-selling gospel side, ‘Christmas Presents From Heaven,’ aged 14 in 1954. In the ‘60s he began edging towards a more secular soul sound, but never quite managed the crossover into mainstream charts like his contemporaries Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.

He has continued recording more or less consistently since then, but Don’t Give Up On Me is a departure in many ways. Producer Joe Henry chose a backing band of session players Burke had never worked with before. Many of those who contributed songs to the album were writing in the soul medium for the first time. And most unusually of all, Burke chose not to rehearse or even hear the songs before the four-day recording session.

“I wanted to do it spontaneously,” Burke explains. “I wanted inspiration, the feeling of looking at something wonderful for the first time and saying, ‘Wow!’ and projecting that lyrically. When someone hands you a present and they say, ‘Share it with everybody you can,’ my God, you just want to share it! I have these great gifts from these great artists, and I just want to share them.”

He remembers the entire recording session fondly, but a highlight was the unannounced arrival of Elvis Costello. “Mr. Costello just showed up and asked about his song. He was bewildered, he said, ‘You mean Solomon hasn’t heard it yet?’ The president of Fat Possum said, ‘Not yet, but he’s just about to.’ Then Mr. Costello said, ‘If he hasn’t heard it then don’t play it; let me sing it to him. I want him to hear it just like my wife and I wrote it.’

“And he sat down and sang me the song and I was blown away. ‘The Judgement’ – a heavy song. He said to me – check this out – he said, ‘Solomon, one of my favourite songs that you recorded many years ago was called ‘The Price’. Where ‘The Price’ ends, ‘The Judgement’ begins. Man! What could I say? He sat there with us for eight hours. I mean, the man’s a megastar and he sat with us for a whole day! It made me feel like a star.”

Another stand-out track on the album, ‘None of Us Are Free,’ features the Blind Boys of Alabama, and Burke recalls their arrival with a smile also. A day after receiving their Grammy, they descended on the studio with 100 pieces of fried chicken, much to the delight of the band and the consternation of the dieting Solomon. Presuming that they and Burke would need some warm-up takes before nailing the track, Joe Henry counted ‘1-2-3-4’ into the monitor mic and casually set the tape rolling. He must have been glad he did; one take was all they needed.

During his 50-year musical career, Burke has had a few other interests too. He’s the bishop of the House of God For All People and a certified mortician and undertaker, though these days he leaves most of the details – including embalming – to his 21 sons and daughters. He loves Six Feet Under; “I wish they’d put me on there,” he says, only half-joking. “I could be the preacher or the undertaker... it’s a really good show, the technical stuff is 98% accurate.”

It may seem cynical that Burke needs to piggyback on the reputations of celebrated songwriters to achieve the recognition he deserves, but Don’t Give Up On Me is much more than a catapult out of obscurity. Indeed, to view it as such would be greatly to underestimate the character of this singer who, while pragmatically hopeful that the album will be a commercial success, is far more motivated by the artistic quality of the work.

“Without a vision people perish. With a vision, people flourish. This album speaks the message of what I’ve been teaching and preaching: love, unity, faith, devotion, deliverance. This album is a gift,” he reiterates. “From the writers to me, and from me to you. It’s about love. Everything is.”