Lord, how I love the radio. And the Shazam app for instantly ID’ing a song. This afternoon, I caught an R&B song that was so hot, so well constructed. And so swinging that I wanted to pull my car over so my feet could dance. The voice was rich and immediate, the backing vocals were on-the-money and I’m sure I heard them tell me join in around their mike. The tune was layered with horns  and strings that were super-tight with rich riffs and zings and bridges. I couldn’t figure out if it were ‘60s or current.  It was current: Brit James Hunter,

backed by no less than New Orleans maestro Allen

Touissant on keys on “Believe Me Baby”  and

“The Hard Way.”

“People Gonna talk” is one of my favorites.  Hunter

has been classed with Sam Cooke and Jackie

Wilson. I might throw in the roadhouse of Delbert McClinton for voice and energy, but while there’s a definite played-all-the-backrooms experience to Hunter, there’s no roughness.  “...a buttery smooth voice that’s a perfect blend of purr and growl...with a skin-tight band” and a  “sharp double-sax horn section,” reports iTunes.  As I write this, Hunter just threw in a cool, “Mm-hm” between lines. I’ll second that. And play “The Hard Way” one more time.