Bobby Womack played 3 nights at City Winery (pics & videos)

photos by P Squared Photography

Classic soul singing is, among countless other things, the art of the interjection. “Whoo!” “Mmmmm.” “Ohhhhhh.” “HahahaHA!” “Owww.” “Yeah, yeah!” “Am I lying?” Can I take my time?” “Listen to me!” “Do you feel it?” Used right, those interjections can be percussion, comedy, respiration, tension, release and more. Bobby Womack, 69, used them all at City Winery on Friday night, wearing a red leather suit, a red hat and red sunglasses as he started a three-night stand.

…The rasp his voice had decades ago is sharper now, and the quaver he always applied for emphasis is a little wider; his croon isn’t as smooth. But he still intersperses his songs with spoken advice and exhortations, and gospel-rooted timing still catalyzes his vocals: bounding ahead of the beat, sailing sustained lines over it, flinging raspy shouts against it. Mr. Womack followed impulses: What started as his own 1984 single “Love Has Finally Come at Last” became a tribute to “The Town I Live In” by McKinley Mitchell, a 1962 single he said was played “every day on the radio” while Mr. Womack was growing up in Cleveland, forbidden to listen to secular music. [NY Times]

R&B legend Bobby Womack made a comeback last year with his newest album The Bravest Man in the Universe (which Damon Albarn had a hand in producing), and he stayed active, continuing to tour into this year. His current tour brought him back to NYC for three nights at City Winery last week (12/20-22). We caught the second night, and pictures of that show are in this post.

They continue, along with a few videos, below…

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