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Be sure to search for "The James Hunter Six" or "James Hunter" depending on the album you are searching.
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WITH LOVE, THE JAMES HUNTER SIXBy The James Hunter Six
Produced by Bosco Mann a.k.a. Gabriel Roth February 14, 2022 / Daptone Records Daptone Records presents The James Hunter Six's latest offering, With Love: a heart-shaped collection of candle-lit ballads and love songs. Plucked like so many "he loves you" petals from the vast and sumptuous garden of his Daptone Recordings, these twelve lilting melodies have been selected and sequenced with great care, tenderness, and intention by Daptone staff for the solitary purpose of compiling some of the criminally overlooked treasures in the James Hunter Six's critically acclaimed catalog.
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NICK OF TIMEBy The James Hunter Six
Produced by Bosco Mann a.k.a. Gabriel Roth March 6, 2020 / Daptone Records 
“Intoxicating"
The James Hunter Six are back with another sublime offering of no nonsense rhythm and blues. Recorded and produced by Bosco Mann, Nick of Time is a shining example of how a master song-smith can continually draw fresh water from a bottomless well. In addition to the uptempo, swinging R&B that has put The James Hunter Six on the map, Nick of Time explores so much more! The opening track and lead single, "I Can Change Your Mind", is a beautiful, mid-tempo rumba that tips the hat to the sound of many early King/Federal releases, but executed with a vibrancy that propels the tune into the 21st Century. The lush arrangements on "Till I Hear it from You" and " He's Your Could Have Been" sound like lost tracks from an early '60s Burt Bacharach session. The straight forward soul of "Brother or Other" (whose timely message is only tantamount to its groove), and the sparse "Paradise for One" (that finds James channeling his innermost Nat King Cole), enrich the album with sounds one may not readily associate with James and Co. - culminating in James' most exciting full-length release to date.
Track listing:
1. I Can Change Your Mind 2. Who’s Fooling Who 3. Till I Hear It From You 4. Never 5. Missing In Action 6. Nick Of Time 7. Brother Or Other 8. Ain’t Goin’ Up In One Of Those Things 9. Take It As You Find It 10. Can’t Help Myself 11. How ‘Bout Now 12. Paradise For One 13. He’s Your Could’ve Been |
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WHATEVER IT TAKES
By The James Hunter Six
Produced by Bosco Mann a.k.a. Gabriel Roth February 2, 2018 / Daptone Records There is a common theme on Whatever It Takes. It's not a record about infidelity, shallow seductions, fleeting backdoor trysts, or any of the other common clichés of R&B. These are poetic testaments to truer love. Loyalty, devotion, humility, and the inevitable regret of those who take love for granted. Clearly inspired by his new bride, Hunter is singing about the preciousness of a love he plans to keep, Whatever It Takes.
The needle drops on "I Don't Wanna Be Without You." Saxophones grabbing your collar, pulling you close. Moving you over the undulating curves of a rhumba. The coquettish bubbling of the organ. James words curl casually into your ear, When we met, I was pretty well set in my ways... There is an effortless intimacy here. The casual confidence of a song-smith who has honed his craft beyond reproach. Not just the lyrics, but the melodies, the harmonies, the rhythms, phrasing, all locking into perfect synchronicity. A unified devotion serving only their master's voice. And his voice. Almost violently tender, plucking lyrics off a seemingly endless vine and feeding them to you with the eager patience of a lover. Track listing:
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HOLD ON!By The James Hunter Six
Produced by Bosco Mann a.k.a. Gabriel Roth February 5, 2016 / Daptone Records This may be James Hunters fourth album, but it is his first Daptone record. He's been on the scene for enough years to acquire plenty of feathers in his cap. Billboard charts, Grammy nominations, and Van Morrison collaborations aside, he has earned an international reputation as a Rhythm and Blues troubadour for his command of the microphone both on stage and in studio. This album, however, is something far deeper than just another notch in his belt. It is truly an artist's vision come to fruition. These are forever songs crafted with immaculate care and ingenuity, sung with an effortless balance of tenderness and grit. Many will be tempted to describe it as authentic, but the word really has no place here. Hunters words are truly his own and though at moments his voice may evoke Ray Charles or Sam Cooke, there lies an inherent naturalness in these songs that bucks any comparison past or present.
Track listing:
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MINUTE BY MINUTEBy The James Hunter Six
Produced by Bosco Mann a.k.a. Gabriel Roth February 26, 2013 / Fantasy With his last two albums, 2006’s Grammy-nominated People Gonna Talk and 2008’s The Hard Way, James Hunter delivered a classic yet perpetually modern brand of rhythm and blues that captivated listeners across generations and earned him two Billboard Blues #1's, tours with Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, Etta James, and Willie Nelson, performances on Leno, Conan, and Jools Holland and critical raves everywhere from the NY Times to USA Today. Minute By Minute marks a pivotal movement in this unique artist’s career—not only because it arguably contains his best writing, singing, and playing to date, but because it signals James’ return to the studio following the loss of his wife Jacqueline, who died of cancer in October 2011. It's also his first album to be recorded in the US, and the first to be produced by Gabriel Roth, aka Bosco Mann Productions. Roth is co-founder of Daptone Records, America’s premier soul revival imprint. He earned a Grammy for his expert engineering on Amy Winehouse’s best–selling album Back to Black, and has also produced and/or engineered recordings by Lee Fields, Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones & the Dap–Kings, the Budos Band, and Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens, among others.
Track listing:
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THE HARD WAYBy James Hunter
Produced by Liam Watson June 10, 2008 / Hear Music Recorded at London's Toe Rag Studios, an analogue favorite of Billy Childish and the White Stripes, The Hard Way showcases a rough and ready voice that recalls Sam Cooke and Georgie Fame after a few smokes and a tasteful, minimalist six-string approach. If Hunter eschews modernity, The Hard Way plays more like a reinvention of 1950s forms than a mere throwback. In that sense, the Colchester native performs a similar function to former touring partner Chris Isaak. His fourth platter adds New Orleans flavor thanks to famed producer/pianist Allen Toussaint, who guests on three tracks. With no covers and no filler, The Hard Waylooks set to garner Hunter a second Grammy nod--if not a first win. As Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings have proven, keeping soul alive in the 2000s isn't just about getting the sound right, but about nailing that non-ironic feel, and James Hunter performs his neo-classic tunes like he means every note.
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PEOPLE GONNA TALKBy James Hunter
Produced by Liam Watson March 7, 2006 / People Gonna Talk Van Morrison calls James Hunter "the best voice and best-kept secret in British R&B and soul." And the Colchester native and former busker does, indeed, sound like a one-man blue-eyed revival on his U.S. debut, People Gonna Talk. He navigates 14 self-penned ska (the title track), soul-blues ("Kick It Around"), and primal funk ("No Smoke Without Fire") tunes with panache. Hunter's voice unerringly carves out graceful melodies and soars into falsetto at whim over his horn-sparked band as he digs through his vast bag of traditional, stinging blues'n'soul licks on electric guitar. But... there's something missing. Although the disc was cut live in the studio, it lacks the vibrant energy of his stage performances. And Hunter borrows so extensively from his influences that he sounds like he's covering Bobby Bland, Howard Tate, James Brown, and the Studio One roster rather than traveling his own path. Nevertheless, as Morrison intimates, Hunter's estimable singing and playing will please fans of classic R&B and soul.
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