Living in the legacy of your family can sometimes be a curse, with the nepo baby insult now being thrown around at anyone even with even the remotest connection to their respective industry. For some people nepotism suggests a kind of intervention to elevate untalented people above their station, which in most instances is just not the case. I think it’s much more interesting to consider how younger generations are tackling the need to continue their family’s musical legacy. How do you honour the past and yet convey your own sense of self?
The Womack Sisters have a lineage that lives and breathes soul music. Their parents are Womack & Womack, their uncle Bobby Womack and their grandfather is Sam Cooke. That’s a legacy to be proud of, not to hide behind – hence their group name shouts the connection proudly (as they should). The sisters are BG, Zeimani, and Kucha Womack, vocalists who started out as backing singers for their family before stepping into the spotlight. After the deaths of their father and uncle they had to regroup and find a new path forward in the music industry.
Daptone records was an obvious match for this trio, but after the death of Sharon Jones the label were in flux and so it took a couple of years before the label were able to offer them a deal. The struggle to find a place in the industry has actually been a long road for the sisters, the opposite of what the ‘nepo baby’ tag suggests. In fact opening song of this album ‘Chaffeur’ tells the tale of what it’s like to be an Uber driver, always driving someone else around rather than navigating your own journey.
‘If You Want Me’ leans more into the sixties girl group sound, their voices blending beautifully together. Sister harmony just hits different. On ‘Monster’ there’s a modern vulnerability to the lyrics, which works so well with the vintage heartbreaker sound.
They take the pace up with ‘If I Let You’, and you just revel in the funky grooves they create. They show off their vocals to stunning effect on ‘I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye). The simpler ‘Didn’t Mean Much to Me’ has a more 90s vibe to the delivery, which works perfectly.
One of the stand out pre-released tracks was ‘You Went Away Too Long’ which feels like it could be on the soundtrack to any classic seventies film, with its dramatic feel. There’s an orchestral flourish to ‘I Am Your Season’ too which also adds a cinematic quality.
The sisters finish the album with the simple track ‘My Sisters and Me’, a campfire song that honours the bond of family. Whatever they go through, they go through together. It’s a lovely way to end the album and a reminder that sisters don’t have to do things for themselves – together they are stronger.
Classic soul like this always gets me in the heart. The Womack Sisters show us that sometimes the best way forward is to look back and honour where we came from, musically and emotionally.
BUY: https://thewomacksisters.bandcamp.com/album/the-womack-sisters
Leave a comment