Janiva Magness – Back For Me
Blue Elan Records
10 Tracks – 42 minutes
Janiva Magness was born in Detroit. Both parents committed suicide before she reached her mid-teens, resulting in her being shuffled through a series of foster homes. Her story is told in detail in her 2019 memoir, Weeds Like Us. The book details the traumas of her youth leading up to her parents’ deaths, the nightmarish experiences she had in the foster care system and follows her as she develops into a star in the world of blues.
Her interest in the blues initially came from listening to the music in her father’s music collection but became anchored after seeing Otis Rush in concert. She felt that he showed an intensity and drive that she sought in her life. It moved her to study to be an engineer and led to her working in a Saint Paul, Minnesota studio. There she also started doing backing vocals for other artists including Kid Ramos and R.L. Burnside. She moved from there to Phoenix, where she formed her own band and found local success. In 1986, she moved to Los Angeles where she ultimately released her first album, More Than Live, in 1991. She has been nominated 29 nine times in various categories for the Blues Music Awards and has won seven awards over the years including the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year in 2009, becoming only the second woman to win the award following Koko Taylor. Her 2016 album, Love Wins Again, received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album.
Back For Me is Janiva’s seventeenth album. Dave Darling produced the album and plays guitar for her core band which also includes Ian Walker on bass, Sasha Smith on Wurlitzer, Hammond B3, and piano, and W.F. Quinn Smith on drums with guest performers on every song. The album consists of several original songs written for her for this album and her interpretations of a few from other major artists that she states in the album’s liner notes as “Songs I simply love and feel a deep resonance with and just feel like singing”.
The album opens with “Masterpiece”, an original song written by Dave Darling and featuring Joe Bonamassa on guitar and T.J. Norton on harp. Janiva notes that “I have made a lot of mistakes, but you must be my masterpiece” as she sings with a deep soulful ring and Joe burns up the strings. The title song features Nick Maybury on a crying guitar as she advises “You don’t have to break my heart, and I won’t run if the choice is hard. I just hope there is a better way, and I might have a scar or two, but my promises are never hid from you”. Janiva’s vocal prowess shines as she delivers a mournful and powerful delivery as she begs him to “come back for me, you have me begging down on the floor. Bill Wither’s “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh” follows with Phil Parlapiano on Wurlitzer and Hammond B3. Janiva moves the beat from something of a waltz to a rousing gospel rage.
Doyle Bramhall’s “November” features John Schroeder on guitar. Janiva states “I wish I could go back again…November came, and it opened up my heart again” as she begs him “to remember the songs we used to sing”. Schroeder continues with Sue Foley joining him on guitar for “Holes”. A steady drum beat kicks everything into a powerful warning “Hey girl if you keep digging them holes, you are bound to meet the devil”. Schroeder continues as Janiva declares ” I Was Good to You Baby”.
Robert “Chalo” Ortiz picks up the guitar for the next three songs starting with Ray La Montagne’s “You Can Bring me Flowers” also featuring Parlapiano on Wurlitzer and Hammond B3. Janiva is again looking at a leaving lover telling him “You say you lost your love for me…you can bring me flowers baby when I am dead and gone”. Tracy Nelson’s “Down So Low” is a slow wail as she admits “that it is not losing you that has got me down so low, I just can’t find another man to take your place. Now you know that I love you but that just wasn’t enough”. Parlapiano rejoins on Ann Peebles’ “Do I Need You”, offering a slightly upbeat as Janiva considers “I need some sunshine in my life, I need a change”. Jesse Dayton takes up the guitar lead on the closing track, “Hittin’ on Nothin”, which was written by Naomi Neville and originally recorded by Irma Thomas. Sasha Smith drops in a bouncy piano rhythm as Janiva tells him “You can keep all your sweet talk, your promises, all that jive. You promised me diamonds, but I have not seen a diamond yet”.
Janiva says in the liner notes that persistence keeps her going and drove her in the making of this album and states that her self- doubt made her think “it was the glue factory for me. But nope…not yet.” She certainly delivers with her tremendously soul bending vocals ably establishing the covers as much of her own as the originals. “Back For me” is another excellent addition to her long line of accomplished and well recognized albums.
