Janiva Magness – Truth In The Room
Blue Elan Records – 2026
10 tracks; 45 minutes
Janiva Magness has done a live album before, in fact her very first record was a live recording, way back in 1991. Since then she has shied away from another live album, but the lure of an intimate audience of long-time fans and the mixing expertise of Bob Clearmountain was hard to resist. So Janiva gathered her regular touring band (several of whom have been playing with her for many years) and performed a career-spanning set which could have been credited as ‘Greatest Hits Live’. There are no new songs here but a great selection of material from across her career, all of which was clearly lapped up by the audience whose cheers can be heard between songs. The band is Janiva on vocals, Zach Zunis on guitar, Jim Alfredson on keys/BV’s, Gary Davenport on bass/BV’s, WF Quinn-Smith on drums and Bernie Barlow on backing vocals. As might be expected, the sound is pristine and every vocal and instrument crystal clear.
The album kicks off in high gear with a BB King tune (also covered by Ann Peebles), “My Bad Luck Soul”. Janiva used that as the title of her 1999 album and it really fizzes along here, driven by Jim’s rollicking piano. George Jackson’s “Slipped, Tripped And Fell” brings a touch of soul to the album, one of two cuts from 2010’s The Devil Is An Angel Too, the other being the moody title cut. 2012’s Stronger For It also provides two songs, both covers: Tom Waits’ “Make It Rain” is such a strong song that Janiva comments that she would “cut off an appendage” to be able to say that she had written some of the lines in the song; Paul Thorn’s sad and beautiful ballad “Things Left Undone” makes an emotional finale to the gig, a song that Janiva has adopted as a personal message.
Janiva is equally at home on a ballad as she is on more uptempo fare. Delbert McClinton’s much-covered “You Were Never Mine” and Annie Mack’s tender “Closer” are good examples of the former, her own tunes “Hammer” and the melodic and attractive “Love Wins Again” both uptempo numbers. Finally there is Little Milton’s “That’s What Love Will Make You Do”, another title track, this time from Janiva’s 2008 release, the track offering good solo opportunities to Zach and Jim. Indeed, whenever a solo element is required those two musicians provide concise, on point contributions.
Overall this is a good snapshot of Janiva and her band in concert, as well as providing something of a retrospective of some of her best songs.
