Sky Hi are a brilliant nine-piece band hailing from Nashville, and when I say band I do mean Band. Not some bunch of pimply, pus-filled autotuned singers supported by computers, these are REAL people with real musical talents. Check out their website http://skyhifunk.com/ to see what I mean! Nashville has given birth to much wonderful and timeless music and the tradition of this wonderful region is carried high, torch-like, by Sky Hi and although the flavour is more of Funk than Southern Soul the organ, guitar and Willie Clayton-esc vocals stand as a testament to their more than rich musical heritage and roots. This group certainly have enough in them to deliver us a full CD, but until then we have this collector's 7" single for you to enjoy. Both sides are unmissable and yet again prove that there is ample backlash against the crass mainstream R&B drivel-machine that threatens to wipe any trace of taste, integrity or heritage away from black music."Smoothie Pie" features soulful vocalist extraordinaire, Dee, who has all the elements of a quality once-would-have-been and today-absolutely-should-be Soul singer. Dee works his golden, silky tonsils over smooth bass, dreamy 70s rhodes, organ and Memphis-styles horns. the resulting amorphous mulch is absolutely gorgeous...yet another perfect dream of a Summer soul hit. the flipside (how archaic! LOL) is the groovy and funky "Get Yourself Together" which has Dee get more rough, vocal and edgier. the groove, though still on the mellower side of funk still contains some great Organ, break-beat style drum loops and testifyin' southern horns. Does soul music get any better? Well, I for one love this and can't wait to hear more from this wonderful group who are upright, sturdy and taking no nonsense...real soul music is alive and well...and available on the superb G.E.D. Soul label. Down South music. Without any barriers.
Barry Towler
The Vibe Scribe
