Today, on the 4th, Uncle Sam's Birthday, I'd like to present to you some genuine American music. The music of the Como Mamas arrives to your ears by way of retracing the footsteps of folklore, which just so happened to unveil a genuine emergence of folk expression as it still exists in the depths of Southern Americana. It's well established that Alan Lomax's exploration of the outlying scrub of the heartlands resulted in most of our best examples of preserved folk music from the turn of the last century. Over a hundred years later, there are still genuine fonts of spontaneous expression percolating under the hollars and lesser byways of this country's rural ramparts. The charismatic acapella style of Angela Taylor, her sister Della Daniels, and long-time friend Ester Mae Smith, of Como, Mississippi, represents only one of these forms of irrepressible, devotional, sonic countenances, as originally documented by filmmaker Michael Reill back in the late '00s. His encounter with Angela, Della, and Ester, later coined the Como Mamas, led to the trio eventually releasing two LPs with Daptone Records, of which Move Upstairs is the latest. Move Upstairs is performed in a slightly more familiar style than their first LP, Get An Understanding, replacing a raw, synchronized kitchen-table choir harmonizing style with a R'nBiefed gospel revue entwined with a wholesome catholicon of electric blues as a homage to Muddy Waters and other pioneering folk singers who inspired the Mamas in their youth. While Move Upstairs might represent a "professional" style recording effort, especially compared to their previous releases, the performances are still wholly and undeniably American, representing an expression of faith and optimism in the present makeup of the people and the communities which they depend on, as well as anticipation for a kingdom yet to come, a high place awaiting our ascension, where all thirsts are slacked and all burdens lifted. Their music represents a specific stripe of spiritual and sonic sanguinity that extends a mercifully charitable interpretation of the world as a precursor to providence, and it's certainly inspiring to witness in these trying and troubled times. I can't think of anything I'd rather be listening to today, given everything happening in the world, and this country in particular. Happy Birthday, America. I'll be keeping you in my thoughts.
