(Soul, Southern Soul, R'n'B, Country Soul) Candi Staton - His Hands - 2006, MP3 (tracks), 320 kbps

Talk about a comeback. The former first lady of Southern soul, now 66, reaches back to her secular heyday for In His Hands, a chronicle of hurt so drenched in raw feeling you can practically wring out the sweat and tears. This is music as time-travel: like Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings or Bettye Lavette, Staton flouts the rules of modern music-making--nothing flashy here, no tarted-up beats or slick come-ons--in favor of sending her listeners to somewhere deep in the trenches of a heart that--despite it all--refuses to frost over. The wrenching title track tears the no-trespassing sign off the topic of domestic abuse with transcendent honesty, and "In Name Only," a love song, rips delicately at the seams of the soul. Seven of these 11 tracks are covers, but Staton's gift for interpretation and her gloriously clawed-up voice renders them instantly, powerfully her own. In His Hands adds up to a stroke of genius on the part of the normally electro-oriented Astrelwerks label. Look for other forward-thinking, hip purveyors of music to follow suit, unleashing decades' worth of soul on the world. --Tammy La Gorce