Artist:     Lisa Mills

Album:     The Triangle

Label:     Melody Place / BMG

Release Date:     1.24.20 US / 3.13.20 Worldwide

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Like the opening lines “Straight to heart, straight to the point” of Dorothy Moore’s “I’ll Always Love You,” Lisa Mills gets straight to it from the opener “Greenwood, Mississippi,” and she just doesn’t quit you, even after the three cookin’ bands do, in their respective and historic studios in Memphis,TN, Muscle Shoals, AL and Jackson, MS. When she is done wringing and singing with all her heart and soul, she stands alone with just her guitar for one more in Sun Studio, where so much Southern soul, R&B and good-rocking-tonight music started out.

Location, Location, Location, is a well-worn slogan for success. Here, it is the concept veteran producer Fred Mollin kept in mind for this kickoff recording from his new Melody Place label. Three places in three contiguous states make a triangle on the map, and are connected by both tangibles and intangibles that you hear and feel. All 14 strong songs were originally recorded in those places, with some of the original session players on these tracks. For devotees of sweet Southern soul music, this is a true treat. All of the players were highly inspired by what Mills, a native Mississippian, brought to their table. A fine table it is, originally set with singers like Denise LaSalle, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Otis Redding, Little’s Richard and Milton, Bobby’s Womack and Bobby Blue Bland. I feel they all would welcome Mills to join with them.

There are no filler tracks here. Each new listening brings something else into focus. Some of the songs that jumped out first time through, were the full tilt “Tell Mama,” cut at FAME in Muscle Shoals, “Someone Else Is Steppin’ In,” from MALACO in Jackson, “I’m In Love,” at Royal, in Memphis and the perfect closer “Just Walking In The Rain,” done at Sun, where, while under armed guard, The Prisonaires, a group of inmates, recorded it in 1953. So here, with Mills behind a vintage mic, Fred Mollin behind a vintage console, and that distinctive room sound of Sun, it’s set free once again.

—Ken Spooner