Solomon King’s latest and awesome album “Against the Current” embraces classical music, Rock, R&B, the blues and Americana. It’ll knock your socks off. But there’s one theme that has stayed with King through all his incarnations, as he explains: “Like Paul McCartney with his ‘Silly Love Songs,’ I’m not afraid to admit that despite the different types of music I incorporate, all I really write is love songs. And, love songs have been around for centuries since the early troubadours in the Middle Ages. Music engenders emotion in humans, and humans are consumed with the fire and emotion of love.”
The powerful love songs on “Against The Current” range from: “57 Octaves — celestial bodies creating life; “Shadow Land” and “Come Home Soon” — about deeply missing your lover; “Underground Brother” — dealing with the loss of a loved sibling; and, “Against The Current” — a heroic song about “you and me” against that current.
From the Teddy Bears to Elvis, Ray Charles, the Beach Boys, and the Beatles to Beyoncé, Rihanna and Solomon King today, songs about the ups and downs of love will never go out of style. So, settle back with something long and cool, slip in the CD or drop a needle on the record, and go against the current of formulaic radio pop.
There are those that simply play the blues and some people that have lived them, and there are those like SOLOMON KING who have done both. Hailing from Detroit, King’s days as an auto worker read like something out of a Charles Bukowski novel complete with booze and broads. When the massive layoffs came, King headed West with an acoustic guitar in hand and began a career in the very music that celebrates hard living, drinking and woman that know how to take your mind off things, only to land you in more trouble.
Fast-forward to 2008. Solomon King starts hanging out at Babe and Ricky’s the now defunct, seminal South Central Los Angeles Blues Club. If there is such a thing as a hipster destination for blues, this is it. And King belongs.
The same year Solomon releases his first album “Under The Sun,” produced by Motown legend Sylvester Rivers who brings in the ace rhythm section of Motown hit makers. Surprisingly (but not to King), “Under The Sun” is nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Contemporary Blues Album” category. Two of the songs from that album, “Jack Me Up” and “Frankie and Johnnie,” are featured in the first season of HBO’s “True Blood.” Suddenly the grit and grime of King’s native Detroit seem a million miles away, compared to the glitz and glam of Hollywood. Of course, there’s a cautionary tale to be told here, as well: As that glitters is rarely gold.
2009 Solomon King stars as Phil Spector in the feature film: "The Phil Spector Incident". What really happened on the night Lana Clarkson was shot dead in Spector's mansion? An extraordinary whacked out black comedy... not for the faint of heart
In 2011 Solomon collaborates with esoteric producer Marvin Etzioni to create “Medicine.” This album turns its back on formula pop blues and returns to early John Lee Hooker and Bo Diddley: no-nonsense, no filter in your face guitar, drums, vocals. Either you get it or you don’t. Some did. Some didn’t. Some will. Some won’t.
In between making records and the occasional movie, Solomon King has been performing in venues from Hawaii to Chicago. If there’s a dance floor the audience is on it. His live shows are unpredictable, spontaneous and attended by all ages, colors and races who seek something different from the usual rehash of blues standards (though King is known to hash up a standard from time to time).
Solomon King is well aware that in the oft-compartmentalized structure system that makes up the world of the Blues, he is the proverbial square peg in a round hole. For his growing legion of fans, and King himself, that suits him just fine.