Knut Reiersrud & Mighty Sam McClain // Tears of the World // CD

Knut Reiersrud has recorded another album with the Afro-American soul treasure Mighty Sam McClain. This is a soul album which digs right to the core of the message: Shake off any worries with an enormously dynamic band, and let the singer channel your griefs – great or small – out of your body to where they belong, shared with us all! 

After Solomon Burke, Bobby Bland and Percy Sledge passed away we are safe in saying that up to our time Mighty Sam McClain has been truly unique in today's deep soul. With Reiersrud's potent band: David Wallumrød keyboards, Nikolai Hængsle Eilertsen bass, Bjørn Holm guitar, Andreas Bye drums and Håkon Kornstad saxophone, there is no way this could go wrong. And it doesn't. "Tears of the World" is an especially mellifluous, rich and rewarding album.

And it would be just so perfect if that was all there was to say about this great album. But unfortunately, fate intervened as Sam had a stroke in April this year. On 16 June we received the sad news that he had passed away the night before. The fabulous soul artist Mighty Sam McClain will never again grace the stage with his presence. Bearing this in mind, we are releasing "Tears of the World" as a tribute to the music he cherished and passed on through his long life on the American blues, gospel and soul stage.

Mighty Sam McClain has been celebrated as one of the greatest voices in his genre, but he also had first-hand knowledge of what it means to be a Black American musician in the USA, a country which in no way has left the issues of racism and strong class conflicts behind.

KKV is releasing "Tears of the World" as a tribute to Mighty Sam McClain's vocal brilliance and to the long-term cooperation between two artists who on different continents are loved and praised for their clear signatures within the same genres. Their cooperation started with "Scent of Reunion" in 2009, a duet album with Mahsa Vahdat and Mighty Sam McClain, where Knut Reiersrud was the arranger. It continued with "One drop is plenty", a duo album with McClain and Reiersrud, which was released in 2011.

There is a wide selection of songs on "Tears of the World", as newly written music by Reiersrud/Wasserman is meshed with "hidden treasures" from Sam's life in music. The curious climax is a desperate and dystopic blues version of the old Doris Day classic Que Sera Sera.

Track list:

1. Tears of the World                                        2:52

2. Please Mr. Foreman                                     2:41

3. Jewel                                                             4:22

4. Living in the Key of G                                   3:23

5. Que Sera Sera                                              4:39

6. Friends                                                          5:18

7. Too Proud                                                      5:12

8. Apples (Don't fall far from the Tree)          4:39

9. I Wish I Had a Girl Like You                         3:00

10. Somebody Help Me                                   3:38

11. Things Ain't What They Used to Be          3:46

12. Promised Land                                           5:43