Sometimes a small change can make a big difference. It was producer John James Tourville who came up with the time-signature shift that propels Emily Nenni’s “What Have I Done Wrong?,” a song inspired by R&B greats William Bell and Aretha Franklin.
“It was between the verse and chorus, and I was a little nervous about it at first,” says Nenni about the initial thought of tinkering with the latest single from her upcoming LP, Movin’ Shoes (New West). “The acoustic demo was all in the tempo of the chorus, and that’s all we’d played for the musicians. I wasn’t sure how we were going to transition from verse to chorus with the time-signature change, but I trusted we could.”
The aptly titled Movin’ Shoes teases Nenni out of her honky-tonk comfort zone with a spry blend of Memphis soul, Motown finesse and Muscle Shoals grit. The album was produced by the Deslondes’ Tourville and recorded and mixed by Grammy winner Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell) at his Southern Grooves in Memphis. Obviously inspired by her surroundings some 200 miles down I-40, the Nashville-based singer/songwriter embraced fresh instrumentation—things like the Rhodes organ that kicks off the title track and the harmonica that accents her bluesy cover of Paul Simon’s “Tenderness.” Then there’s the killer band, featuring keyboardist Al Gamble (St. Paul And The Broken Bones), guitarist Jack Quiggins (Teddy And The Rough Riders), drummer Steve Potts (Booker T. & The M.G.’s), seasoned bassist Alex Lyon and pedal-steel/dobro ace James Wyatt Woodall.
“They listened and communicated really well, so it didn’t take much time to get ‘What Have I Done Wrong’ sorted,” says Nenni. “We also had three exceptional Memphis-based horn players come in, and I loved watching them work. You could tell they’d been playing and arranging together for years, and they bickered like siblings. There was a healthy dynamic there.”
We’re proud to premiere Emily Nenni’s “What Have I Done Wrong.” Movin’ Shoes is out May 1.
—Hobart Rowland
See Emily Nenni live.
