| Payin' for My Sins | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1999 | |||
| Studio | Dog House Recording | |||
| Genre | Blues | |||
| Label | Shanachie | |||
| Producer | Dennis Walker | |||
| Grady Champion chronology | ||||
| ||||
Payin' for My Sins is an album by the American musician Grady Champion, released in 1999. [1] [2] It was his first album for Shanachie Records. [3] Champion supported the album with a North American tour. [4]
The album was produced by Dennis Walker. [5] Champion cowrote or wrote eight of its songs. [6] Alan Mirikitani contributed on lead guitar. [7] "Don't Start Me Talkin'" is a version of the Sonny Boy Williamson II song. [8] "She's Some Kind of Wonderful" is a cover of the Soul Brothers Six song. [3] "Goin' Down Slow" uses the music of the Jimmy Oden song to relate a story of a cousin succumbing to AIDS. [3]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [9] |
| The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [10] |
| The Philadelphia Inquirer |  [11] |
| Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | [12] |
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that "Champion's strengths in this sometimes funky, always soulful outing, are his strong vocals and songwriting skills, in which he blends his urbane vision into a traditional style." [12] The Independent opined that the production gives the "material a subtlety and classiness not shared by much of the competition." [13] The Philadelphia Inquirer concluded that "you can hear echoes of [Robert] Cray in tracks such as 'You Got Some Explaining to Do', with its tension between the pointed lyrics and smooth, horns-and-organ groove... But his engagingly robust and reedy voice gives Champion a commanding presence of his own." [11] The Clarion-Ledger opined that "Champion's gravely voice and more than capable harmonica make this a very entertaining album." [14] The Star Tribune deemed Payin' for My Sins "one of 1999's most stirring blues platters." [15]
AllMusic said that Champion's "voice is rough, more a shouter and screamer than a trained singer, sandpaper over silk, with imprecise phrasings." [9]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "I'm Smilin' Again" | |
| 2. | "You Got Some Explaining to Do" | |
| 3. | "Good as New" | |
| 4. | "She's Some Kind of Wonderful" | |
| 5. | "My Rooster Is King" | |
| 6. | "Goin' Down Slow" | |
| 7. | "Payin' for My Sins" | |
| 8. | "Troubled Mind" | |
| 9. | "Let Me Be" | |
| 10. | "Roberta" | |
| 11. | "Don't Start Me Talkin'" | |
| 12. | "Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City" | |
| 13. | "Dreamin'" |
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