Jessie Murph, the provocative alt-country artist, has burst into the mainstream with her strip-club anthem, "Blue Strips" which is a reference to the blue security strip on one hundred dollar bills. This hip-hop tinged song with a country twang about a woman seeking payback for her man cheating on her with a stripper by showing up that club to throw money at her reached number fifteen on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Like many music performers today, the Alabama native, Murph began her career posting videos of herself singing covers on TikTok and Instagram as child. By sixteen, she had built enough of a following to lead her getting signed to Columbia Records. A mixtape, "Drowning" soon followed in 2023 that brought Murph even more attention.
Pushing her sound even further than her debut album, "That Ain't No Man That's the Devil" from last year, Murph's recently released second album, "Sex Hysteria" digs deeper into edgy, country-soul confessional songs dealing with childhood trauma, love relationships and blunt sexuality. Sporting a towering beehive of inky black hair, Murph's image is of a classic '60's styled, sexy bad girl in constant search of a good time. She's even managed to attract rappers, Gucci Mane (who is also the name of a track on the album) and Lil Baby to provide vocals on the album.
The now twenty year old performer continues to push boundaries with the single, "1965". She has received some backlash from the song due to it's lyrics involving outdated gender roles while the video features a graphic sex scene that has raised accusations that she's glorifying domestic violence. But Murph has dismissed the controversy by stating it's all simply satire.
Here is a sampling of the sounds by the daring, Jessie Murph which includes the controversial, "1965" and a remix of "Blue Strips" featuring Sexxy Red.
Here is a round-up of new music I'm feeling right now: Khalid and Normani team-up again (following their 2018 hit release, "Love Lies") for the latest single off the deluxe edition of his third album, "Sincere"; the new dance-charged song from Olly Alexander of Years and Years; the quirky sounds of the indie band, Japanese Breakfast and the first single from their upcoming fourth album; Sky Ferreira has finally resurfaced with a contribution to the soundtrack of Nicole Kidman's erotic thriller, "Babygirl" with an electro-rocker, "Leash"; the teaming of two of the hottest artists in hip-hop right now, GloRilla and Sexyy Red; and Adam Lambert is currently on Broadway appearing in the latest revival of the musical, "Cabaret" as the MC and has released his version of the torch song, "I Don't Care" from the show.
And here is a tribute to some music artists we have recently lost:
Brenton Wood, the r&b vocalist and songwriter best known for "The Oogum Boogum Song" and "Gimme Little Sign", passed away on January 3rd. He was born Alfred Jesse Smith in Shreveport, LA but grew up in San Pedro, CA. After deciding to pursue a career in music, he changed his name to "Brenton Wood" and broke through with the novelty song, "Oogum Boogum" he had written in 1967. It cracked the top-forty on the US pop chart and reached number nineteen on the soul chart. Wood would have an even bigger hit later that year with the follow-up, "Gimme Little Sign", becoming a top-ten hit in four countries. These two singles would remain the major highlight of Wood's long career as he continued making music throughout the following years. At eighty-three, Wood had embarked on what was planned as a final tour last year but became ill in May, forcing him to put the rest of the tour on pause.
Alfa Anderson, one of the vocalist for the disco group, Chic and later an educator, has died on December 17th at the age of seventy-eight. She first got into the music business performing background vocals for a variety of artists. Fellow back-up musician and friend, Luther Vandross helped get Anderson work during the recording sessions of a new dance music group created by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards. They both worked on the band's 1977 self-titled debut, "Chic" and are heard on the background of the hit singles, "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Everybody Dance". Following one of the original lead singers, Norma Jean Wright leaving the group, Anderson was asked to replace her. Along with fellow lead vocalist, Luci Martin, Chic would go on to have many more hits, including the number-one disco smashes, "Le Freak" and "Good Times" and the top ten hit "I Want Your Love" which Anderson performed the lead vocals. Anderson also worked on other Rodgers and Edwards productions at the time for Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. When Chic came to an end in 1983, Anderson continued to work providing background vocals for other musicians during recordings and on tour.
And Sam Moore, one half of the dynamic soul duo, Sam & Dave, passed away on January 10th at the age of eighty-nine. With Dave Prater (who died in 1988), they performed together for about twenty years from 1961 to 1981 and considered one of the greatest live acts of the 1960s. They were best known for bringing the sounds of the black gospel church to pop music with their call-and-response records which included such hits as "Hold On, I'm Comin'", "I Thank You", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", "Wrap It Up" and "Soul Man". Moore and Prater met while each was performing individually working the gospel music circuit. After later singing together at a small nightclub, Sam & Dave officially became an r&b act. They signed with several record labels, finding moderate success but it wasn't until they met producer, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records that Sam & Dave would go to the next level. Recording with Stax Records (which Atlantic was distributing nationally), Sam & Dave broke through with "You Don't Know Like I Know" (written and produced by newcomers, Isaac Hayes and David Porter) which hit number seven on the US soul chart in 1966. "Hold On, I'm Comin'" reached number one on the soul chart and crossed over to the pop chart, making it to the top-twenty, that same year. The duo would make their final stage appearance together on New Year's Eve, 1981 in San Francisco. Moore went to work as a solo artist performing and recording throughout the following decades, recently appearing on Bruce Springsteen's 2022 soul covers album, "Only the Strong Survive", duetting on two songs.
This past year in music, it reminded me of a time when I was a strange, awkward teen listening to AM radio in the 1970's. Back then it was common for stations to play all genres of music, tossed together indiscriminately, where it would create the ultimate pop music playlist. Over time, music became much more segregated but largely thanks to TikTok, we had a jumble of various sounds finding their way into our ears; classic soul, hip-hop, country, dance-pop, world music, Latin-pop, a bit of jazz and older music which were tunes that didn't receive much attention when initially released or songs that were popular years ago but have been rediscovered by a new generation. I really love this trend of as I don't believe that most people only listen to one style of music. The possibilities of discovery are endless, making this new year exciting and full of promise.
Here are a few songs that I loved that I didn't get an opportunity to share throughout the year:
