Best Local R&B/Soul

Barrence Whitfield

Jumpin' soul You used to know Barrence Whitfield as the screaming maniac who fronted the Savages. Now you know him as the assured vocalist (and occasional screaming maniac) who fronts the Movers. But there's one thing that hasn't changed: Barrence is still one of the most soulful singers in town, whether he's doing manic R&B or old-fashioned jump blues. And his bag of tricks has only gotten bigger over the years. With a band that originally included folks from the Lyres, Barrence did the trashabilly thing long before Reverend Horton Heat was ordained. He still loves a good novelty number, though he no longer does the immortal "Mama Get the Hammer (There's a Fly on Baby's Head)" at every gig. But then he'll turn around and do something deep and rootsy, and there will be a depth to his singing that wasn't there before -- especially now that he's working with the Movers, a horn-driven R&B outfit whose repertoire ranges from Otis Redding to Fats Domino and beyond. Barrence has even made stabs at country music (on a pair of albums with Texas songwriter Tom Russell) and done it well enough to be included on From Where I Stand, a WEA/Warner compilation devoted to "the black experience in country music." You'll find him there right between Aaron Neville and Ted Hawkins. Though he hasn't recorded in a few years, he's been working overtime on new music. In the next year he expects to play out with three different bands: aside from the Movers, one will get deeper into traditional jazz, while the other will be a return to screaming, full-throttle rock and roll. "I think people are ready to hear something a little wild," he told me recently. He's got just the man for the job.

-- Brett Milano