Biography

Contact info for Sweet Honey In The Rock: Alan Edwards, alan.at.appleseed@gmail.com, 215-628-4562.

Internationally Acclaimed A Cappella Group Celebrates Fifth Decade with First New Studio CD in Nine Years!

#LoveInEvolution:
01. Somebody Prayed for Me
02. The Living Waters
03. I Don’t Want No Trouble at the River (featuring “When Great Trees Fall”)
04. A Prayer for the World: Song 23
05. This Place Inside Where I Can Rest
06. Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)
07. Oh, Sankofa
08. Second Line Blues
09. Wholy Holy
10. Same Ol’, Same Ol’ Love
11. IDK, But I'm LOL!
12. Operator/Jesus on the Mainline/I Don’t Know What You Come to Do
13. Sweet Sweet Honey!
14. We Have Come This Far by Faith
Credits:
Aisha Kahlil, Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, Nitanju Bolade Casel: vocals, percussion, handclaps
Guests:
Romeir Antonio Mendez: electric bass, acoustic bass
Kristen Arant: percussion (track 13)
Nitanju Bolade Casel: producer

Recorded, Mixed & Digitally Mastered by:
Charlie Pilzer, Chief Engineer, Airshow Mastering
Executive Producer & Producer: Nitanju Bolade Casel

Other Sweet Honey In The Rock releases on Appleseed:
"A Tribute - Live! Jazz at Lincoln Center" (2013)
"Experience. . . 101" (2007; Grammy nominee)



Now in its fifth decade, the internationally renowned female African-American a cappella group Sweet Honey In The Rock shows off its new four-voice line-up (their 24th personnel change on 24 albums) on their new #LoveInEvolution, continuing their ongoing musical evolution. The breathtaking layers of voices often carry a strong sense of social and ecological urgency on original songs such as “Second Line Blues,” which challenges the current eruption of racial violence, and “Oh, Sankofa,” an angry summation of the last century of historical injustice against blacks. But there are also uplifting songs of life’s positives (“This Place Inside Where I Can Rest,” “A Prayer for the World: Song 23,” and the delightful single “IDK, But I’m LOL”) as well as rearranged traditional and cover songs relevant to the CD's theme of improving individual and global existence (including stunning versions of Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology”) and “Wholy Holy”) while enduring the strains of daily life. The group’s distinctive and adventurous mixture of folk, blues, African, jazz, gospel and R&B is ever present and always moving.

The CD’s January 22, 2016, release date will mesh with with Martin Luther King Day (January 18), Black History Month (February 2016), and National Women's History Month, celebrated in several countries, in March 2016, for maximum media coverage and airplay.

With political and social activism as much a cornerstone of its objective as vocally painting a multi-genre rainbow of music with an a cappella (aside from its members’ hand percussion) approach that is part of its African American legacy, the Sweet Honey vocalists have always walked their talk, appearing at numerous political rallies, presenting women’s awareness workshops, and performing as part of the Nelson and Winnie Mandela celebration tour in 1990 after Mr. Mandela’s release from prison, and holding benefit concerts for the deaf. In establishing their rich and ongoing legacy, the group has toured everywhere from Australia to Zimbabwe, performed at the White House at the request of President and Mrs. Obama, and served as good will ambassadors to Lima, Peru, and Kingston, Jamaica, last year during Black History Month. For decades, Sweet Honey’s on-stage line-up has included an American sign language interpreter, a position currently held by Shirley Childress.

PRODUCER'S NOTES:
The lyrics for “We Have Come This Far by Faith” have motivated and guided us throughout this entire
recording process. It is only by faith I am even able to write my Producer’s Notes: my laptop has
crashed and the hotel staff of the Wrest Point Hotel in Hobart, Tasmania (where we were performing at the Festival of Voices) were ultra-kind by allowing me to work on their computer at the concierge desk. The craft of developing our sound – the sound of the four women who stand today as Sweet Honey In The Rock® (Carol, Aisha, Louise and me, Nitanju) has created a delicate dance of establishing a fine balance between the old and the new, the familiar and the unknown. Yet, we have pressed forward . . . by faith. During the recording process, major events were happening so quickly in the social and political landscape of the world that we couldn’t write fast enough to keep up with it all. So, therein lies the groundwork for our next recording . . . ;-)

The four women who remain in the group have worked extraordinarily hard to maintain the spirit,
integrity and essence of who Sweet Honey In The Rock® is, not only to the world community, but to
ourselves as well. With the retirement of two major icons (Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon and Dr. Ysaye
Maria Barnwell), we realized that in order for this legacy to continue we would need to advance to
the new and have continually pressed forward to actualize the next steps. Dr. Reagon has always
impressed upon us that no singer can ever be replaced; therefore, the musical nuances of our sound
will organically shift and shape around the current configuration of voices. She pushed the boundaries
for us so that we could clearly understand that we didn’t have to exist totally as an acappella ensemble
(anyone remember “EveningSong” – the 30th anniversary season performed with a full rock band?).
Wow! We have embraced that guidance wholeheartedly and are clear that the music and the message are the most important factors of all.

There have been twenty-four women who have graced the Sweet Honey In The Rock® stage, but the
herstory begins with four (Bernice, Carol, Louise and Mie), and it seems we have come full circle once
again; even with the use of a bass, which one will find on our very first recording. Our recent work
with brilliant guest artists Navasha Daya (vocals) and Romeir Antonio Mendez (bass) has been an
amazing musical journey. A journey not walked alone, for moving with us is an incredible extended
family: Shirley, Art, Dwana, Ramon, Francés, Jeanna & IMN, Don, Sonia and all of our OSU team.
I really hope you find something special within this recording to treasure. For me . . . IDK, but I’m LOL!
Looking forward with Love . . . Nitanju