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The girl group was a blast. We had these fantastic arrangements of 60’s and 70’s songs. We were A Cappella
but we weren’t doing Do Wop. We sang ‘Goin’ In Circles’, ‘I Second That Emotion’, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’,
‘The Bells’ by Patti LaBelle and the Blue Bells, and stuff like that.

We were all so young, 20 years old and under. We had so much fun touring ...laughing our heads off all the
time. We opened for the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Ronnie Spector and lots of other acts.
They loved to put us on first because it was such an easy setup – only 4 mics...no instruments! We had cos-
tumes, go-go boots, 60’s looking Supremes dresses, but, man, I have to say...we could really pipe!

LL: Let’s talk about your new release Truth
Hurts on the True Groove label. You’ve been
quoted saying “I’m singing for my life there,
you know?”. What was your concept and vi-
sion for this album? What truth hurts?

RB: Most of “Truth Hurts” was written and re-
corded shortly before and during the pandemic. I
had some health issues that I was dealing with
and as soon as that was over, covid hit. I thought
to myself, I just made it through one thing now
another, but I’m still standing. Nothing can stop
me. I think seeing your life in jeopardy makes the
passion come out. I knew I was out of the woods,
and all the emotion just flooded out in my vocals.
My producers, Tomas Doncker, James Dellataco-
ma and I also knew we wanted to make a hard-
edged record.
The previous release “Love Letter” had some of
that, but also a smoother blues/R&B thing going
on. It did extremely well, hit #1 on the Roots
Music Report and was on the “Best Of” lists for almost 3 years, lots of play on SiriusXM, etc. But for our concept
and vision of “Truth Hurts” we decided to hit it harder, go for more guitars, more rock blues but with the funk
soul edge that I lean towards. I listen to a lot of 70’s funk and rock...it’s my thing...so we incorporated that into
the blues. I’m playing keyboards on it. I feel like I write my own type of music...it’s a fusion of all the things I
love. I write about lots of things. “Truth Hurts” is maybe about triumphing over difficulties, and also we get
political with the track, Mr. Big Man, written about the greed in the world. Lyrically, “Truth Hurts” is about
finding out the truth and just going with it. The line in the chorus of the title track is “The truth hurts, but the
truth can set you free!” Once you are aware of something, even if it’s a hard pill to swallow, you have to just
accept, absorb, and keep it moving.

LL: You recorded with your label’s backup band The True Groove All-Stars. Can you please tell us
about these musicians and how you connected with them?

RB: They are truly among the most talented people on the planet. I met Tomas Doncker through some mutual
musician friends. I knew I wanted to do another record and we decided to work together. The label has be-
lieved in me and what I do, and I am so glad we all connected to make these records. The True Groove musi-
cians are like a family. Tomas and I co-wrote the songs. He is the head of the label and he produced and played
guitars, James Dellatacoma produced, engineered, played guitar and co-wrote one of the songs on this record.
Marla Mase is the COO of the label and has been a big supporter of the music. Kevin Jenkins played bass, Le-
Roy Lefty Thompson and James Sedge played drums, Nick Rolfe played keys, Artur Uronen played pedal steel,
Mark Henry played sax and percussion, Derek Mattheson guested on harp on one track, and Michael “Kidd
Funkadelic” from Parliament Funkadelic and a member of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame is featured on our cov-
er of the Allman Brothers’ “It’s Not My Cross to Bear.”