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PEOPLE & ARTS Tuesday 5 March 2019

Dolly-loving Brit Yola explores fusion of country and soul

By KRISTIN M. HALL laborators having a back-
Associated Press ground in ‘60s and ‘70s era
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — of country and soul music,
When singer-songwriter the music of the album
Yola was growing up in feels like a mixture of Dusty
Bristol, England, her moth- Springfield vocals with ele-
er’s vinyl records were ments of Laurel Canyon
just about the only form dreamy folk and some Brit-
of amusement the family ish Invasion pop and rock
could afford. accents.
“We didn’t have like toys or Auerbach said that even
anything so everything that though he and Yola come
I focused on was musical,” from very different back-
said Yola, whose given grounds, they had a com-
name is Yolanda Quartey monality in the music they
but now just goes by Yola. loved.
“And I got into Aretha and “The music that I loved for
Dolly in this way.” the most part wasn’t made
Being a black British girl in Akron, Ohio,” Auerbach
who loved Dolly Parton and said of his hometown.
classic American country “And it wasn’t made in
and soul music did make This Feb. 21, 2019, photo shows British singer-songwriter Yola in Nashville, Tenn. Bristol. But it was so power-
her stand out a bit though. Associated Press ful that it made its way all
“I just think in the U.K. it’s a and vocalist who has been Black Keys singer and gui- Kristofferson and George around the world. And I
bit of a dirty word,” 35-year- mainly working in electron- tarist Dan Auerbach, who Strait. Other contributors to learned this music the ex-
old Yola said. “You have to ic and dance music genres co-wrote and produced the record include Vince act same way Yola learned
come out of the closet as and collaborated with Brit- Yola’s album, released last Gill and bluegrass musi- the music.”
a country lover. So yeah, ish pop singer Will Young, month, through his Nash- cians like Molly Tuttle and Yola took a lot of inspira-
it did make me somewhat Bugz in the Attic and Mas- ville, Tennessee-based re- Stuart Duncan. tion from the intermingling
of an oddity to be a weird sive Attack. cord label Easy Eye Sound. “She’s incredibly inventive of genres, musicians and
4-year-old singing ‘9 To 5.’” But she broke out in the Auerbach brought Yola in and she’s a free-thinker and songs between cities like
Yola’s new album, “Walk Americana scene a couple for an intensive writing ses- she’s open to new ideas,” Memphis and Nashville.
Through Fire,” is a return to of years ago as a solo artist sion alongside seasoned Auerbach said. “I just lined “That’s what fascinates me
her first musical inspirations with an incredibly versatile country and soul songwrit- our calendar with a bunch specifically about the ‘60
and an exploration of the and powerful voice and ers like Dan Penn, who co- of genuine characters, dif- and ‘70s music, and the
intersection of soul, coun- she started making trips to wrote “Do Right Woman, ferent songwriters. Every proximity of all these forms
try and pop combined Nashville to play festivals Do Right Man,” and A-list few hours there was a dif- of music,” Yola said. “That
with her background in and shows. studio musician Bobby ferent weirdo across the gives us freedom, a free-
songwriting. Since about A video of one of her per- Wood, who has recorded table from us.” dom to explore, to move
19, she’s been a songwriter formances made its way to with Elvis, Wilson Pickett, Kris With many of the col- between genres.”q

Keith Flint, singer of electronic band The Prodigy, dies

By DANICA KIRKA “A true pioneer, innova- don, he moved to east of
Associated Press tor and legend,” the band the city to Braintree, Essex
LONDON (AP) — Keith Flint, said in a statement con- as a child, where he met
the fiery frontman of British firming his death. “He will Howlett at a nightclub.
dance-electronic band be forever missed.” The Prodigy was formed
The Prodigy, was found The Prodigy sold 30 million in the early 1990s, with
dead Monday at his home records, helping to take Howlett as producer and
near London, the band rave music from an insular Flint originally employed
said. He was 49. community of party-goers as a dancer before be-
Prodigy co-founder Liam to an international audi- coming singer and the on-
Howlett said in an Insta- ence. They had seven No. stage focal point.
gram post that Flint killed 1 albums in Britain, most The band’s rise coincided
himself over the weekend. recently with “No Tourists” with soul-searching in Brit-
“I’m shell shocked ... con- in 2018. ain over electronic dance
fused and heart broken,” The band attracted criti- music and its related drug
he wrote. cism for the 1997 single culture, and the Prodigy
Police confirmed that In this file photo dated Monday, Aug. 3, 2009, British musician “Smack My Bitch Up,” and became known as much
the body of a 49-year- Keith Flint of Prodigy talks to the media after winning the best the accompanying sex- for its anti-establishment
old man had been found single for ‘Omen’ at the Kerrang Awards 2009, at the Brewery and drug-fueled video. stance as for its songs.
at a home in Brook Hill, in London. The National Organiza- The band members were
northeast of London. They Associated Press tion for Women accused vocal critics of the U.K.’s
said the death was being Flint was the stage per- house music. the song of encouraging Criminal Justice and Pub-
treated as non-suspicious sona of the band, whose He was renowned for his violence against women, lic Order Act 1994, which
and a file would be sent 1990s hits “Firestarter” manic stage energy and and it was banned by the banned the raves popu-
to the coroner — standard and “Breathe” were an distinctive look: black eye- BBC. larized in the late-1980s
practice in cases of violent incendiary fusion of tech- liner and hair spiked into Born Keith Charles Flint on during the so-called Sec-
or unexplained deaths. no, breakbeat and acid two horns. Sept. 17, 1969 in east Lon- ond Summer of Love.q