''Sunday Morning Music'' is the debut album by the American
blues rock singer
Thornetta Davis
Thornetta Davis (born August 11, 1963) is an American Detroit blues and rhythm and blues singer. She has opened for Bonnie Raitt, Gladys Knight, and Etta James, and sang backing vocals on Bob Seger's 1991 album, ''The Fire Inside''. She also worke ...
, released in 1996. Davis was the first Black artist signed to
Sub Pop, a label initially known for its
grunge releases.
Production
The album was produced by Al Sutton, Mike Danner, Phil Durr, and Matt O'Brien.
[ Davis was backed by members of Big Chief, for whom she previously sang. Eddie Harsch played keyboards on ''Sunday Morning Music''.
Inspired by life in her downtown Detroit neighborhood, Davis wrote or cowrote all of the lyrics, aside from "]You Haven't Done Nothin'
"You Haven't Done Nothin" is a 1974 funk single by Stevie Wonder, taken from his album '' Fulfillingness' First Finale'' and featuring background vocals by The Jackson 5. The politically aware song became Wonder's fourth Number 1 pop hit and his ...
", a cover of the Stevie Wonder song; Big Chief provided the music.
Critical reception
The '' Calgary Herald'' stated: "Going for a bare bones backup of bass, drums and guitar (with occasional keyboards, congas or horns), Davis delivers a raw, riveting blend of funk, R & B, rock, blues and sweet soul music."[ '']Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' deemed the album "a knockout compendium of the sounds of her Detroit hometown."The Philadelphia Inquirer
''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...
'' determined that it "sounds like '70s Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart—if they let the backup singers take over."
'' The Gazette'' wrote: "Crucially, the trad, tried and true musical vocabulary never slips into a lazy replay of '60s/'70s antecedents. Her choice of a Stevie Wonder cover, 'You Haven't Done Nothin', seals it, placing the music in context without cementing it in cliché." The ''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'' concluded that "the combination of the band's slightly skewed vision of funk and Davis' straight-up blues delivery makes for an unusual, wide-ranging but completely satisfying album."AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
wrote that "Davis' singing is just wonderful—she's got a rich, warm voice that she doesn't show off with, avoiding pointless vocal high jumps and wails for confident, often soaring delivery."
Track listing
References
{{Authority control
1996 debut albums
Thornetta Davis albums
Sub Pop albums