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Sorry that I've been away for a week. Just had an incredible and much needed getaway with the fam. We hit Forecastle Festival in Louisville, KY and saw the likes of Beck, Jack White, Outkast, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Dwight Yoakam, Jenny Lewis, The Replacements and Spoon. So good. Then we headed to Nashville and got to tour Blackbird Studios (amazing). Then I spoke to the students at Blackbird Academy (thanks to my friend Mark Rubel for both of those). We hit up the Third Man Record Store as well as a ton of other really cool spots. Then we headed northwest to St. Louis. Museums, shopping, the zoo. Good times. I'm back home long enought to get a haircut, do some laundry and go to a wedding - then off to L.A. for another recording session at Warner Brothers. Pfew. 

I love the Daptone label. I love Sharon Jones. And after her battle with cancer this year, Jones has emereged victorious and even has a new album to share with us, Give the People What They Want (due out in January). Here's the lead single, "Retreat". So good. 

While the swing and ska revivals of the 90's were something we were happy to see fade, one revival still has me reeling. The soul revival. It has brought us the likes of Amy Winehouse, Alice Russell and Sharon Jones while providing an arena for veterans like Raphael Saddiq and Lee Fields to continue working. My latest discovery is Michael Kiwanuka - a London native who's hitting his stride right now. Dig it.