After a nearly 20 year wait, Ivan Neville has released ‘Touch My Soul,’ his new solo album, out today via Mascot Label Group / The Funk Garage. The 10-song collection is a celebration of Neville’s emotional and spiritual journey as an artist, a human, a father, and a man; featuring special guest appearances by Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Aaron Neville, Cyril Neville, Trombone Shorty, David Shaw and members of Preservation Hall. Touch My Soul is available now to purchase/stream HERE.
The album’s latest single is its lone cover, a hypnotizing version of the Talking Heads’ “This Must Be The Place,” which fits like the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle. “It’s taken me years to understand that it’s all about the journey, it’s not about the finish line,” Ivan says. “Everything serves a purpose. We just have to pay attention. So I look for blessings everywhere.”
'Touch My Soul’ exudes an unmistakable New Orleans ambiance while breathing new life into Neville’s singular sound. The release follows album singles “Hey All Together” – featuring Bonnie Raitt, Aaron Neville, Michael McDonald and David Shaw (The Revivalists), with instrumental sparks from Troy “Trombone Shorty’ Andrews and violinist Theresa Anderson – and “Greatest Place On Earth,” a deliriously Mardi Gras-styled salute to the Crescent City packed with incisive rhythms, booting horn parts, and vocal fireworks, featuring special guests Trombone Shorty along with Preservation Hall Jazz bandleaders Ben Jaffe and Charlie Gabriel.
As a standard bearer for the musical culture of New Orleans, Ivan takes his anointing as seriously as the swamp water that courses through his veins. From the ferocious funk he makes with his bandmates in the dynamic funk supergroup Dumpstaphunk to his high-profile gigs over the years with Keith Richards and Bonnie Raitt, Ivan embodies the irrepressible spirit of New Orleans, holding the keys to the Crescent City at his fingertips. Whether summoning the barrelhouse mambo of Professor Longhair, the spidery intricacies of James Booker; or spooky, atmospheric chords like Dr. John; Ivan can riff like Sly Stone with catchy, melodic chord progressions; or throw intense, impulsive jabs when he jams with his musical kin in Dumpstaphunk.
“I haven’t written any new material for myself in a long time,” Ivan explains, “so this project is very special to me. I made it up as I went along, a song here and there, in between my work with Dumpstaphunk and my work with good musical friends. Music is a way to make people feel better, it brings spiritual healing.”
Musically, Ivan constructed ‘Touch My Soul’ around piano pieces that he composed in the portrait photograph- filled “sun room” in his house in Uptown New Orleans. “The drum loops were inspired by the sounds I heard on Sly Stone’s Fresh album,” he says, “which was a big influence on me as a teen.” While vocals on his previous albums have always been tart and sweet, Ivan’s voice comes from a more evolved place on ‘Touch My Soul, which makes sense nearly 20 years removed from his last solo effort ‘Scrape’ (2004).
“People try to warn us about the risks in life, but we want to learn for ourselves,” he says. “And we have a choice whether we want to learn from our mistakes. I believe the more we embrace our vulnerabilities, our imperfections, our insecurities, the better we become. That’s my goal: stay teachable.” The lyrics and compositions in ‘Touch My Soul’ reflect that maturity.
Ivan’s blood line runs through two of the most influential groups that New Orleans has ever produced, and he grew up playing with them both. His uncle Art “Poppa Funk” Neville was vocalist and keyboardist with the Meters, the seminal New Orleans funk band and one of modern music’s most sampled groups. Art also founded the Neville Brothers with Ivan’s uncles Charles and Cyril, and Ivan’s father, the world renown balladeer and vocal stylist Aaron Neville. The Nevilles’ musical range not only spanned generations but also idioms like carnival rhythms, pop, soul, R&B, and jazz; their collective identity galvanized Black New Orleans's cultural life to create a musical identity that focused their individual gifts with grace and grit.
And while Ivan Neville grew up playing the music of his family, ‘Touch My Soul’ delivers another chapter of Ivan’s own songbook and musical DNA.
‘Touch My Soul’ is not unlike a good bowl of homemade gumbo, he adds, “very soothing for the soul.” Which is what Ivan strives to bring to the world as an artist and a fellow traveler. “When I think about the way music has touched my soul and all the songs that became special moments in my life, I become very emotional. Music should touch your soul. I hope this record and this music touches someone’s soul.”
‘Touch My Soul’ by Ivan Neville
1. Hey All Together (feat. Aaron Neville, Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Trombone Shorty, David Shaw
2. Greatest Place On Earth (feat. Trombone Shorty, Ben Jaffe, Charlie Gabriel)
3. Might Last A Lifetime (feat. Cyril Neville)
4. Dance Music Love (Feat. Doyle Bramhall II)
5. Touch My Soul
6. Stand For Something
7. Blessed
8. This Must Be The Place
9. Pass It All Around
10. Beautiful Tears
