As Charlie Faye & the Fayettes ready the release of their second album, The Whole Shebang, due out February 8, 2019 through Burnside Distribution, much is happening: key songwriter Faye has inked a deal with Rough Trade Publishing, a release show is set for the fabled Continental Club, and a new single has premiered via Parade magazine (with a digital reach of more than 30 million).
Of her signing with Rough Trade, the home of artists varied from Stephen Merritt to Sondre Lerche, Faye says, “I’m so excited to be working with [them]. They’re a badass company and a great group of people and I couldn’t be happier to have them on our team. I know they’ll be working to get us more opportunities in sync and that’s something that’s really exciting to me.”
Charlie Faye & the Fayettes have already had some success in licensing their music for television. Their self-titled debut album had songs placed on shows including Riverdale, Girlboss, and Seal Team.
The Whole Shebang builds on the success of 2016’s Charlie Faye & the Fayettes. This time, Charlie Faye and backing vocalists BettySoo and Akina Adderley arranged their retro-pop harmonies together, perfectly evoking the musical essence of a time when innocence collided with awareness that change had to come — for everyone. Celebrating the former while acknowledging the latter, songwriter and lead singer Faye deftly balances simple odes to falling in love (“1-2-3-4,” “Riding High”) with declarations of independence (thefirst single, “I Don’t Need No Baby”) and calls to wake up, get wise, speak up, organize (“You Gotta Give It Up [Party Song]”). The 12 tracks are packed like suitcases, full of sassy harmonies and swingin’ soul, while folding in modern-day perspectives — and a determination to dance through the madness enveloping our world.
“I’m still influenced by ’60s girl groups, but this time around, other elements came into play, too,” Austinite Faye explains. “I wanted us to start venturing a little more into the early ’70s, as so many of the great girl groups did.”
Parade magazine premiered a track, enthusing: “Starting with a rumble and rolling into a surfin’ good guitar line, ‘You Gotta Give It Up (Party Song)’ by Charlie Faye and the Fayettes is gonna get you moving. It’s going directly onto my workout playlist! This retro treasure has an empowering message and is from the band’s upcoming release.”
Early reviews have proven likewise favorable. Bill Bentley, in his Bentley’s Bandstand column in The Morton Report, noted: “Leave it to Charlie Faye to find a way to take the swinging feel of the ’60s girl-group era and plug it straight into the new world order of 2019. It had to happen, and it shouldn’t be a big surprise that Faye is the person to do it. She has long led the line of singers looking for ways to jump-start a past era with the sounds of today.”No Depression said, “Faye and her talented pair of backup singers harken back to the ’60s era that produced acts like the Ronettes, the Shangri-Las, the Supremes, and Lesley Gore. But this is all new material, and it’s first-rate. So are the vocals by Faye, who sometimes sounds reminiscent of Ronnie Spector. The backup crew, which includes Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas, is excellent as well.” Musoscribe’s Bill Kopp observed: “Faye and her cohorts (Betty Soo and Akina Adderley) deliver another set of winning, delightfully retro tunes. If That Thing You Do! ever gets a distaff reboot, Faye and her group should handle the music. And that’s some of the highest praise I can think of.”
And the hometown Austin Chronicle summed it up: “… evokes early-’60s girl groups, while putting forth a message that would scare Phil Spector silly.”
https://www.charliefayeandthefayettes.com/
