Green says he was ready for anything when he headed into the studio. Jack gets Loretta Lynn-where’s my Loretta Lynn at? I sent my manager a message … about six months later we started working on Al Green.” White’s plan got ?uestlove pondering the concept of working with an idol of his own: “Once Jack White told me he was getting Loretta Lynn, then I was sitting backstage like, ‘ Damn. The Roots were touring with The White Stripes when Jack White was getting ready to make Van Lear Rose, with Loretta Lynn. If you liked ‘For The Good Times’ or ‘How Can You Mend A Broken Heart,’ you’re probably going to want to buy this album.” “This is a designer’s original, a collector’s item. “Over the last 30 years, The Belle Album is considered by most Al Green colleagues as the final Al Green record, and that came out in 1978. “This is his true follow-up to The Belle Album,” ?uestlove says. Neo-soul stars Corinne Bailey Rae, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend contribute vocals-and instead of Green’s trusty Hi rhythm section, the reverend is backed by a lineup of ace contemporary R&B players, including the Dap-King horns, keyboardist James Poyser, Jill Scott’s bassist, Joss Stone’s guitarist and others. Now he’s recorded a new album for Blue Note, Lay It Down, co-produced by Roots drummer Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson. Then, in the early years of this century, he returned to the studio with his original Hi Records cast-including longtime producer Willie Mitchell-and dropped two well-received R&B albums on the Blue Note label. Green devoted himself to fulltime ministering for years at his Memphis tabernacle, cutting a few hit gospel records in the meantime. By the latter part of the decade, personal tragedy steered him from secular music to the church-though not before he released transitional masterpiece The Belle Album, a revelatory explosion of spiritual soul.
In the early ’70s, he helped reinvent Southern soul with his lush ballads. Over the past three decades, Al Green has proven a master of transformation.
But there was just so many people wanting to duet that there was too many to duet with. I was sitting on the bed in my pajamas, on the phone with the publicity president at Blue Note, and we were talking about doing a duet album.
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