Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings are already well known as one of the most exciting acts in the nation for both their explosive live shows and their prolific output of gritty studio recordings. Their breakout release, 100 Days, 100 Nights, sold over 150,000 copies worldwide. On Jones’ birthday this year, the band will release I Learned the Hard Way, their fourth full-length on Brooklyn’s independent Daptone Records. The record marks a bold step forward for a band who almost singlehandedly stewarded today’s return of soul music to its more traditional sound.

I Learned the Hard Way was produced by Bosco Mann and recorded on an Ampex eight-track tape machine by Gabriel Roth in Daptone Records’ House of Soul studios, the record drips with a warmth and spontaneity rarely found since the golden days of Muscle Shoals and Stax. Sharon’s raw power, rhythmic swagger, moaning soulfulness, and melodic command set her firmly alongside Tina Turner, James Brown, Mavis Staples, and Aretha as a fixture in the canon of soul music. From the lush Philly-Soul fanfare that ushers in “The Game Gets Old” at the top of the record, to the stripped down Sam Cooke-style “Mama Don’t Like My Man” at the tail, the Dap-Kings dance seamlessly through both the most crafted and simple arrangements with subtlety and discipline. I Learned the Hard Way is the “Daptone Sound” at its finest.

Since the release of 100 Days, 100 Nights, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have appeared at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits Festival, WOMAD (New Zealand), Lollapalooza, Chicago Blues Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival (Holland), Essence Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Roskilde Music Festival (Denmark), Playboy Jazz Festival, Sydney Festival, Eurokeennes Festival (France), Central Park Summerstage and more.

Television appearances since 2007 include The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Austin City Limits – PBS, The Tavis Smiley Show– PBS, Later with Jools Holland – BBC, MTV, CNN, numerous NPR shows including Fresh Air with Terry Gross, World Café, Day to Day, Fair Game and more.

Reviews and Features appeared in Esquire, New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, MOJO, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, The Huffington Post, Variety, HipHopSite.Com, BrooklynVegan, Spin, Pitchfork, Mother Jones, VIBE, Village Voice, Washington Post, The New York Times and more

Sharon Jones has collaborated on stage, in the studio & on film with David Byrne, Rufus Wainwright, Denzel Washington (The Great Debaters), Lou Reed, Booker T. & the MGs, Michael Bublé, Phish

The Dap-Kings have recorded for Al Green, NAS, Amy Winehouse, Wale, Mark Ronson, Daniel Merriweather, Robbie Williams, Bebel Gilberto

“I Learned The Hard Way” Track Listing:

1. The Game Gets Old
2. I Learned The Hard Way
3. Better Things
4. Give It Back
5. Money
6. The Reason
7. Window Shopping
8. She Ain’t A Child No More
9. I’ll Still Be True
10. Without A Heart
11. If You Call
12. Mama Don’t Like My Man

So naturally, Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings have been thrust into the meanstream spotlight, mainly due to affiliation, even though they’ve been doing their thing for a few albums now, via their own Daptone Records imprint. 100 Days, 100 Nights is the new record, but judging from the album cover and what lies beneath the packaging, it sounds very much like an old record – and that’s not such a bad thing.

Sharon Jones is a woman-out-of-time, who cares less for what black music is “supposed” to sound like in 2007, and instead makes songs with every ounce of her heart and soul poured into them. She can sing her ass off, belting out notes over rich, chunky grooves of quacking horns, snapping snares, and bluesy guitar riffs by her backing band.

Sharon shows off two sides to her personality on 100 Days, 100 Nights – that of the loyal lover, and that of the woman scorned. The title track sets up the record, as she ponders getting inside the male heart, trying to figure out what makes it tick. She’s pretty convincing on the swanky “Let Them Knock”, where she gives fully of herself to please her man, by shutting all others out, suggesting, “they can call me on the phone / but no matter how many times that phone rings / I’m not pickin’ up for no one / until that fat lady sings (when we’re making love)”.

“Somethings Changed” on the other hand, doesn’t find her so devoted, as she gives her no-good-cheating man the Larry David-stare, over an incriminating backdrop from the Dap Kings. “Keep On Looking” closes things out, finding Sharon back on the block as a single lady, looking for a new love since her once good man isn’t so good no more. So in other words, don’t cross her, fellas.

More or less a concept album, the only song that doesn’t really fit here is the closer “Answer Me”, where she asks Jesus to give her some kind of verbal confirmation that He’s getting her nightly e-mails. While it’s a bit more introspective, revealing another layer to her character, it doesn’t really work as an endcap to an album that mainly deals with the ups and downs of relationships.

Unlike her tattooed counterpart, the more mature Sharon doesn’t attempt to “modernize” her lyrics with drug/alcohol references or curse words. This in fact may keep Sharon from reaching the crossover success that Winehouse has seen, as some will argue that her sound doesn’t add a new spin to an old sound, but we’d argue if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. – Pizzo