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The Mighty Hannibal, Barbara Lynn, Archie Bell

By Brett Koshkin

Published on August 26, 2008 at 3:07pm

Maybe it's throwback acts like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and Amy Winehouse pricking the ears of a younger audience (and more than a few older listeners), but it's clear fresh interest is now stirring in the soul sounds of yesteryear. Fortunately, Texas has always been blessed with soul royalty like Houston's own Archie Bell, whose funky "Tighten Up" is a dance-floor firestarter every time Bell and backup band the El Orbits play it on the Continental stage. Joining Bell is Beaumont native and southpaw guitarist Barbara Lynn, now the newest signee to the Dap-Kings' Dap-Tone label. An East Texas dancing machine, Lynn if anything sounds better today than on her immortal 1962 hit "You'll Lose a Good Thing." It takes a real ringer to headline over Gulf Coast luminaries like those, but Lynn's Atlanta-raised friend the Mighty Hannibal — or King Hannibal, if you prefer — more than qualifies. The writer of "Fishing Pole" and "Hymn No. 5" has been churning out raucous-filled R&B since 1958, and he still packs a wallop. He's such a bad man, Atlanta indie-rock ruffians Black Lips actually begged to be his backing band. Friday promises almost more soul than the Continental Club can hold, so get there early to get a full dose.



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