Music We Love: The Southpaw Preachers

The Southpaw Preachers released two new videos over the weekend, one an original song and another a Nina Simone cover. We cannot get enough of their new song, ‘Blank Minds.’

Hale Baskin and Colin Campbell formed The Southpaw Preachers just under a year ago, and initially for a one-night-only performance at the opening of Harvest House during the 35 Denton music festival. "We received a much warmer response than we ever expected,” Baskin said. The band started booking shows for fun (and since they are all professional musicians who make their livings performing private parties or other freelance music gigs) and are now about to celebrate their 1st year anniversary.

The 5-piece band recently added a 3-piece horn section and plans on creating music videos that are not studio performances. They are also working on diversifying their venue selection. Each member of their band attended the University of North Texas’s renowned Jazz program, with 5 of them having participated in the Grammy Award-winning One O’Clock Lab Band.

The band draws a lot inspiration from the Soul genre, reconstructing recognizable tunes and borrowing entire songs, while putting their modern twist on it. Last November the band recorded an original arrangement of Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish’ at Solar Way Studios in Denton. Baskin’s voice adds a level of femininity that is purely exhilarating on top of a funky composite of various other instruments.

“We’re musicians of 2015 and we're putting ourselves into those old tunes,” Campbell says. “It's important for us to pay homage to where those songs are coming from. When we rearrange the music, we try to do it in a way that it still keeps the integrity of the original.”

Catch the Southpaw Preachers at the Women for Women Rock Showcase in Fort Worth on February 27 or this Friday, February 5 at The Underpass in Dallas.

For booking or other questions, contact them through their Facebook page.