Nine-Piece The Sully Band Release “When The Battle Is Over” (Aretha Franklin)

The Sully Band

Rockin’ nine-piece R&B outfit The Sully Band release their new reimagined Aretha Franklin classic, “When The Battle Is Over” from their debut LP Let’s Straighten It Out!, out March 11 via Belly Up Records/ Blue Élan Records, produced by multi-Grammy Award winner Chris Goldsmith (Charlie Musselwhite, Ben Harper). The forthcoming album features 10 classic 60s and 70s soul, blues, funk and R&B tunes.

The Sully Band won Best Live Band at the 2020 San Diego Music Awards and is loaded up with Grammy Award winners and Tony Award winners. Anchored by Grammy Award-winning slayer of the bass, James East (Eric Clapton, Elton John, Michael Jackson), The Sully Band is composed of seasoned, accomplished players who hail from diverse locales like Japan, Panama, and the island of Lemon Grove. The horn section features sax-flute-harp-man Tripp Sprague (Kenny Loggins, The Little River Band, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, The Four Tops) and trumpet and flugelhorn player Steve Dillard (The Righteous Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd).

To take on an Aretha song, you gotta be good and this band is all that and more. Tight rhythm section, soulful outstanding vocals, horn section and superb musicians. This band sounds like they’ve been together for years. Bob “Sully” Sullivan and Rebecca Jade trade off vocals and these two just can’t be beat. Soulful and sparkling.

Listen to “When The Battle Is Over

Let’s Straighten It Out! is a labor of love album and was recorded in only five jam-packed days, with “mostly-live” versions of carefully curated love-themed songs that made a mark when they were originally released and yet also feel relevant today. Sully’s soulful, heartfelt vocals cut across layers of horns and guitars that take the listener on an emotional arc of joy, disappointment, struggle, and redemption.

Multiple Grammy Award-winning producer Chris Goldsmith (Blind Boys of Alabama, Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Head Todd) provided the musical curation that makes up Let’s Straighten It Out!. Treasured tunes like Billy Preston’s “Nothing from Nothing” and Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” share the tracklist with lesser-known nuggets like “Hallelujah, I Love Her So” by Ray Charles. The title track, first recorded by Latimore in 1974, plus Shuggie Otis’ “Ice Cold Daydream”, and “I Wish It Would Rain,” first made a hit by The Temptations.

Acclaimed San Diego soul singer, Rebecca Jade, shared vocal duties with Sully on Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John) and Jessie Hill’s “When the Battle Is Over,” while on “If You Love Me Like You Say,” the late Albert Collins is evoked by Anthony Cullins, the 20-year-old guitar sensation from Fallbrook, California.

LET’S STRAIGHTEN IT OUT! TRACKLIST

When The Battle Is Over
Hallelujah, I Love Her So
Ice Cold Daydream
I Wish It Would Rain
Nothing From Nothing
If I Could Only Be Sure
Gimme Little Sign
If You Love Me Like You Say
Let’s Straighten It Out
Higher And Higher