O.V. Wright - God Blesses Our Love

O.V. Wright sang genuine Southern soul, not blues-Southern or soul-Southern, but true, sweltering heat, mosquitoes, roaches, stank-breath, grits, biscuits, and gravy Southern with no apologies. He stamps an unshakable earthiness on every track, and his compilation CDs are all buyers and keepers that don't need titles like "best of" or "greatest hits" because O.V. took care of business every time he went in a recording studio, gutting out nothing but potential A-sides. God Blesses Our Love contains many tracks you won't find on similar CDs by Wright, so it's a good pickup even if you have two or three discs by the late singer already. He wallops your heart on an assortment of updates, songs originally attributed to Aretha Franklin, Jackie Moore, Bobby Womack, Mabel John, and others, while dazzling on three-heart tangles like "Into Something I Can't Shake Loose" and whisky-inspired declarations. ~ Andrew Hamilton, All Music Guide