One House Music (One House, 2002)

Just because you haven't heard of the New York-based Barefoot Poets doesn't mean you haven't heard them.  In fact, if you've caught live performances by he likes of Burning Spear, Dennis Brown, Freddie McGregor, Gregory Isaacs, Maxi Priest, Phyllis Dillon, Marcia Griffiths, Junior Reid, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles, Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, or Rico Rodriguez in the past several years, you may very well have heard members of the band backing up these stars.  Now, after years of toiling in relative anonymity, the Barefoot Poets have come together to record One House Music, an engrossing debut that will likely take you back to the golden age of reggae, making the throwback sound seem fresh and new again.  Aside from the rich, vintage full-band vibe, what makes Barefoot Poets' sound stand out is the fact that they are fronted by a female lead singer, Marie Thomas.  Her voice is strong and soulful and harkens back to the classic ladies of reggae, like Marcia Griffiths and Rita Marley -- particularly on tracks like "Madness," "Jah Praises,"  the tranquil "Solitude," and "Teeny Weeny" (whose line "It's that teeny weeny thing that makes a grown man break down and cry" makes me feel oddly inadequate).  Great cuts like these, along with "Don't Need No Lies" and the wonderfully vibrant interpretation of the spiritual "Wade in the Water," could just as easily have been recorded in 1972 as in 2002; they have that authentic a feel.  Fans of the light, upbeat early style of early '70s reggae should relish the return to the classic sound heard on One House Music.