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While many of her peers look to R&B for inspiration, soul singer Acantha Lang’s musical foundation is rooted in the blues. It all dates back to the first time she heard Koko Taylor’s legendary album I Got What It Takes.
“Even her lyrics are just so confident and ballsy,” Lang explains on the latest episode of The Spark Parade. “R&B was kind of the go-to for most singers when I started, and it just never spoke to me, traditional R&B. So, when I started really researching the blues — I’m from New Orleans — that’s when the penny dropped for me.”
The distinct rawness in Taylor’s vocal performance spoke to Lang in a way that’s stuck with her for her entire career. Taylor’s ability to transform the blues into joyful, life-affirming music is unparalleled, and her music continues to influence artists across a wide spectrum of musical disciplines and genres — a spectrum that undoubtedly includes Lang.
Listen to Acantha Lang chat about Koko Taylor’s I Got What It Takes and more in this episode of The Spark Parade. Please also take the time to like, review, and subscribe to The Spark Parade wherever you get your podcasts, and keep up to date with all our series by following the Consequence Podcast Network.
Host Adam Unze (The Opus) explores creativity in all its forms on The Spark Parade by asking musicians, artists, comedians, and other creators to share the single cultural work that has most inspired them. Whether it comes from the world of music, film, comedy, visual art, or literature, we all have something that sparks our own creative desires. On The Spark Parade, guests reveal the single piece of art that ignites within them to fire of creation.