Steele yourself for “Two Queens”

by Dwight Hobbes

Veteran recording artist and powerhouse performer Jevetta Steele may well have her overdue breakout vehicle. This is not to take anything away from The Steeles, the accomplished ensemble for which she and her siblings are well known. It’s simply to say Jevetta seems poised to seize her deserved day in the sun.

Mixed Blood Theatre’s “Two Queens, One Castle,” largely based on Steele’s betrayal by a bisexual husband, so entranced Twin Cities audiences late last year it immediately returned on New Year’s Eve (and runs through Jan. 26). Adding to her appearances in hit shows (“Black Belt”/Mixed Blood, “Smokey Joe’s Cafe”/Hey City Theater), “Two Queens” is a tailor-made showcase of Jevetta Steele as crowd-drawing headliner. But not even the greatest singer can vault to stardom through live performance alone: you’ve got to have a CD folk can pull off store racks and take to the cash register. This is where the cast recording of Two Queens, One Castle ($11.99)—given effective promotion—should fill the bill: the show is great, but this recording stands on its own. One listen will leave you, at the last track, reaching to play the whole album all over again. It’s the kind of magic that happens when a top-flight vocalist works her chops to the bone on first-rate material.

For good measure, Steele has some of the baddest backup known to man. Among the other vocalists are Dennis Spears, Austene Van Williams Clark and Regina Marie Williams. All blend their distinctive styles with Steele’s to great effect. Ace axemen Sanford Moore and Billy Steele share keyboard duties. Mike Scott supplies tasty guitar. Kirk Johnson (drums) and Chance Howard (bass)—each playing their nether regions off—hold down the bottom. All of their good work would’ve been for naught, however, without hellified music by J. D. Steele and William Hubbard and astute lyrics by Jevetta Steele and Thomas W. Jones II.

The first cut, “So You Wanna Know,” flat-out cooks. Johnson’s killer traps and Howard’s snaking fills propel this steamroller. There’s no asking for greater clarity than Steele’s dead-on technique and emotive delivery. As she nails the phrasing of one evocative line after another, you have to ask, “Where does this woman catch a breath?” Austene Van Williams Clark artfully intersperses her own lead, and when she and Steele trade off, all hell breaks loose. If “So You Wanna Know” isn’t pulled off the album as a single, fire the guy in charge.

“I Said Yes” follows, an aching, gospel-tinged ballad borne of old-school R&B. Steele is pure silk, threading tenderness with soul-shouting passion. From the repertoires of Barbara Lewis to Aretha Franklin and beyond, you won’t find a more compelling torch song. When Steele sings, “Look at him. Damn, damn, damn. I said, ‘Yes,’” you can’t help but feel the hurt of someone who put her trust in the wrong place. “This Rock,” a straight-up spiritual is proof positive that, whether you believe in God or not, Jevetta Steele can take you straight to church. “Her Midnight Blue” is smoke-filled-room jazz. “Inside Me” and “I Ain’t Supposed To Be Here” put today’s computer-reliant “urban music” to shame with real-life artistry: holding forth from the heart, on every note Steele sings, she rings true as the good Lord’s word.

Take a deep breath and get ready to be blown away before you listen to the ensemble number, “Why Didn’t I Love Myself.” Steele and company kill on this lush, upbeat cut lamenting the tragedy of turning one’s back on oneself. Dennis Spears and Twin Cities visitor James Rich tear it up on the melancholy “In The Shadows.” Rich has a positively acrobatic range.

What Jevetta Steele does with “Tell Me What U Want” ought to be outlawed: nobody should be allowed to sing with such a mastery of both grit and grace—if only because it denies other singers fair comparison. If you ever wondered what artistic height Whitney Houston might’ve attained had she not burned out, wonder no more. Steele picks up where Houston left off to burn on this jam like nobody’s business. “Lay Me Down,” as the saying goes, takes you there, an aural tapestry on which Jevetta offers some of her sweetest singing to date.

If you didn’t buy Jevetta Steele’s debut release Here It Is the bad news is you should give yourself a swift kick. The good news is Two Queens, One Castle.