Janiva Magness

JANIVA MAGNESS
Back for Me

With Back for Me, seven-times Blues Music Awards winner Janiva Magness continues to renew and redefine her widely celebrated relationship with the music on a powerfully engaging, emotionally rich collection. Produced by her longtime guitarist and collaborator Dave Darling, the album is a treasure chest of lesser-known gems by well-known artists (Bill Withers, Ray LaMontagne, Allen Toussaint, Doyle Bramhall II, Tracy Nelson) and deep-dive discoveries brought through Magness’ voracious, wide-ranging searches for songs that connect with the deep feelings embodied in her voice and music, cherished by her fans.
It’s the 17th album for Magness, who in addition to those awards (including being named B.B. King Artist of the Year in 2009), earned a Grammy Awards Contemporary Blues nomination for her 2016 album Love Wins Again. It follows the 2019 publication of her memoir, Weeds Like Us, a vividly portrayed account of both the traumas of her youth (her parents’ suicides and her often-nightmarish experiences in the foster care system) and the hard-earned triumphs that have fueled her growth as an artist and in life, inspiration also found in her 2022 album Hard to Kill.
Darling anchors the album’s core band, also featuring drummer W.F. Quinn Smith and bassist Ian Walker, with keyboardists Sasha Smith and Phil Parlapiano, guitarists John Schroeder and Robert “Chalo” Ortiz, Nick Maybury and blues harp player TJ Norton also appearing on various songs. And ace guitarists Joe Bonamassa, Sue Foley and Jesse Dayton put their stamps on their respective special guest appearances. It’s a powerhouse set moving from the Chicago-via-Texas churn of “Masterpiece” (written by Darling and featuring searing guitar from Bonamassa) to the aching gospel-soul-funk of Bill Withers’ “The Same Love That Made Me Laugh” to the haunting resignation of Bramhall’s “November” and Nelson’s torch ballad “Down So Low” to the sly release of “Hittin’ on Nothin’” (written by Toussaint and originally sung by Irma Thomas, here with Dayton’s blasting guitar).
There’s heartache and heartbreak, but at the same time self-awareness and accountability and the strength and power that comes from that. In other words, it’s the blues. While in recent years she’s stepped forward more as a songwriter, this album echoes her early career strengths as an interpreter of others’ songs. But for Magness, the album is a rejoicing in how far she’s come in her life, with the knowledge of how she got here. On Back for Me, Magness goes back to her, back to some things deep in her, reconnecting and renewing things that have driven and empowered her through such a distinguished career.
“I’m happier in my life in many ways than I’ve ever been,” she says. “I’m more peaceful in my life than I’ve ever been, which I think will always be a surprise for me. But it doesn’t mean the experience of heartbreak in these songs goes away. It doesn’t go away. It just lives in a different spot in me.”