When you put together two superbly talented musicians, with an incredibly evocative vocalist, one might be tempted to conclude that friction could develop or someone might feel that they did not share enough of the spotlight, however, Layne says the camaraderie that the three artists share on stage carried over into the studio, when it came time to create Beautiful Soul. 

“I am so glad that we all have this relationship. It is not like I am a vocalist who was thrown together with these writers and producers. We all know each other really well, and we know what works and what doesn’t,” observes Layne.

“I was getting tired (of playing the songs from Reality) and I said I am ready to do another album. We sat down and came up with some music and lyrical ideas. We started putting little things together and tried them on live gigs, before recording them. We went into the studio and Reggie and Rob worked on the music. They both know the texture of my voice, and we were careful not to overpower that. We tried different things, and if they didn’t work, we would change them. Everybody had an equal amount of input on what was done, and when we got it done. We also had a great engineer in Gary Mielke. I have worked with Gary a lot, and he knows the texture of my voice, as well as the sound that we wanted to create. We are very proud to say that our music doesn’t sound like anyone else’s music. It sounds original and holds true to who we are,” says Layne.

Layne takes time to reflect upon the eclectic elements that contribute to her music, “I grew up in the seventies, and I am a girl of the seventies. I grew up with fun and I love funk music. I got into jazz a little bit later. We (including Dixon and Bishop), are all jazz musicians, who can write other wonderful melodies.”

Those eclectic influences are evident throughout the CD Beautiful Soul including the song, “Pimp Talk,” the type of tune that Layne says she imagines Mary J. Blige might sing.

The roots for the song, “Free Yourself,” go back to some of Layne’s earliest musical influences.  “It is that old Chaka Khan kind of vibe, and that Rick James thing from the seventies. Originally, we wanted it to be a little bit more rock influenced. We had two different versions of that song. One was more R&B with a funk groove, and then we had more of a rock version with more guitars to it.  We decided to go with the R&B groove and the funk thing. I think about Chaka when I think of that particular song,” she says.

Bishop was driving the bus, when it came to the creation of the song “Funny,” a tune which possesses some wonderful instrumental grooves, and evolved out of the band’s regular gigs.  “Reggie had the groove for that, and we liked it, so we created the lyrics on the fly. When we played it out live, people really liked it and we decided to record it. It has a smooth, jazzy, sexy kind of feel. It also has a strong bassline. When we play “Funny,” we make it very smooth, soft, dark and mysterious. It is awesome,” says Layne.

In the liner notes of Beautiful Soul, one will find that the CD is dedicated to the memory of Cynthia Layne’s sister Denise, who passed away from breast cancer, in 2006. She credits her sister for being one of the first people to encourage her in pursuing a singing career, and the one who continues to serve as an inspiration to her.

April 2008

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