Yolanda Ingley ll is blessed with one of those voices – the type of voice that heard once, will for evermore be instantly recognisable to you. Powerful, knowing, and saturated with a life lived. Her songs, with their heartfelt themes of “love, protest and other jive” have been described as a “massage for the soul” by one show goer. It’s the quality of those songs, combined with her voice and exceptional band of musicians that make Yolanda’s music so memorable.
Woman Got To Cry, out now via Only Blues Music, was recorded direct to analogue tape at Half Mile Harvest Studio and beautifully produced by Sam Teskey of The Teskey Brothers. It’s the third album for Yolanda – the second of original songs following her debut on the scene as a serious songwriter with This Dangerous Age in 2016.
This Dangerous Age, released with next to no fanfare, went on to become one of the bestsellers of the year at iconic Melbourne record store Basement Discs, with owner Suzanne Bennett describing it as “One of those rare albums that when we play it in-store has people coming to the counter, irrespective of the genre they were browsing in, to know what this fantastic album is. It really connects with people in a very soulful way.”
Woman Got To Cry looks set to equally impress. The 8 tracks feature Yolanda’s own hand-picked cast of stellar musicians; Monica Weightman on searing Lead guitar and Backing Vocals, Steve Dagg on Tenor and Baritone Sax, Olaf Scott on Hammond Organ, Kain Borlase on Bass, Liam Gough on Drums – with Sam Teskey also helping out on Lead and Gypsy Guitar and Backing Vocals.
Additional musicians on the album include Gaelle Horsley on Backing Vocals, Matthew Arnold on Violin – and on “Come Back In My Arms” – Johnny O’Hagan on Double Bass, Nathan Sametz on Trombone, Charlie Woods on Trumpet and Brendon Love (The Teskey Brothers) on Tambourine also feature.
Come Back In My Arms, the first single from the album, could have come straight out of the Stax Studios in Memphis. Yolanda really delivers on this haunting tune with the beautiful refrain “you’ve got to leave your old lovers behind”.
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More about Yolanda Ingley II
Cutting her teeth on soul, blues and jazz – in particular with songs of the 30’s and 40’s by Billie Holiday and her contemporaries, Yolanda Ingley ll has been impressing audiences in the clubs and pubs of Melbourne and elsewhere – most notably London where she has travelled several times in the past decade to perform. This included a 4 week stint at the legendary West End Club “Jazz After Dark”- a favourite of Amy Winehouse.
In 2014, Yolanda began writing music, finally finding her own voice by drawing on her own life and experiences. Working with seasoned musicians Yolanda emerged as a mature and sophisticated singer/songwriter capable of creating a rich fusion of styles referencing her “abiding love of southern soul, blues and jazz”. The songs also reflect a deep, witty and insightful take on love, life and loss.
2016 saw the independent release of This Dangerous Age which gained Yolanda a reputation on the Melbourne scene as a songwriter to watch alongside her already recognised vocal skills. The album proved hugely popular at the iconic record store Basement Discs – whenever it was played in store, customers would come to the counter to enquire about it – so much so that it became one of their year’s bestsellers.
Yolanda is humble about the reaction to her original releases so far, but she has been surprised and delighted with the response to her song writing. “My music is influenced by all the music I have always listened to and loved but it’s also very much my own voice … and the feedback I’ve been getting is incredibly exciting- I taught myself to play a little guitar only a few years ago then started writing songs so to be able to make this album with producer Sam Teskey is a real thrill”.
Yolanda’s music has to date been featured on Radio National’s The Music Show with Andrew Ford, ABC Melbourne’s Sundays with Libbi Gorr and The Friday Revue with Richelle Hunt and Brian Nankervis and has regularly receives a good amount of airplay on Melbourne community radio stations Triple R, PBS FM and 3CR.
With the release of Woman Got To Cry, here’s hoping more people get the opportunity to hear and enjoy the songs of Yolanda Ingley ll.
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