Online Reggae Magazine

Articles

Articles about reggae music, reviews, interviews, reports and more...

The Reggae Soul Of Rusty Zinn

Home
Articles
Reviews
The Reggae Soul Of Rusty Zinn

The Reggae Soul Of Rusty Zinn

By Norman Darwen on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - Comment

Blues and Reggae with Rusty Zinn

Sampler

Californian Rusty Zinn made his name as a blues guitarist in the 90s, carving out for himself a reasonably successful solo career and a strong reputation as a session player. However, around 2000 he became interested in reggae and over the last few years he has become a full-time reggae singer, with his blues jobs very few and far between – and the blues’ loss is most definitely reggae’s gain.

Rusty has an excellent sweet and soulful voice – he names Alton Ellis as a prime influence – and a rare understanding of what the music requires. He has enlisted the musical support of the likes of Hux Brown, Mikey Chung, Robbie Lyn, Boris Gardiner and Sly Dunbar among others, and the album has the extremely accurate by-line “A Journey to the Soul Of Lovers’ Rock Steady”. Lovers’ Rock? Yes, Rodigan himself has been playing Angie I Love You which sounds as though it should be on a well-played 45 from a small north London label circa 1980. Most of the set though is in a rock steady or early reggae style – Rusty reveals in his notes that his cover of Gladys Knight’s Is There A Place was inspired by Paulette Walker and soul singer Jimmy Holiday’s Turning Point arrives via Slim Smith. Lovely renditions Rusty’s are too, and I can only mention that his original compositions are in the same vein. Try Do I Stand A Chance With You which sounds very much like very early Jackie Edwards, for a good example. For lovers of older Jamaican sounds, this is as good as it gets. More please, Rusty!