Don Bryant

Don’t Give Up On Love

FAT POSSUM. CD/DL/LP

Patterned on Solomon Burke’s 2002 Don’t Give Up On Me; every bit as good.

Don Bryant was integral in the creation of the Hi Records sound. Not as a singer, although his voice is expressive on 1969 label outing Precious Soul, but as a songwriter, who penned hits for Al Green and Ann Peebles, his wife of 43 years. Don’t Give Up On Love, dedicated to Peebles, reconnects the 74-year-old with those Memphis roots, setting him live in the moment with members of the Hi Rhythm Section, with whom he worked at Hi. Throughout, Bryant’s vocal is rich and full on songs that are framed in exclamatory horns and soothing organ, and range from the rousing How Do I Get There? and the cocksure One Ain’t Enough to the muscular A Nickel And A Nail and swooning Something About You.