SpiritYouAll

Even 25 years after Bobby McFerrin’s breakthrough album Don’t Worry, Be Happy yielded the hit of the same name (which became the first a cappella single to top the Billboard charts), his music still radiates a calm and healing quality. Spirityouall is McFerrin’s take on African-American spirituals. He recorded it in loving tribute to his father, Robert McFerrin, whose 1957 album Deep River was a pinnacle in bringing this historic music to the mainstream. This set opens with “Everytime,” a rendition of "Every Time I Feel the Spirit" that recalls soft jazz and folk; the roots of its lyrics go back all the way to before the U.S. Civil War. “Swing Low” fuses elements of country, gospel, New Age, jazz, folk, and soul to make an ethereally calming reworking of Wallis Willis' 1862 American Negro spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Throughout Spirityouall, McFerrin shares vocal duties with GRAMMY®-winning R&B singer Lisa Fischer, whose low timbre both contrasts and blends with his high tenor. By taking on “I Shall Be Released,” McFerrin takes Bob Dylan’s original to its gospel-inspired home.