ReZoom

Our Music to My Ears columnist catches us up with Irma Thomas, "The Soul Queen of New Orleans.''

To call yourself a soul singer in a city as musical and soulful as New Orleans, you'd better be damn good. To rise to the title: "Soul Queen of New Orleans" – and hold it for decades – you'd have to be absolutely astounding. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Irma Thomas, a woman whose expressive, molasses-and-cream voice and electrifying stage presence has made her a living legend even in the Big Easy.

She was raised in New Orleans, singing in the Baptist church and had her first hit at 19, with "You Can Have My Husband (But Please Don't Mess with My Man)." In 1962, she signed with Minit Records, beginning a lifelong collaboration with Allen Toussaint that included such classics as "It's Raining." She hit the national pop charts in 1964 with "I Wish Someone Would Care." She followed that with "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)," but it was the B-side for which she'll always be remembered: "Time Is on My Side." Soon after, it was carefully replicated by an up-and-coming British band called the Rolling Stones.

Thomas continued making great records through the 1960s, working with James Brown, Chess Records and Muscle Shoals' Fame Studios, but her career took another detour in 1969, when Hurricane Camille devastated Louisiana and Thomas moved her family to California. In the mid '70s, she returned to New Orleans, combining her passions, soul music and soul food, in her Lion's Den restaurant/nightclub.

The Soul Queen of New Orleans ascended again, touring Europe, and starring in her hometown's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (she hasn't missed one since 1974). In 1986, she began a series of acclaimed albums for Rounder Records, including the GRAMMY-nominated Live! Simply the Best in 1991 and Sing It!, her 1998 collaboration with Marcia Ball and Tracy Nelson.

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged her city, Irma Thomas donated her talents to benefit concerts and fund-raising album projects, even as she worked to return her own home there to pre-flood conditions.

Today, at 66, the once-and-future Soul Queen of New Orleans has seven great-grandchildren and maintains a busy touring schedule throughout the States and Europe. And almost half a century after her first hit, her post-Katrina album, 2006's After the Rain, was honored with a GRAMMY Award, her first. Time is still very much on Irma Thomas' side.

ReZoom caught up with Thomas as she was preparing to leave for a tour of Finland, to find out what music she's listening to these days. The gritty, authentic R&B that has been her stock in trade is undergoing a major revival as a movement of young neo-soul artists brings that music to a new generation. Thomas has been paying attention.

"I listen to John Legend. I've heard some of Joss Stone's stuff. I listen to Norah Jones because she covered some of my early stuff when she started out," Thomas says. She's glad to see the resurgence. "They're realizing that the old stuff is the true stuff."

But real soul is a music of maturity and Thomas feels some of today's young singers may be a little too young. Soul she says, is "people singing from experiences and knowledge of what they're talking about. It's not a lot of guessing. These youngsters, they haven't lived long enough."

What about 19-year-old Irma Thomas and that first hit record? Thomas says, "Even though I was a young woman when I sung ‘You Can Have My Husband (But Please Don't Mess With My Man),' I had been married since I was 14 [and, at 19, was married to her second husband], so I knew what I was talking about.

"A lot of these youngsters that are going back, digging up this ‘old school' as they call it," Thomas says, "They're listening to people who have lived it or experienced it in some kind of way. There s a difference between singing from experience and singing from visualizing and fantasizing. It's a big difference. It's just like actors who've been on the scene for a while. A young actor or actress, as they get older and more mature they become better actors because of all the experiences they've had."

Thomas has an MP3 player, but she laughs when asked what's on it. "Everybody tells me how easy it is. They gave me a version of an iPod at the GRAMMYs that year when we did that tribute to New Orleans. You can do music or movies on it and I haven't done either on it. I finally got it programmed to where I can turn it on, but I haven't downloaded anything to it. To be honest with you, I really haven't been concentrating on trying to get anything on iPods because I've been working on my house."

Larry Nager is ReZoom's resident music columnist. A former music critic and editor for daily newspapers in Memphis and Cincinnati, he is also the author of "Memphis Beat."

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