Led by Ester Mae Smith’s unmistakeable voice, the Como Mama’s have found their place at the gospel end of the Daptone table alongside a legendary stable of soulful musicians. However, as stirring as their music is, up to now, all of their recordings have been a capella. With this record they join forces with the boys of the Menahan Street Band (billed pseudonymously here as The Radiant Rhythm Band) to lay bare the funkier side of gospel music. “The rhythms we all play were already right there in their vocals,” explains drummer Homer Steinweiss, “so it felt natural to lay down the grooves behind them.” Thomas “T-N-T” Brenneck, the up-and-coming producer who brought us both Menahan Street Band and Charles Bradley, presided over the collaboration, which took place in the old Dunham Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.