Guitarist G. Love is sending the world his ‘Love From Philly’
The blues and hip-hip singer sings about his hometown, and traveled to the cradle of the blues for his upcoming album 'Philadelphia Mississippi.
G. Love is sending his “Love From Philly.”
The Philadelphia singer-rapper-guitarist born Garret Dutton, who previously shouted out his hometown on his 1997 song “I-76,” has done it again with “Love From Philly,” his new song credited to G. Love & Special Sauce featuring rapper Schoolly D. and musicians Chuck Treece and Trenton Ayers.
The song, released on Wednesday to coincide with the unofficial marijuana lovers holiday of 4/20, is the first single from Philadelphia Mississippi, the new G. Love & Special Sauce album due out June 24 on the Thirty Tigers label.
G. Love originally wrote “Love From Philly” as a theme song for the Love From Philly virtual benefit for musicians impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown staged by Andy Blackman Hurwitz for the non-profit 30 Amp Circuit. The song, which name checks Allen Iverson, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Geno’s and Pat’s, soon became a staple of the songwriter’s live shows. G. Love brought in the other players, he said in a statement, in hopes of turning it into “an iconic Philly Classic.”
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For Philadelphia Mississippi, G. Love love traveled to the state that gave birth to the Delta blues, working with producer Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars. Dickinson is the son of the late Memphis music great Jim Dickinson, who produced G. Love’s 1995 album Coast to Coast.
In addition to Ayers, the album features blues players Alvin Youngblood Hart, Cam Kimbrough, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jontavious Willis, R.L. Boyce and Sharde Thomas, as well as rapper Speech from Arrested Development.
“I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but I’ve spent my entire life steeped in the music of the Delta,” G-Love said, “so the idea that there was this whole other Philadelphia down there always fascinated me. For the last thirty years, I’ve wanted to make a pilgrimage—not just a musical one, but a spiritual one—to the heart of the blues, and that’s exactly what this album is.”
“Love From Philly” is available to stream or purchase through all online platforms and is available for pre-order on vinyl through the Philadelphia record label Brewerytown Beats. G. Love plays a solo show at the Mann Center on August 18, opening for O.A.R. and Dispatch.