Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-07-28
The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol has announced her new album, Faye Sings the Blues, a 20-song double album arriving August 21 via Getdown Records. The Bay Area blues legend has also shared the album’s first single, “Never Make Your Move Too Soon,” featuring Robert Randolph.
In the 60th year of her celebrated career, The Dynamic Miss Faye Carol is living up to her name more than ever, releasing four double albums over the span of just 12 months. The second of these, Faye Sings the Blues, is a 20-song ode to true blues music.
“I wanted people to hear the real 12-bar blues with great horn arrangements, played by great musicians,” says Miss Faye Carol.
The album features a four-piece horn section and guest appearances from Taj Mahal, Robert Randolph, Eric Gales, James Carter, Wycliffe Gordon, Gerald Albright, Russell Gunn, Nicholas Payton, Kirk Whalum, Jon Faddis, Tia Fuller, and Jubu Smith.
“Never Make Your Move Too Soon” is a boisterous, celebratory duet with pedal steel guitar great Robert Randolph, with horns and piano dancing around Miss Faye’s huskily soulful vocal and Randolph’s singing steel.
“I’ve always been an artist with strong convictions about the music that I do,” says Miss Faye. “Having our own label just allows us to do the music we want to do in the way we want to do it.”
Born in Mississippi, Miss Faye discovered her talent while singing in the church choir after her family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area. She toured nationally with the gospel group The Angelaires before making her name with Oakland blues and funk mainstays Johnny Talbot & De Thangs in the 1960s.
She toured with Marvin Gaye and opened for Otis Redding, James Brown, the Grateful Dead, and Jefferson Airplane. She released her debut single in 1967, and over the following two decades, she and her band became fixtures of San Francisco’s jazz, blues, and cabaret scenes.
Miss Faye was among the first Black artists to gain widespread recognition in the cabaret world, earning three Cabaret Gold Awards.
Her band has long served as an incubator for top Bay Area talent, including Benny Green, Dayna Stephens, and Marcus Shelby, while her vocal protégés include international stars Ledisi and Kehlani.
Miss Faye founded the after-school youth program Music in the Community in the late 1990s. In 2000, she established School of The Getdown to celebrate and promote Black music within diverse Bay Area communities.
Faye Sings the Blues arrives on the heels of Miss Faye’s 2026 comeback album, Forever Dynamic, her first release since 2014. The new collection combines imaginatively rearranged blues classics, including “Let the Good Times Roll,” Dinah Washington’s “Blow Top Blues,” and the B.B. King hit “Never Make Your Move Too Soon,” alongside original songs.
“These are songs that I’ve always loved,” says Miss Faye. “I might put my own spin on it, ‘Carolize’ it up, but I never change the core of the song.”
Tracked mostly live at Oakland’s 25th Street Recording, the album opens with Miss Faye’s take on “Soulful Dress,” a tribute to Sugar Pie DeSanto.
“Fine & Mellow” bridges blues, jazz, and funk with a soaring trumpet performance from Jon Faddis. “Bad, Bad News,” an original by Miss Faye, Joe Warner, and lyricist Gerald Lenoir, speaks to the pressures of the current moment.
“Chill With You,” written by Miss Faye’s daughter and former musical director Kito Kamili, features guitarist Jubu Smith, known for his work with Frankie Beverly and Tony! Toni! Toné!
Faye Sings the Blues will be followed by A Soulful Christmas and Blues, Baroque, and Bars. The latter charts the evolution of Black music since the beginning of the 20th century and includes guest appearances from Twista and KRS-One.
“I want you to listen to Faye Sings the Blues and have a good time—to clap your hands and say, ‘Wow, I knew that song, but I never thought of it that way!’” says Miss Faye.
About Miss Faye Carol
A legendary Bay Area singer and educator now in her 60th year in music, Faye Carol has shared stages with Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Albert King, Bobby Hutcherson, Joan Baez, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, among many others.
Equally adept at jazz, blues, R&B, gospel, funk, and Latin music, she co-founded an independent record label in the late 1970s and remains a mentor to generations of musicians, including protégés Ledisi and Kehlani.
