Otis Clay

Minneapolis Tribune
Jon Bream – October 2014

A 2013 Blues Hall of Fame inductee, Chicago mainstay Otis Clay demonstrates his love for classic 1970s soul on last year’s “Truth Is.” There are echoes of Philly soul, Memphis’ Hi sound, Muscle Shoals, the gospel-soul of the Staple Singers and even Barry White. But somehow Clay, 72, makes the music his own. He is featured in a new movie, “Take Me to the River,” an intergenerational look at the music of Memphis, where he recorded his 1972 hit “Trying to Live My Life without You”; his album of the same name, recorded with the Hi Records team, was recently reissued by Fat Possum.

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