Jolie Holland’s sixth studio album, Dark Wine Sea, has been getting notice, partly due to a soulful cover of Joe Tex’s 1967 hit “The Love You Save (May Be Your Own),” a song that gained new life a few years ago when it was featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof. As Tex sings about his experience with brutal racism and the injustice of sundown towns, it’s impossible to ignore his message as he pleads with whoever will listen to mend their rocky relationships in the name of love.
Holland doesn’t try to sing the song from the same experience, but the soul comes pouring out anyway. The horns are gone here, but this is rock and roll: Magic Mouth’s Chanticleer Tru slides in to croon harmonies, and by the time the guitar solo comes in, Holland cleverly swaps duties with him for a verse before sidling back in to end it.
Gawd, what a beautiful take on this tune. Jolie Holland works a vocal alchemy that combines languidity & lasciviousness like no one else. She’s quite possibly a time-traveling sorceress.
She sings soul down to her toes.