Christmas Soul, Wesley Bright (West One)

I've often paraded my sweet tooth for old-school soul music before the readership, so when Stubby tipped me to this guy, I immediately looked him up. Wesley, originally from Akron, OH, leads a soul band called the Honeytones that had a booming career as a touring act until Wesley had to take time off for family matters. But he's since returned to the studio, and this 2024 holiday EP is the result. You'll hear a lot of the 1960s soul sounds made by the smaller independent labels of the period, rather than Motown or Stax. Younger listeners will hear Daptone sounds, of course, and it's always fun to play spot-the-influences with genre artists like Wesley. Meanwhile, the songs are strong and well performed. "My Favorite Holiday" kicks things off nicely, no spoiler alerts necessary for the lyrics of course. "Give Out My Christmas Love" will bring everybody to the dance floor, as will "It's That Time" and "I'm Coming Home," the latter sounding a lot like an old soul tune called "Well Baby Please Don't Go," and reindeer get two shout-outs here, the gritty blues "Ain't No Reindeer" and the midtempo ballad "It's Raining Reindeer." Great stuff. Stubby notes that releases by the West One label tend to disappear from availability after a short time, so you might want to download this while you can. It's also on streaming; no physical media I'm aware of.