Gina Sicilia - Bring It On Home: A Tribute To Sam Cooke

Album: Bring It On Home
Size: 77,7 MB
Time: 33:43
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2025
Styles: Soul/R&B
Art: Front

1. Shake (2:44)
2. Bring It On Home To Me (Feat. Wil Merrell) (3:58)
3. Another Saturday Night (2:37)
4. That's Where It's At (3:00)
5. Lost And Lookin' (4:09)
6. Twisting The Night Away (3:52)
7. Lonely Island (2:56)
8. Nothing Can Change This Love (2:51)
9. Blowing In The Wind (2:52)
10. A Change Is Gonna Come (4:40)

Renowned blues and soul singer Gina Sicilia has released her 11th studio album, a deeply heartfelt tribute album, Bring It On Home: A Tribute to Sam Cooke, a passionate homage to one of music’s most legendary voices. The album, produced by Fred Mollin, captures the spirit and timelessness of Sam Cooke’s sound while adding Sicilia’s own soulful artistry.

Leading the album’s release is the electrifying single “Twistin’ the Night Away”, a track that highlights the uncontainable joy and infectious rhythm that made Cooke a pioneer of soul. Sicilia brings fresh energy to the song, pushing her vocal boundaries with a dynamic and powerful performance. “Fred challenged me to sing in a higher key than I would normally choose, and it completely transformed the song,” Sicilia shares. “This track is pure fun - it’s been an absolute blast to record and perform live.”

Beyond its lively, dance-inducing appeal, Bring It On Home explores the depth and brilliance of Cooke’s catalog. The album features classics like “A Change Is Gonna Come”, showcasing Cooke’s legacy as a voice for change, and the stirring “Lost and Lookin’”, paying tribute to his soulful, storytelling genius. Sicilia’s versions of “Shake”, “Another Saturday Night”, and “Bring It On Home” - the very song that ignited her lifelong admiration for Cooke - demonstrate her deep connection to the material.

In addition to Cooke’s originals, the album honors his ability to interpret songs in a way only he could, with Sicilia delivering powerful renditions of “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Lonely Island”, among others. "This album is the ultimate love letter to Sam Cooke," Sicilia reflects. "His music shaped my passion for singing, and this project deepened that love even more. I hope listeners feel the same magic that first captivated me years ago."

Bring It On Home: A Tribute To Sam Cooke mc
Bring It On Home: A Tribute To Sam Cooke gofile

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Gina Sicilia - Unchange

Album: Unchange
Size: 95,5 MB
Time: 41:24
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2022
Styles: Blues, roots
Art: Front

1. Healing Time (4:36)
2. Unchange (3:24)
3. How Far Am I From Canaan (3:46)
4. Death Don't Have No Mercy (6:18)
5. Let's Set The World On Fire (3:23)
6. Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor (4:37)
7. Valentine (3:03)
8. Don't Be Afraid To Be Wrong (3:22)
9. One Last Tender Moment (4:34)
10. There's A Bright Side Somewhere (4:17)

For her 10th album, Unchange, Gina Sicilia has returned to the VizzTone Label Group, where she established herself as a commanding singer and songwriter rooted in but not limited to the blues. It quickly becomes clear that this return is not a retreat. The 10-song set reveals an artist who is still challenging herself to move forward, staying true to her vision without repeating herself. After teaming up with Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars for 2020’s Love Me Madly, the Nashville-based Sicilia has recruited the services of Music City guitar ace Colin Linden, who produced the album and had a hand in writing five of the songs, and leads a guitar-bass-drums trio with occasional keyboard touches.

The result is one of Sicilia’s most spare-sounding recordings and one that doesn’t sound quite like anything she’s done before. That approach puts the focus squarely on the singer, which is not a problem since Sicilia’s smokey alto has always been one of the most striking voices in the roots field, and her ability to harness its power lends maximum emotional impact to her performances. Sicilia has always augmented that voice with her abilities as a writer. Here, however, she wrote just one number. “One Last Tender Moment,” with its acoustic picking, piano, and touch of organ, is a pleading ballad with a torch-song quality that also turns up in “Valentine” – just acoustic guitar and bass – and “Let’s Set the World on Fire,” which features an electric guitar solo by Linden that provides a lot of heat.

On “Don’t Be Afraid to Be Wrong,” Sicilia imparts some life advice with a bluesy kick. She didn’t write the song – Linden and Janice Powers did – but it sounds like advice she has taken to heart herself. She also heightens the dread at the heart of the Rev. Gary Davis’ “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” which takes on heightened resonance in these times and features another penetrating guitar solo by Linden. One of the key musical and thematic styles of Unchange is gospel. The album begins with “Healing Time,” whose soothing message is delivered with some swampy reverb and the heavenly backup vocals of Ann and Regina McCrary. (The sisters also sing on the traditional “Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor,” arranged by Linden and Sicilia.)

Sicilia also tackles Shirley Caesar’s “How Far Am I From Canaan”, which starts out slow and quiet before accelerating into a glorious romp. And the album closes with the traditional “There’s a Bright Side Somewhere,” arranged by Sicilia. “I’m not going to rest until I find it,” she vows. As with the title song, written by Linden and Powers and featuring the refrain “I can’t unchange,” the pursuit at the heart of “There’s a Bright Side Somewhere” can also refer to the drive of an artist who is determined to keep pushing herself. /Nick Cristiano, Rock & Blues Muse

Unchange mc
Unchange zippy

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VA - Blues Singles Collection Vol. 11

Size: 212,0 MB
Time: 90:47
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Art: Front

01 Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite - What The Hell? (3:08)
02 Doyle Bramhall II - Be Here Now (Feat. Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks) (4:27)
03 Bobby Rush - Dust My Broom (3:35)
04 Simon McBride - Kids Wanna Rock (2:51)
05 The Reverend Shawn Amos - Troubled Man (Breathe Remix) (Feat. Ruthie Foster & James Saez) (4:12)
06 Laura Rain & The Caesars - Soul Creature (3:39)
07 Lachy Doley & The Lachy Doley Group - Voodoo Child (Slight Return) (4:32)
08 John Nemeth - I Can See Your Love Light Shine (3:16)
09 Billy Walton Band - You Don't Need Me (4:08)
10 Lisa Mills - You Better Move On (2:59)
11 ElectroBluesSociety - Slow And Heavy (1:46)
12 Wellbad - Jackleen - Live (2:41)
13 Roxanne Potvin - Jump In (3:32)
14 Boogie Beasts - Mine All Mine (2:26)
15 Curtis Salgado - The Longer That I Live (3:51)
16 Gina Sicilia - Married Man (3:11)
17 Mick Clarke - Pretty Thing (3:01)
18 Cedric Burnside & Steve Azar - Coldwater (4:07)
19 Funkwrench Blues - Unity (Feat. Brother Paul Brown) (3:27)
20 Mike Ross - None Of Your Business (3:20)
21 Bb Factory - Keep Yo Mama (3:21)
22 Chris Smither - Lonely Time (3:22)
23 Selwyn Birchwood - Living In A Burning House (4:08)
24 Phil Manning - Shut Downtown (3:52)
25 Chris Kramer & Beatbox 'n' Blues - Just A Little Boy (Live) (3:17)
26 Walter Trout - Heartland (4:26)

A collection of blues singles released in Aug 2020 compiled by myself.

Blues Singles Collection Vol. 11

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Gina Sicilia - Love Me Madly

Size: 80,2 MB
Time: 34:09
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2020
Styles: Blues Rock, Blues Soul
Art: Front & Back

01. Hey Love (3:05)
02. Like The World Has Never Seen (3:15)
03. Lose My Head (3:05)
04. Misery With You (Feat. Luther Dickinson) (3:26)
05. For A Little While (Feat. Luther Dickinson) (2:55)
06. Gotta Be A Way (2:40)
07. Love Me Madly (2:55)
08. Give It Up (4:26)
09. How My Dreams They Go (Feat. Luther Dickinson) (2:53)
10. Fall In Love (2:59)
11. Answer The Phone (2:25)

Gritty soul and blues singer, Gina Sicilia, always stays one step ahead in her songwriting and music. The Newtown, Pennsylvania-native, who now calls Nashville home, has never been one to sit still musically. On her new album, Love Me Madly, Sicilia slides fervently and warmly into a wide range of soul music, from pop-inflected, hooky tunes, like “Love Me Madly”, to horn-drenched heart-stoppers. Produced by Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars, with Luther Dickinson performing guitar on tracks including “Misery With You”, Gina Sicilia’s ninth studio album showcases her ability to get inside a song and inhabit it, so that the lyrics and music flow effortlessly from her body, heart, and soul.

Love Me Madly MP3
Love Me Madly FLAC

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Gina Sicilia - Heard The Lie

Size: 100,4 MB
Time: 42:49
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2018
Styles: Contemporary Blues
Art: Full

01. Heard The Lie (3:50)
02. How Many Times (4:22)
03. Ready For Love (5:06)
04. Brighter Day (Feat. Janiva Magness) (3:55)
05. Angels Watching (4:04)
06. Man In The Sky (3:40)
07. Sugar (4:02)
08. Darling (3:31)
09. Light Me Up (3:45)
10. I Do Bad Things (3:07)
11. Growing Dim (3:23)

Since nabbing a Blues Music Award nomination for Best New Artist in 2008, Gina Sicilia has enjoyed great chart and radio success. Her 2017 Blue Elan release Tug Of War reached #3 on the Contemporary Blues Album Chart and "Abandoned" reached #2 on the Contemporary Blues Song chart. Heard The Lie was produced by Grammy nominated producer Dave Darling. It features 11 new tracks, including a duet with Janiva Magness (“Brighter Side”) and a soulful take on Bad Company’s “Ready For Love.”

Heard The Lie MP3
Heard The Lie FLAC

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Gina Sicilia - Tug Of War

Size: 98,2 MB
Time: 39:46
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Electric Blues
Art: Full

01. Don't Want To Be In Love (3:50)
02. Damaging Me (4:38)
03. He Called Me Baby (4:13)
04. I'll Stand Up (3:43)
05. Never Gonna End (3:36)
06. I Cried (3:56)
07. They Never Pay Me (3:35)
08. Abandoned (3:00)
09. Tell Him (3:02)
10. All My Loving (3:13)
11. Heaven (2:55)

Gina Sicilia is set to drop her new album, Tug of War. Emotional release appears to be the key ingredient in blues albums this year. So it is with her seventh career record.

Writing and performing the blues has always been cathartic. Pent up emotions liberated through song. On this Blue Elan Records offering, she had a great deal of emotions to expunge. “I’ve been through a lot in the past three years,” she relates, “I suffered through a painful and dramatic event in my life and needed to start over, so I moved to Nashville, where I didn’t know anybody, and went into a period of really challenging myself as a songwriter.”

A decade ago, this dynamic singer burst onto the blues scene, and has never looked back. Her debut album, Allow Me to Confess, caught the attention of the entire blues world. It not only charted, and sold well, but garnered her a BMA nomination for “Best New Artist Debut.” In her early 20s at the time, the record was full of lyrics she’d been writing since age 12.

Now comes Tug of War. The title alludes to the complexities of life, and speaks of Sicilia’s own experiences. The first track, “I Don’t Want to Be in Love,” comes closer to the Memphis sound than that of Nashville. A soulfully arranged masterpiece, it hits home with all of us who have fallen again, after a heartache. Just when we think we’re all set in our singleness, bam, along comes someone trying to steal our heart.

Producer Dave Darling co-wrote the opener with Sicilia, and plays some wicked guitar on the track as well. The funny thing is, “I Don’t Want to Be in Love,” could very well be the sequel to the second song on the album, “Damaging Me.” With lyrics such as, “I’m blue and I’m black. I’m tattered and torn. Picking up my pieces off the floor,” there’s little doubt to the point she is trying to make. “Damaging Me,” does have more of the flavor of her adopted hometown. We could imagine this topping out country music charts as a blues cross-over hit.

The entire album has a strong blues base, which has been Sicilia’s bread and butter. Her rich, honey soaked voice was created for the genre. She works it to her advantage across every song, from the thundering anthem, “I’ll Stand Up,” to the smooth rocking “Abandoned.”

Long time fans will hear the southern spice throughout the album, and we think that’s the point. New home. New surroundings. New influences. It’s all part of the healing. Part of the purging that was necessary to make this record. Multiple Grammy Award winning producer, Glenn Barratt, was at the helm for the majority of Tug of War. He also produced her 2013 album, It Wasn’t Real, a bit more traditional sounding blues album to be sure. However, the Music City influences that soaked into this collection of songs, fit hand in glove with Sicilia’s vocals. She’s at the top of her game on the mostly original recording.

There are a couple of stand out covers on Tug of War. One is a song she’s been singing since childhood. Her stylistic adaptation of the Exciter’s hit, “Tell Him,” is a growling, groovy, tour de force. Keeping all the elements that made it a classic dance hit, Sicilia adds enough attitude to give the song, in a word, balls.

The other is purely phenomenal. With Darling in the pilot’s chair once again, Sicilia takes the Beatles classic, “All My Loving,” and makes it entirely her own. Slowed to a snail’s pace, and filled with tremolo guitar, it becomes a haunting ballad. Her Stevie Nicks-ish vocal styling on this cut matches the heavy tremolo of Darling’s guitar, taking a song as familiar as our own names and turning it into something completely original. With apologies to her Witchiness, Stevie couldn’t come close to matching the range that Gina pulls off on this one.

Tug of War has grit. It has depth. It showcases the songwriting talents of Gina Sicilia in a whole new light. And, it has a place in your collection. ~by JD Nash

Tug Of War

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Gina Sicilia - Sunset Avenue EP

Size: 116 MB
Time: 16:56
File: FLAC
Released: 2016
Styles: Blues Rock, Blues Vocals
Art: Front

01. Abandoned (2:59)
02. Never Gonna End (3:27)
03. I Cried (3:55)
04. Tell Him (3:02)
05. They Never Pay Me (3:32)

Sunset Avenue is Gina Sicilia's newest EP. On her sixth studio release, Gina manages to raise the bar even further. Recording in her native Philadelphia by Grammy-winning producer Glenn Barratt, the album showcases her inimitable, distinct vocals as she throws down a musical gauntlet of soul, power, grit and energy for others to follow.

Sunset Avenue

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Gina Sicilia - The Alabama Sessions EP

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 15:14
Size: 34.9 MB
Styles: Contemporary blues vocals
Year: 2014
Art: Front

[2:58] 1. Sinkin' Low
[3:17] 2. Wasted It All On You
[3:19] 3. I'm In Trouble
[3:07] 4. No Use At All
[2:30] 5. My Love

Critically acclaimed singer-songrwiter Gina Sicilia traveled to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to soak up the Southern Soul vibe and realign her musical compass for THE ALABAMA SESSIONS. This self-produced 5-song EP is Gina's fifth release with the VizzTone label group, featuring her powerful, sultry vocals over five brand-new original compositions.

The Alabama Sessions EP mc
The Alabama Sessions EP zippy

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Gina Sicilia - It Wasn't Real

Bitrate: 320K/s
Time: 37:28
Size: 85.8 MB
Styles: Roots, Contemporary blues vocals
Year: 2013
Art: Front

[3:49] 1. It Wasn't Real
[3:59] 2. Don't Cry Baby
[3:28] 3. Please Don't Stop
[3:42] 4. Wake Up Next To You
[4:44] 5. Walkin' Along The Avenue
[3:51] 6. City By The Water
[3:17] 7. Write A Little Song With You
[4:48] 8. Don't Wanna Be No Mother
[2:58] 9. Oh Me, Oh My
[2:47] 10. Walkin' Shoes

Gina Sicilia’s stunning new album, It Wasn’t Real, is a watershed in the already extraordinary career of the young singer-songwriter whose 2007 debut, Allow Me to Confess, rocketed her to the upper echelon of the blues world. Its 10 songs showcase her evolution as a lyricist, arranger and performer as they essay the mysteries of love and fate, effortlessly glide between genres — often within the same tune — and elicit deeply emotional performances that expose the full range of her vocal abilities.

Teaming with Grammy-winning producer Glenn Barratt, Sicilia recorded It Wasn’t Real at his Morningstar Studios in Philadelphia, near Gina’s native Newtown, Pennsylvania, with an A-team of local session players. The sparkling results make songs like the title track, the emotionally wrenching “Don’t Wanna Be No Mother (Don’t Wanna Be No Wife)” and her gilded interpretation of Etta James’ 1961 hit, “Don’t Cry Baby,” soaring new entries in a canon of recordings and performances that have won Sicilia multiple Blues Music Awards nominations — including “Best New Artist” — and raves from fans and critics alike.

“These songs mean a lot to me,” Sicilia explains. “My goal is to write in a way that’s observant and soulful, and to get at the pleasures and the pressures of love, joy, family, responsibility…all the complexities that are part of living. I think I’ve made my best album.”

It Wasn't Real

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