If you turn your ears a certain way, You Make Me Feel  by soul great Don Bryant can be heard as a love letter to his wife of 50 years, Ann Peebles.  That killer horn riff that kicks off the album? Think of it as a fanfare preceding the reading of a royal decree; or maybe it’s a funky version of a wedding march.  Written by Bryant and producer Scott Bomar, “Your Love Is to Blame” has the chorus of a good blues song: "Nothing in my life is the same/Your love is to blame.” But here, “blame” gets a halo. “I tried to turn this one around,” Don says with a slight grin. Then he explains, “Your love is to blame because we are together!”

Produced by Scott Bomar, who recently scored Dolemite Is My Name and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang (Elvis Presley, Al Green, John Prine), You Make Me Feel continues Don’s resurgence with newly written music and a revisit to Don’s celebrated back catalog, where he’s interpreting some of his songs for the first time.  Musicians include members of the Hi Rhythm section — Howard Grimes, Archie “Hubbie” Turner and Charles Hodges, who played on his by Al Green and Ann Peebles — with members of St. Paul and the Broken Bones and The Bo-Keys.

“It feels good to have found my own voice,” says Don, who never stopped writing.  “Music has always been a part of me, I’ve never given up on it, never let it go. If I’m walking around, I’m humming songs. Now, I’m trying to let it all out. What I had, what I got, and what I’m gonna get.”

Don is nearing the age of 80, and You Make Me Feel is his third solo album. His 1969 debut Precious Soul was produced by Willie Mitchel, who planned for Bryant to be Hi Records’ next star.  Don instead took a supporting role and made a career as a Hi Records hit man, namely as the songwriter and background singer for Peebles, who topped the charts in 1974 with “I Can’t Stand the Rain.”  Ann retired from music in 2012, and Don returned to the spotlight in 2017 with his second album, Don’t Give Up on Love. You Make Me Feel was released 06/19/20 by Fat Possum and is available here on vinyl.