Name: RUFUS by Patrice Pike
Duration: 5 min 12 s
Description: This is one of my favorite songs ever.... from the CD Unraveling

Pike & Sutton 2020
The veteran Austinite’s vocal depth and warmth floats gossamer-like above Wayne Sutton’s serpentine guitar work. The song’s obvious musical chemistry comes honed from the decades these two have played together in Little Sister, then Sister 7, and their own solo work, wherein the other’s influence and even physical presence is never far removed. The sound and its accompanying video resounds as a testament and ode to friendship, collaboration, and an abiding mission.

Heart Is A Compass

Let The Music Get You High

It's with this track Heart Is A Compass, the debut single title track to Pike and Sutton's upcoming record, which incorporates the heartbeat of Patrice’s niece as she prepared for a life-saving bone marrow transplant – that the music’s call-to-action truly takes flight. “The record has a political edge,” Wayne explains, “but it’s not angry or reactionary, and definitely ties in with the best of our Sister Seven vibe." Sister Seven was founded originally by Pike and Sutton, but their new music is and evolution of that and a promise kept. Wayne goes on to say, "The message of the importance of coming together, to make the world a place we want it to be, is a real thing.” Heart Is A Compass is also an incredibly soulful record; Sutton’s distinctive guitar tones deliver deeper textures and more expressive peaks than ever before, while Pike’s always-formidable voice – Billboard calls her “one of the finest contemporary rock singers in America” – has now richened into a remarkable instrument of prowess, emotion and truth. “There’s a message that’s encapsulated over and over again in these songs,” Patrice says. “It’s an honest acknowledgment of our world situation, but it also speaks to pathways forward.”

This is one of my favorite songs ever.... from the CD Unraveling

RUFUS

Patrice Pike burst on to the music scene as the electric front woman for the seminal Austin jam band Sister Seven. She co-founded the band almost immediately upon leaving the high school for the performing and visual arts at Booker T. Washington in Dallas, Texas. Soon after she wrote and sang Sister Seven’s top 10 Billboard hit “Know What You Mean”. Rolling Stone Magazine called her "Tina Turner, Bessie Smith, Janis Joplin, and Robert Plant all rolled up into a tiny but explosive package." She was on the fast track to stardom and then, before it ever fully materialized, it evaporated with the much-publicized Arista shakeup that culminated in the firing of music industry legend Clive Davis. They disbanded in 2000.   Even as the band was flaming out, Pike was already in the process of being re-energized as a songwriter and performer. Her solo material has taken an increasingly narrative turn, while her sound has moved steadily in the direction of R&B and smart Alternative Pop. Over the past decade she has independently released five acclaimed solo records, showcasing her socially astute, literate lyrics alongside her powerful vocals. She has toured relentlessly, both in the U.S. and overseas, building an impressive grassroots fan base. In 2007 she became the youngest member of the Austin/Texas Music Hall of Fame, inducted alongside Lucinda Williams.
She is currently producing arguably the finest release of her career entitled “The Calling”, set for release in June 2013. Pike is filled with gratitude for the challenges that have refined her values, strengthened her humanity, and shaped her way of being in the world. If you listen, you can hear each strand in her lyrics and in her voice. 


RUFUS

Patrice Pike

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