The capitalist blues

"Now resident in New Orleans, McCalla pushes musical boundaries here, using a Crescent City trad band for her complaint against "the cold, cold world" of capitalism, dropping into calypso for the more explicit Money Is King, and adopting zydeco accordion for the upbeat Oh My Love ... Whether accusation or celebration, McCalla's vocals bring a light, melodic touch, managing to sound both earnest and playful; even without her cello, she remains a complete one-off".

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"At times, the instrumentation is so vibrant and robust McCalla's vocals are lost. This is likely intentional to utilize her voice as simply another instrumental line. So rise up, advocate for change, create music for social progression but have a little fun in the meantime. Leyla McCalla's The Capitalist Blues is the essential album to inspire resistance".

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"Top of the world" - "Like its predecessors there's a strong moral core to the album, which loosely operates as a song cycle about living in an unjust society in which money doesn't just talk; it swears, and the poor are left to fend for themselves. Produced by Jimmy Horn of New Orleans R&B band King James & the Special Men and featuring a posse of top Louisiana musicians plus the Haitian collective Lakou Mizik, McCalla's songs range from swinging trad jazz (the title-track) to zydeco ("Oh My Love") via Haitian rara ("Lavi Vye Neg"), calypso ("Money is King"), ragtime ("Me and My Baby") and reverberating swamp rock ("Heavy as Lead"). Less folk-oriented than her previous solo albums, the mood is defiantly upbeat, fired by a powerful spirit of resistance, which offers the hope that a-change-is-gonna-come".

"Despite not being originally from the area, Leyla McCalla's stylistically diverse musical development-spanning classical education to folk songwriting with the Carolina Chocolate Drops-has helped her blend with New Orleans' rich culture. And The Capitalist Blues is demonstrable proof ... And while the album serves as a beautiful milestone in McCalla's musical life, its advocacy-driven narratives also make it an astutely self-contained recording, one that requires no prior relationship with the bandleader's work to glean timely lessons from".