by Thom JurekWho would have thought it would take a deal with Atlantic Records to uncover the independent live spirit of Louisiana singer/songwriter Marc Broussard? Broussard drew more than a few raves for his 2007 Vanguard issue S.O.S.: Save Our Soul, but it was still an album covered in studio gimmickry -- it tried too hard to sound like an old-school soul record and contained only covers. This time out, it's all original material recorded on two-inch analog tape (Atlantic should release this on vinyl). Broussard uses his road band, and longtime collaborators Justin Tocket and Calvin Turner as co-producers, to knock it out of the park. He employs a couple of Nash Vegas studio aces in keyboardist Tim Akers and guitarist Gary Burnette, the Nashville String Machine, and a seven-piece horn section to enhance the proceedings. LeAnn Rimes and Sara Bareilles sing on one track each to boot. Keep Coming Back is a brash and very present recording rooted in Broussard's arrangements. It was cut in 11 days and the singer claims eight of its songs were first takes. It's drenched in gritty Southern funk, big voiced blue-eyed soul, and swampy blues and rock. He has more in common with singers like Delbert McClinton, Delaney Bramlett, Joe South, and even Daryl Hall than the bizarre comparisons to Al Green and Donny Hathaway he got last time out. The set kicks off with gritty funk as Broussard comes strutting into his lyric in a relaxed but low-down backcountry seductive croon. One can feel the immediacy of the band's presence in the whomp of the snare drums, choppy guitars, and snaky keyboards winding themselves around the blanket of horns (can you say Muscle Shoals?) and a backing chorus that takes it all to party-ville. ...