Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

AFTER LEAVING vocal group To-Isis last year, singer Duane Stephenson went solo, but said he wanted a change of pace from the rhythm and blues songs for which that unit was known.

He got that, and more, through a year-long collaboration with veteran saxophonist Dean Fraser, which has resulted in his debut album, From August Town.

The 15-song set is, arguably, the best album recorded in Jamaica this year. It is another in a series of 'serious' albums marketed by VP Records that are being produced by Fraser. The first, Tarrus Riley's Parables, was released in late 2006.

Stephenson, 30, said he was attracted by the long-term projections of Fraser and VP president Chris Chin.

"What they wanted to do was work with some young artiste and make albums from scratch. In Jamaica we put out a bag a singles an' den compile the whole thing," Stephenson said in an interview with The Gleaner.

Fraser had worked with the dreadlocked vocalist before, on the song Mr. B, featuring the Taxi Gang of Sly and Robbie and keyboardist Robbie Lyn. Chin was reportedly impressed by the rootsy number and gave the green light for a full album.

Live instruments

Stephenson and Fraser co-wrote 11 of the songs, most of which were recorded live. He said it was a deliberate move to use musicians. "Nowadays, a man mek a standard rhythm an' him record offa vibes. What we had were songs and that called for live instruments," he said.

Most of the songs, Stephenson pointed out, are taken from his personal 'diary'. These include Misty Morning, I Don't Need Your Love and the title track which revisits his youth in August Town, a once peaceful community in St. Andrew that has been disrupted by gang violence in the past four years.

However, the song that has done the trick for Stephenson is Fairy Tale, written by former C Sharp guitarist Lamont 'Monty' Savary. The acoustic ballad is currently a radio favourite.

"I was over at his (Savary's) home in St. Thomas and we started playing it ... After the first three bars, mi sey, 'when wi can go record it?'," Stephenson recalled.

Close to music

A graduate of Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High School, Duane Stephenson is a refrigerator technician by trade, but music has always been close to him. His uncle, Michael Rutherford, was once a member of the Sonny Bradshaw and Ruff Kut bands, while his cousin Diana Rutherford appeared on the first season of the popular 'Rising Stars' contest.

After three years with the Cathi Levy Players, Stephenson and colleagues from that ensemble formed To-Isis, a quintet whose sound was heavily influenced by the American rhythm and blues groups of the 1990s. Their best known song is the Stephenson-penned Ghetto Pain, which is included on From August Town.

VP Records, based in Queens, New York, has a reputation for marketing dancehall acts such as Beenie Man, Sean Paul and Wayne Wonder, but recently it has thrown its weight behind new-wave roots acts like Tarrus Riley. It released From August Town overseas in September and plans to have a local launch in November.