Led by Ester Mae Smith’ s unmistakeable voice, the Como Mama’ s have found their place at the gospel end of the Daptone table alongside a legend ar y stable of soulful musicians. However , as stirring as their music is, up to now , all of their recordings have been a capella. With this record they join for ces with the boys of the Menahan Street Band (billed pseudonymously here as The Radi ant Rhythm Band) to lay bare the funkier side of gospel music. “The rhyth ms we all play were already right there in their vocals,” explains dr ummer Homer Steinweiss, “so it felt natural to lay down the grooves behind them.” Thomas “T-N-T” Brenneck, the up-and-coming producer who brought us both Menahan Street Band and Charles Bradley, presided over the collaboration, which took place in the old Dunham Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.