The Reverend Shawn Amos

Shawn Amos released his first full length album in a decade, The Reverend Shawn Amos Loves You, in October. Like its immediate predecessor, the 2014 EP The Reverend Shawn Amos Tells It, it's full of stinging electric guitar, and soulful vocals — a joyful, exuberant celebration of the blues, in the vein of Solomon Burke or Muddy Waters.  And nothing puts a finer point on "exuberant blues" than the inimitable Blind Boys of Alabama, who feature on the lead-off track "Days of Depression." What the new record is not full of is the gospel-style preaching you'd expect of a man who uses The Reverend as part of his stage name. Amos refers to himself as a "secular gospel" singer — though he's still using music to move the spirit.  Here's a video of his "You're Gonna Miss Me (When I Get Home)" from the WNYC Studios: