“Justified” came slow, then all at once, as Robben Ford saw a creative logjam break into this fun little groover of a song. Unadorned, spacious, and just a joy to listen to, it’s traditional music made with a contemporary vibrancy — and another thrilling hint at the greatness to come on Ford’s forthcoming album Into the Sun.
“‘Justified was a chorus that I had the first two lines of,” Ford says, “probably in my notebook for about two years. Finally, I just sat down to write the song. Every now and then you just have to go, ‘Let’s write this song.’ And, so I did. And it came a lot easier, from that moment on, than it had in the last two years.”
Then, he got a couple of key assists. “Justified,” the lastest advance track to emerge from Robben Ford’s follow up to 2013’s Bringing It Back Home and 2014’s A Day in Nashville, features not one but two special guests — Robert Randolph and Keb Mo. Ford says the latter, a Louisiana native, added just the right amount of spice.
Their approach is loose, truly collaborative — the opposite of those emailed digital confections so often dubbed “duets” these days. “The song has a very Southern kind of funky, down-home quality to it,” Robben Ford adds. “Keb was perfect for a vocal duet with me. It’s another song with a good time, humorous kind of feeling.”
The bubbling roux on “Justified” is completed by a honky-tonk turn by pianist Jim Cox. Robben Ford’s Into the Sun is due on March 31, 2015 via the Mascot Label Group. Warren Haynes, ZZ Ward and Sonny Landreth appear elsewhere.
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