New Orleans icons Galactic and Irma Thomas have teamed up for a new collaborative album, Audience with the Queen. Out April 11th via Galactic’s Tchuop-Zilla Records, the album hears the funky backbeat of Crescent City team up with the Soul Queen of New Orleans.
Following previous original singles “Lady Liberty” and “Where I Belong”, the third single showcases an evocative cover of Nancy Wilson‘s “How Glad I Am”. The 1964 Top 40 hit is a favorite of Galactic co-founder Ben Ellman, and when he saw a clip of Thomas on American Bandstand telling Dick Clark how much she loved Nancy Wilson, he knew he had to include it.
Galactic’s bombastic funk grooves take a considerable downshift on “How Glad I Am” to give Thomas the full spotlight. Organ swells and a backing choir brings out the song’s gospel DNA, as Thomas’ voice shines like sunlight coming through stained glass. The approach in “How Glad I Am” is indicative of the Audience with the Queen as a whole, as Galactic scales back its instrumentation to put Thomas’s voice front and center.
“As much as we wanted to avoid cover songs on the album, we thought a true makeover of this song from Irma’s youth would connect,” Galactic co-founder Robert Mercurio said. “Our version has a much darker, yet still uplifting tone to it. As the opening track, it acts as an overture to the album.”
Audience with the Queen‘s roots go back to 2010 when Galactic and Thomas collaborated on “Heart of Steel” off the band’s album Ya-KaMay. Fast forward 11 years later to the COVID pandemic, and Galactic had established Tipitina’s Record Club (after purchasing the famed New Orleans club several years earlier). In addition to redistributing some of the band’s favorite old albums, Galactic started the TRC to also release new recordings from local New Orleans artists.
“We were just going through a wish list and we thought, ‘Oh, we should do an Irma Thomas record,’” Ellman said. Galactic originally thought of having Thomas bring a backing band to the studio but “then we kind of had a moment where we’re like, ‘Whoa. Maybe it should be Galactic.’ We had a label to put it out on and an audience and we had a history with her in the studio, so we approached her.”
The sessions began in New Orleans in December 2022 and ran through 2024. Galactic wrote new songs expressly for Thomas, who said that working with the band made her “feel youthful” in ways she didn’t expect.
“The fact that I’m sounding better now than I did when I was 20,” Thomas says, “that is definitely surprising me! But I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I’ve been singing a long time and I’ve learned what I can and cannot do with my voice.”
Listen to Galactic and Irma Thomas’ cover of “How Glad I Am”, as well as the previously released singles “Lady Liberty” and “Where I Belong”. Pre-order Audience with the Queen here on digital and vinyl formats. Galactic has a busy Jazz Fest season ahead, with drummer Stanton Moore leading a series of shows for Live For Live Music‘s Fest by Nite series of late-night shows including his annual Frequinauts set with Robert Walter, Robert Mercurio, Skerik, and Will Bernard; and Stanton Moore & Friends with Robert Walter, Skerik, Big Sam, and Will Bernard. Find the full Fest by Nite lineup here.
Galactic, Irma Thomas — “How Glad I Am” (Jimmy Williams, Larry Harrison)
