Melody Place Music Sets July 30 Release Date for New Digital-Only Expanded Edition of Soul/Blues Singer Lisa Mills’ Heralded Album

Nashville, TN – Melody Place Music announces a July 30 release date for the new digital-only album, The Triangle (Expanded Edition), from the label’s first signing, soul/blues singer Lisa Mills, produced by the acclaimed Fred Mollin. The new tracks featured on The Triangle(Expanded Edition) are Lisa Mills’ takes on soul classics from King Floyd, “Groove Me,” recorded at Malaco Studios in Jackson, Miss.; and William Bell’s “Everybody Loves a Winner,” recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis. The new digital-only version of the album will be released through The Orchard.

Recording credits for “Groove Me” are: Lisa Mills – lead vocals; Mike Thorn – bass; George Lawrence – drums; Sam Brady – keyboards; Brennan White – lead electric guitar; Fred Mollin – electric guitar; Jim Hoke and Steve Patrick – horns; and Maureen Murphy/Kendra Chantelle Kimbro – background vocals.

“Wow! I remember hearing this killer house band in a Mobile, Alabama, roadhouse playing ‘Groove Me’ and thinking to myself, ‘I’d love to have a chance to sing it!,’ Lisa Mills recalls. “‘Groove Me’ is a dynamic tune with infectious energy. I never imagined I would get the chance to record it. I am especially happy that another cut from Malaco in my home state of Mississippi is now included on the expanded edition of The Triangle.”

Recording credits for “Everybody Loves a Winner” are: Lisa Mills – lead vocals; Steve Potts –drums; Leroy Hodges – bass; Lester Snell – keyboards; Rev. Charles Hodges – Hammond B3 organ; Fred Mollin – electric guitar; Michael Toles – lead electric guitar; Jim Hoke and Steve Patrick – horns; and Maureen Murphy/Kendra Chantelle Kimbro – background vocals.

“I love ‘Everybody Love a Winner,’ Lisa Mills exclaims. “It’s one of my absolute favorites and I always wanted it to be on the album. Thanks to Melody Place’s new distribution deal for The Triangle (Expanded Edition), my dream has come true. And, oh what a treat to return to Royal Studios in Memphis and sing on Al Green’s microphone to finish the vocal track. Although I am often referred to as a Blues Artist, in my heart I feel I am a Blue-Eyed Soul Singer/Torch Singer with a great love and respect for Black Gospel music. How amazing to see all these elements come together in a classic tune like this.”

“The timing for the original release of the Lisa Mills musical road trip album, The Triangle, was the end of January, 2020, and the next thing we knew, our plans of being able to truly fulfill our marketing, as well as being able to support Lisa with showcases and being able to add visibility through her touring, were dashed,” Fred Mollin explains. “The pandemic took everyone all over the world and put us all into a freeze, but the warmth of the sun is finally coming back. To celebrate that, and to give the album its due, I was able to find two songs that were almost complete from our recording in Memphis as well as in Jackson, Mississippi. These two tracks were just waiting for Lisa to come in and put a finished vocal on them. Both were songs that were only orphaned due to running length of the original album. I am so thrilled with these two songs, that I figured it was time to do an extended version of the album and let the world have a second chance to hear one of the great voices. Better late than never.”

The Triangle (Expanded Edition) pays tribute to the incredible sound and feel of the great southern soul music of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and Mills recorded these tracks with some of the original musicians in the same studios where they were first recorded. It is full of mesmerizing story-telling music from the triangle that is Memphis, Muscle Shoals and Jackson, Mississippi. As Mills traveled on her musical journey, she recorded songs that were originally recorded in each city she visited and became one with the songs she recorded along the way. In each southern place, they paid homage to the seminal music that truly changed the world, and most of the vocals were literally live off the floor as they tracked the music, which is rare indeed.

The Triangle (Expanded Edition) showcases both soul and blues classics, as well as some little-known gems, all brought to new life by the incendiary vocals of Lisa Mills. “Just Walking In The Rain,” the bonus track on the original album, was recorded at the legendary Sun Studios in Memphis with a special history, too: it was first released in 1953 on Sun Records and recorded by The Prisonaires, a doo-wop group, while the band was incarcerated in the Tennessee State Penitentiary in Nashville. The song later became a big hit for pop singer Johnny Ray.

“I’m so excited that The Triangle is finally out,” Mills said upon the album’s initial release. “Recording this album was an incredible journey with my formidable producer, Fred Mollin. His concept and creativity resulted in the most heartfelt album I ever made in my career.”

“I wanted to make a traditional R&B/blues album that preserved the spirit of the original songs, while giving them a fresh new life and point of view,” Mollin said about the sessions. “Backed by a wonderful group of legendary musicians, working in the most important musical southern cities and their most historic studios was such a great thrill. For me it was the trifecta. Lisa gave each song her own special character, and it was a great pleasure producing her. I truly feel Lisa is one of the greatest soul singers I have ever heard. Now we get to share these songs with others in the hope that everyone has as much pleasure listening to them as we had recording them.”

About Lisa Mills:

Lisa Mills is a soul/blues singer who belts out her music in a raw, melodic and soulfully-honest way with blues, gospel and soul influences. She takes the best of each these genres, and whether it is self-composed or a carefully chosen cover, she transforms these numbers into her own savory-sweet mix that goes beyond the expected––the result often surpassing the historic best that each of those genres have to offer. She is one of those rare artists that, once you’ve heard her, she cannot be mistaken for anyone else.

Originally hailing from Hattiesburg, Mississippi (born and raised) and now based in Mobile, Alabama, she cites her musical influences as a mixture of Etta James, Elmore James, Freddie King, Elvis, Bonnie Raitt, Billie Holiday and B.B. King.

Lisa Mills continues to perform all over the US, UK and Europe and has headlined numerous festivals and venues. It is here when she performs live that she captivates an audience with her unique voice that in one moment is breathless with barely a whisper, and the next is a soaring crescendo. During a recent live concert experience a patron was heard saying as they were leaving the venue, “this one would have my vote for “Female Vocalist of the Year,” hands down.”

Mills leaves it all on the stage…and in your heart. Once heard she is impossible to forget.

Track listing for The Triangle (Expanded Edition)

1.  Greenwood, Mississippi

2.  Tell Mama

3.  Slip Away 

4.  I’d Rather Go Blind

5.  That’s What Love Will Make You Do

6.  I’m In Love

7.  Same Time Same Place

8.  A Place Nobody Can Find

9.  That’s How Strong My Love Is 

10. Someone Else Is Stepping In

11. I’ll Always Love You

12. Traveling On

13. Members Only

14. Just Walking In The Rain

15. Groove Me

16. Everybody Loves a Winner

17. Trying to Get to You

18. You Better Move On

Tracks 1-4 & 18 recorded at Fame Studios, Sheffield, Alabama; tracks 5-9 & 16 recorded at Royal Studios, Memphis, Tennessee; tracks 10-13 & 15 recorded at Malaco Studios in Jackson, Mississippi; tracks 14 & 17 recorded at Sun Studios, Memphis, Tennessee.