Charlie Faye and the Fayettes – “Eastside” (audio) (premiere)

Charlie Faye and the Fayettes may be a girl group and play soul/pop, but their music is no Motown retread. In fact, it’s Memphis and Muscle Shoals where their hearts are. That and the eclectic musical melting pot that is Austin, Texas. Charlie Faye has had a successful career on the Americana scene, but she feels that with the Fayettes, she can finally make the kind of music that she’s been dreaming about. The group’s first record releases this Friday and we’ve got a great track from the self-titled LP to share with you today.

“Eastside” is a poppy and ebullient number that’ll make you think about serious issues while shaking your bootay. East Austin, like East Nashville and East LA, Brooklyn, and Chicago’s Wicker Park, is enduring a wave of upwardly mobile hipster gentrifying that is sending long term East Austin residents to the far flung corners of the rapidly growing urban sprawl. It’s eating the heart out of Austin, with minority populations being displaced while the city grows increasingly white.

All of these cities need to work on affordable housing plans for lower income residents to ensure that our urban, culturally important places maintain and reflect the diversity of the nation. As Faye says, “inside the song’s feel-good groove and lighter lyrics lies some heavier socio-political commentary about what happens when neighborhoods change.” There’s nothing better than soul music that makes you think and work for progressive goals.