Ashley Henry – Mississippi Goddam

South East London musician and vocalist Ashley Henry ­delivers “Mississippi Goddam”, a stylish reimagination of the iconic anthem by Nina Simone – via Naïve Records.

Well over 60 years after its original release, Ashley Henry brings his dazzling brand of contemporary jazz to a timeless classic. Displaying his dream-like falsetto, the rising talent effortlessly glides across smooth piano licks and broken beat rhythms to capture the essence of frustration, hope and the ongoing struggle for freedom in society.

Elevated by a political focus delving into Black history and the powerful civil rights movement in the 1960s, Ashley conveys echoes of the past in every note of his playing, ultimately driven by the spirit of one of the most important legacies in the culture.

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Speaking on the track, Ashley states: “I was first asked to do a rendition of this song a few years back for a TV show – At first, I almost refused – the shoes were way too big to fill, but then I started to think about the meaning of the song and the relevance it still has today. When Nina Simone sang “Mississippi Goddam”, she expressed so much – frustration, anger, anxiety, resistance, and somewhere in there at the same time, hope or knowledge that a different reality of freedom was not only possible, but necessary, and had to be demanded.”

He adds: “So much has changed since then, and yet, it seems like we are fighting the same fight. By covering this song, I wanted to echo what Nina Simone was demanding at the time; though she was responding, viscerally to the murders of Emmett Till and Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four black children, as well as the Hattie Cotton Elementary School bombing and the Nashville sit-ins in Nashville, Tennessee. The song rings true in today’s interconnected and international fight for freedom from forces of racist, colonial violence. Let Nina remind us to keep fighting, keep pushing, keep demanding freedom.”

Ashley Henry is steadily becoming a true alchemist of the creative arts. Since touring globally with Christine and the Queens and supporting Loyle Carner across the UK, the Jamaican heritage artist has collected serious acclaim across the landscape from THE GUARDIAN, EVENING STANDARD, CLASH and WONDERLAND to name a few.

2019 saw the release of his highly acclaimed album Beautiful Vinyl Hunter; earning well over 6.5M streams on Spotify alone and a nomination for BBC 6 Music’s Album Of The Year. Boasting collaborations with GRAMMY Award-Winning producers Blue Lab Beats and UK favourite Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn, Ashley went on to headline the infamous Brick Lane Jazz Festival last year, rubbing shoulders with homegrown talent incl. Bel Cobain, Reuben James and Lex Amor before delivering his stunning body of work My Voice EP – adding another significant project to an already polished discography.

With his hotly anticipated album confirmed to release this year, get ready to hear and see a whole lot more from this grippingly unique talent on the rise.