Daptone Records has released “Hey Brother (Do Unto Others),” the A-side to their recently announced 100th 45, which will be released June 28th. The 45 is an unprecedented collaboration of talent from Daptone Records legendary roster of artists. Several late great monarchs of the Daptone family are featured on “Hey Brother (Do Unto Others),” including the Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones, as well as Saun & Starr, the Frightnrs, James Hunter, Naomi Shelton, Duke Amayo and Lee Fields.
In the record, the artists listed above are heard “singing a message of righteousness and brotherhood over a groove sewn seamlessly together by members of The Dap-Kings and Menahan Street Band.”
Written by The Frightnrs, the track was originally slated to appear on the group’s LP, Nothing More to Say. After suffering the tragic loss of singer Dan Klein to ALS just before the album’s release, Daptone believed it would be befitting to tribute to the song to the late Klein by revamping it into “a soulful collaboration between the dynamic vocalists on the label.” Not only is the record a tribute to Klein, but also to legends Charles Bradley, Cliff Driver, and the label’s forever Queen, Miss Sharon Jones.
When speaking with Billboard, Label co-founder Gabriel Roth explained his thoughts on the soulful track: “everybody seemed to really love the idea of being together on a record like that… Every one of those singers that I asked after I explained what we were trying to do, they really jumped through hoops to try to make it happen.”
According to the press release, the 100th 45 will be available as a Standard Black Vinyl 45, and as a limited edition die-cut picture disc of their classic globe logo (available at the Daptone Web-Shop ONLY).
Photo credit: Brett Padelford