
Annie & The Caldwells Collaborate with Legendary Disco Pioneer Nicky Siano
PRAISE FOR Annie & The Caldwells
“The most exciting, most dynamic family of faith imaginable.”
“Marvelously tight... speaks to the way familial voices just fit together, their harmonies offering a smooth and powerful coherence.”
“It is a fantastic album – funky, gritty and powerful, packed with incredible singing and potent songs that cast a stark eye over life’s hardships.”
“Wonderful!”
“Beautiful.”
“Powerful disco soul.”
“This is REAL music and I love it.”
“This is amazing. Sounds so good.”
“WOWOWOWOWOOWOW…THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE.”
TRACKLIST
Wrong
Can’t Lose My Soul
I Made It
Don’t You Hear Me Calling
I’m Going To Rise
Dear Lord
CREDITS
Can’t Lose My (Soul) was produced by Ahmed Gallab, known as the artist Sinkane; the cover art was contributed by Raven Jackson from her Mississippi-based film All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt; and the liner notes were written by Danielle Amir Jackson, formerly of Oxford American.
West Point, Mississippi’s Annie & The Caldwells can now count among its burgeoning ranks of converts a genuine disco icon. Today they share a remix of their single “Wrong” courtesy of none other than Studio 54 legend and resident of The Gallery Nicky Siano. It’s the DJ pioneer’s first remix in more than a decade.
The original version of “Wrong” was the first taste of Can’t Lose My (Soul), Annie & The Caldwells’ debut due out March 21 via Luaka Bop (Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, William Onyeabor).
Listen to “Wrong (You Dropped a Bomb) – Nicky Siano Remix” here, and pre-order / pre-save Can’t Lose My (Soul) here.
Produced as a collaboration with Week-End Fest of Germany, “Wrong (You Dropped A Bomb)” is effervescent in its redemptive conviction, as funky piano riffs and groovy percussive elements provide ballast for the Caldwells’ inimitable vocal prowess.
Of working on the song, Siano says: “As soon as I heard it I knew there was another dimension to this that was beyond where we are right now. There was a deepness in the track of that gospel feel. It’s soul. It’s a family affair. It’s way beyond just a bunch of musicians who play together well. It’s a deeper connection. They’re doing it for each other, they’re trying to help each other—it’s amazing chemistry. And you don’t get that anymore, you know? It’s very rare.”
“I didn’t want to touch it. It was perfect.”
The songs on Can’t Lose My (Soul), while propelled by vibrant, body-moving music, deal with heavy themes of spirituality, struggle, and redemption, all informed by their real troubles and experiences as an intergenerational family run by women. In these passionate performances, their personal stories transcend to a state of universal parable and salvation-driven ecstasy, resulting in the kind of communal uplift any preacher or DJ could envy.
Late in 2024, Annie & The Caldwells turned heads with a lightning bolt of a performance at Le Guess Who? festival in The Netherlands, one of their first performances outside the southern United States. MOJO wrote that “their rhythm section (dad and two sons) would give the Family Stone a run for its money; the front line (mum and daughters) have unquenchable sass and spirituality.” Furthermore, The Guardian described it as “extraordinary: a mother and her three middle-aged daughters, clad in matching multicoloured harlequin-print dresses, belting out raw, disco-tinged soul gospel in the midst of a delirious stage invasion by ecstatic, dancing punters.”
Word quickly got out, and artists like The Avalanches, David Byrne, Cornershop, Gabriels, Hot Chip, J. Rocc, and Musclecars quickly became avowed fans. In February, they made their first successful tour of Europe, selling out at London’s experimental and celebrated series Church of Sound, which captivated audiences all across the UK.
On May 8th at NYC’s Public Records, Annie & The Caldwells will perform live following DJ sets by Lovie and Justin Strauss. Later in the evening, Nicky Siano will collaborate with the family for a one-night only live experience. Tickets and more info here.
Annie & the Caldwells is a family band of three generations, which was formed by their matriarch Annie Caldwell to keep her kids out of trouble. Their sound incorporates music the next generation loved — The Gap Band, Chaka Kahn, Bootsy Collins — infusing their disco gospel with grit and street savvy.
For two decades, the constellation of family members in The Caldwells has been more or less the same as they play together on weekends and hold down day jobs. Annie (The Matriarch) is a member of the Staples Jr. Singers and owner and proprietor of Caldwell Fashions, a beloved staple in downtown West Point for women’s clothing and church outfits since the ’80s. Then it’s Joe (her guitar-player husband of fifty years); sons Willie Jr. (bass) who drives a forklift and Abel Aquirius (drums) who drives hospital patients. Daughter Anjessica (vocals) works in customer care for an insurance company, goddaughter Toni (vocals) is an elementary school teacher, and daughter Deborah (vocals) does hair.
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