Derrick Procell

My Incredible Heart

Catfood Records

Originally from Milwaukee, Derrick Procell has spent four decades as a performer, songwriter, and recording artist. He first made his mark as a sought-after frontman and writer with the award-winning touring band Arroyo, logging thousands of hours on stage. In the 1990s, he moved much of his career into the recording studio, where he built an equally successful life as a vocalist, songwriter, and producer. Along the way, his unmistakable voice became a familiar sound on scores of national advertising campaigns. He’s affectionately known as “The Beer Voice Guy.” If it wasn’t for a microbrew, there’s a pretty good chance he sang for it.

Derrick Procell has been writing songs for more than forty years. His songs have been recorded by artists including the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, Logan Daniels, Melissa Manchester, Big Llou Johnson, the Cash Box Kings, and Grammy nominee and BMA Album of the Year winner Shemekia Copeland. His songwriting and production work has also found its way into television, with songs featured in projects including My Name Is Earl, True Blood, Criminal Minds, Boston Legal, Saving Grace, The Office, and King of the Hill. His movie credits include Lady Bird and the Netflix original Holidaze. His music has also been included in projects supporting organizations including the American Cancer Society and the Children’s Heart Foundation.

After years of concentrating primarily on studio work, Derrick returned to performing and recording his own music with 2016’s Why I Choose to Sing the Blues, his first solo album of original songs. The album received worldwide acclaim and reignited his passion for live performance. That momentum led to Hello Mojo!, released in 2022 on Catfood Records. The album spent weeks at the top of the Roots Music Report Soul Blues chart, while nine of the ten songs reached the Top Ten of the Roots Music Report Soul Blues singles chart. Hello Mojo! also received rave reviews from major blues publications and earned worldwide radio airplay. Now Derrick returns with My Incredible Heart, his second release on Catfood Records.

The All-Star Mojo Band includes Derrick on keyboards, harmonica, and lead vocals, accompanied by backing vocalists Meredith Colby, Karla Beard-Leroy, and J. Hemphill. Guitarists include young slide guitar master Zach Avery on the opening track, along with Zoey Witz, Kingston “Soul Fingers” Livingston, Darren Jay Fallas, and Dave Steffan; keyboardist Brother John Kattke; bassist Todd Lazar; drummers Rick Vitek and Rob Davis; percussionist Bongo Mike Orfanos; and the horn section of trumpeter Mitch “The Lip” Goldman and saxophonist Tom Trinka.

The album opens with the rockin’ “Alabama Bambulance,” with Avery on slide and the kick-ass horns, a name-dropping tribute to some of the masters of Southern soul needed to revive a downhearted friend, as Procell sings, “She looked to be experin’, them cylinders got firin’, and sparks flew off that wirin’, and Aretha raised that siren.”

On the title track, “My Incredible Heart,” Procell’s uplifting vocal soars as he chimes, “This heart will mend it, will ascend it, will rise and then it gon’ love again, that my incredible, my ‘no-regret’ able, my incredible heart.”

On “Play My Soul,” Procell opens his heart with a soulman’s mantra, as he chants, “I am here to play my soul, I am here to lift it to the sky.”

The chunky rhythms of “I’ll Take You Back” pledge the devotion of undying love, as Procell moans, “I will catch you when you fall, never let you down, you’ll never hit the ground, I’ll take you back.”

Brother John Kattke’s rollicking piano leads into the ageless problems of “Gettin’ Old,” with its sexy saxophone solo from Trinka, as Procell declares, “I’d ask you back to my place, but I think I mighta lost my key. Yeah, gettin’ old…is gettin’ old with me!”

The mood then shifts to the more contemplative “I Was in the Room,” advising everyone to pay attention to what’s going on, as Procell wails, “It’s amazing what gets mentioned, it’s surprising what gets learnt, by who been payin’ attention. when all the others weren’t,” with sparkling fiddle and a gospel-flavored chorus.

“Heal Me” is a soulful request for love, sparked by a fiery guitar solo, as Procell pleads, “Let’s see what love can do ’cause only love is real, I know that love can heal.”

On “Use What U Got (To Do What U Can),” Procell urges everyone to take advantage of their gifts, however simple they might be, as he howls, “If all you got is your heart, my friend, you can share it with a soul in need.”

On the upbeat “You Could Be Doin’ Better,” with Fallas’ stinging guitar solo, Procell offers a wry observation about choices, as he chirps, “You could be doin’ better, it could be you and me,” with Procell’s spirited harmonica leading the way.

“All Cried Out” heralds recovery from a lost love, as Procell cries, “You know I’m all cried out. Feel my spirit elevatin’ feel that sunshine radiatin’, sea of teardrops evaporatin’.”

Procell blows rock-hard harmonica on the closer, “Too Much,” with its philosophical parting shot, as he croons, “Too much for one man to hold, too much for anyone to control, too much for the asking, a little too much of everything.”

The heartbeat of Derrick Procell’s life has been pumping out songs that pulsate with soulful blues and hard-driving R&B. He brings it all home with powerhouse vocals and razor-sharp harmonica. My Incredible Heart is a celebration of resilience and strength, as Derrick Procell continues to pump out music to fill your heart.

Richard Ludmerer

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