Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings

One could hardly accuse Sharon Jones of taking it easy since the dynamite singer's career renaissance at the start of this decade, but even by her standards 2007 was a busy year. Throughout our conversation she's bubbly and her words come out in a constant stream, but when she lists just the major events of last year that stream becomes a torrent as she tries to fit everything in.

"We sort of had a good year," Jones says modestly of the 12 months that saw her backing up Lou Reed for his theatrical performances of 'Berlin', appearing in (and providing seven songs for the soundtrack of) Denzel Washinton's new movie, 'The Great Debaters' ("Oh, I love working with Denzel," she gushes of the experience) - during which time her backing band The Dap-Kings toured with Amy Winehouse - and then gong into the studio for their third album, '100 Days, 100 Nights'. But while she racked up the achievements, and other acts helped to make sure that funk and soul are well and truly back on the musical map, it's still a year that she'll be happy to leave behind.

"At the same time all those things happened, I had so much bad things going on in my life. I had 24 deaths - I mean family members, church members, close friends - 24 people died last year, including my brother, it was crazy." But the relentlessly positive Jones is already looking forward to what this year will bring, declaring "that's why 2008 will be a great year for me - 07 was great, 2008 will be better."

'100 Days, 100 Nights' is a noticeable change of pace from the deep funk workouts contained on the first two albums from Miss Jones and The Dap-Kings as it veers into classic soul territory, especially that once charted by Stax, whose powerhouse vocalists Jones clearly harks back to. The house band at Daptone Records, the Dap-Kings also acts much like The MGs in that they appear in various permutations in the label's other acts, and have a similar level of spontaneity.

"The first two [albums], Bosco Mann - the bass player - he wrote the music and the lyrics to most of the first two albums. But the third one, you got the drummer, you got the guitar player, even I did a line in the chorus line, so with this album, most guys in the band got more input. And you know we've been doing this now going on 13 years, so we know each other well enough that when they came in to write the songs, he didn't have to tell the horns 'I want y'all to play this', they came up with their own horn lines, and the guitarist came up with the rhythms and the lead, you know."

Compared to this spontaneous process, movies were tough - "It was very tedious, very hard. I mean, I don't know how Denzel did it," but her other major project last year, as a back-up singer for Lou Reed, went in an entirely unexpected direction after he initially overlooked her. "I had been ashamed of him in New York, he never did call on me to sing until we got to Australia and someone mentioned it to him," Jones says, describing how "he came in that day doing an interview and someone interviewed him and said 'how does it feel to have the magnificent Sharon Jones behind you?'"

Once his attention was drawn to her, he gave Jones a chance to sing on Sweet Jane, and like anyone made to wait in the wings for a while (though she's been constantly singing for three decades, she had to spend a nhumber of years working as a prison guard and bank security guard), she knew she had to nail it when given this opportunity.

"When I came on, he said 'I saw Tina Turner', you know, when I 'hmmmmm'" she begins humming, turning it into a soaring high note, "you know, I did a little Tina Turner but it was me," she says, and she's once again giggling excitedly, a little embarrassed by her impromptu performance.

As for her Adelaide performance, last time she was here she played in the sweaty confines of Rocket Bar, and she knows that it's a bit harder to recreate the intimate environment at somewhere like WOMADelaide, but she's not daunted by the challenge. "At the festivals, you're a little further away from the people, but I'm gonna do what I have to do," she assures me, and you'd be a fool not to believe it.

Alexis Buxton-Collins

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings play at WOMADelaide in Botanic Park from Fri 7 Mar until Sun 9 Mar.