Soul singer Jo Harman returns to The Spring in Havant before taking a break for motherhood

After her current run of shows Jo is going to be taking some time out to become a mother.

But before then, and the day before her show at The Spring Arts Centre in Havant, she’s releasing the Signature Soul EP, which was recorded live in the studio with Stefan Redtenbacher and the Funkestra House Band.

‘Stefan's a fantastic musician, and he does these sessions called The Masterlink Sessions where he gets artists that he admires and they do these live takes in the studio and record it and film it.

‘We thought maybe we could do something along those lines and then just put it out as a DVD and an EP in itself.

‘It was a different experience in that we went in on the day and then there were no fixes or anything after that – no going in to fix this or fix that. None of this dredging things up, it’s nice to do something and let it go.

‘We've got so much capability nowadays to fix everything, change this and change that and pitch shift this and tune that – there are all these incredible tools technology has given us, so it's really nice to just totally come away from that and be in the moment.

‘There are always things in your performance if you're recording it live that you’re going to wince at a little bit. But that's also the beauty of live performance and that's kind of why you do it.’

‘It's just a totally different thing to making an album. I love making albums – I really enjoy that recording process and getting things exactly how I want it but there's a beauty in being able to put something out and throwing it away.’

The EP features covers of The Beatles’ Don’t Let Me Down and Loving Arms, which was a posthumous release for Elvis Presley, plus a couple of originals.The other song is The Angel Leaves Her Watermark, which was written by Jo’s friend, musician and producer Jim Wood. It’s a song Jo has her own history with.

‘He had a whole load of great songs and he just sent me a few things one day and the song Angel Leaves Her Watermark was one of them, and it's just a really stunning, poignant piece of music.

‘I’ve recorded it a few times and it's just never felt right, and I'm still not totally convinced it’s totally right on this one. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to capture it how it should be.

‘I don't know whether it's been the key or the arrangements or what. But that's the beauty of music and sometimes you’ve just got to hold your hands up and go: “You know what? Here you go, you guys, you can tell me if you enjoy it or not.”’

Since her last album, 2017’s People We Become, Jo has been involved in another exciting project – through that album’s esteemed producer Fred Mollin.

Mollin had begun working on an album with Motown songwriting legend Lamont Dozier, reworking some of the hits he originally wrote and produced for others, alongside guests like Graham Nash, Gregory Porter and Cliff Richard.

He invited Jo to take part, and she is the only guest to feature on two tracks.

The resulting 2018 album, Reimagination features Jo singing Heatwave, and closes with a spine-tingling duo between Jo and Lamont on The Four Tops’ Reach Out.

‘Originally he only asked me to do Heatwave, which I did, and so that was cool. And then later on he said, actually it would be really nice to do the Four Tops’ track, Reach Out.

‘He’d already done an album version of it and then we were going to do the single version of it and he was going to come over here and do a tour.

‘They asked me to do a duet with him on that, and I duly obliged, obviously!

‘It was amazing, I’m on this record with this legend and it's really quite something, I'm very proud of it.’

Unfortunately the tour, which Jo was due to be joining, never happened – Lamont was advised not to travel on health grounds.

‘It’s a real shame, I was so looking forward to coming over and touring with him. We had this whole tour set up and lots of radio, loads going on, and unfortunately he couldn’t come.

‘He was devastated that he couldn’t make it.’

Fans may have to wait a little while for the full follow-up to People We Become.

With the baby due in May, Jo’s going to be playing it by ear.

‘We’re going to have to see how it goes. I was thinking I might like to get some writing done before baby comes because I know it's going to be really hard afterwards

‘I will be back for sure, I'm not going anywhere, and I will be back on stage and writing and making albums. That is who I am. It's just going to be a period of adjustment.’

Jo Harman

The Spring Arts Centre, Havant

Thursday, March 5

thespring.co.uk