Back to My Roots

R&B / Soul · 1999 · 17 tracks

Back to My Roots

A late-career return to gospel foundations. Womack’s weathered, gravelly voice navigates seventeen tracks of spiritual reflection and warm, organ-drenched soul.

1999 · The Right Stuff

Back to My Roots is a profound homecoming for one of soul music's most enduring architects. Released in 1999, it finds Bobby Womack stepping away from the grit of the street and the polish of the studio to reconnect with the sanctuary. It is an album that feels heavy with history, carrying the weight of a man who has lived several lifetimes and decided to return to the source of his strength. The atmosphere is one of reverence and hard-won peace, trading the urgency of his youth for the wisdom of his later years.

Tracklist · 17 Tracks

01

Opening Narration

1:20

02

Rug

5:16

03

Stand by Me

2:41

04

Oh Happy Day

7:07

05

Jesus Be a Fence Around Me

3:19

06

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

3:21

07

Where There's a Will There's a Way

3:36

08

I'm Coming Home

3:26

09

It Is Well

4:50

10

Motherless Child

5:23

11

Bridge Over Troubled Water

4:21

12

Looking Back

3:29

13

Ease My Troubled Mind

5:15

14

Nearer My God to Thee

4:58

15

Cousin Henry

5:45

16

A Hundred Pounds of Clay

4:12

17

Amen / This Little Light of Mine / Closing Narration

3:30

Moments Worth Listening For

The moment the backing choir enters on the title track, elevating Womack's raspy lead into a communal celebration.

A stripped-back piano ballad where the grit in his voice cracks slightly, revealing the weight of decades.

The interplay between a bluesy electric guitar lick and a swelling B3 organ during a mid-tempo spiritual.

Where This Album Departs

How does Back to My Roots sound next to the rest of Bobby Womack's catalogue?

Spirituality+4.0σ

The writing leans far further into spirituality than the rest of the catalogue.

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