Bobby Womack

Somewhere in America there should be a monument to the power that is Bobby Womack. This too-ignored soul/funk godhead was the muscular guitar on Wilson Pickett’s "Funky Broadway" and Aretha Franklin’s Lady Soul. His mega-wah made Sly & The Family Stone’s There’s A Riot Goin’ On and his score to Across 110th Street the stuff of urban legend. But his impact as a writer/vocalist is greater. His gospel-meets-blues hits like "It’s All Over Now" and "Woman’s Got to Have It" are the very height of a shouted-loud sensuality that’s as much bark and bite as licking and growling. Fuck, Womack was the original Dogg Pound, the loverman king of gin, juice and beyond as witnessed on his still-throbbing 1981 soul classic The Poet and his most recent Memphis-mack-attack Back To My Roots (The Right Stuff). Even his 1999 Christmas record Traditions (Capitol) has a savage feel, as if Womack were ready to kick Santa’s ass.

—a.d. amorosi

Mon., Aug. 7, 8 p.m., The Dell East, Ridge Ave. near 33rd St., $9-$18, 215-685-9560, www.delleast.org.