It’s difficult to pinpoint where Sharon Jones peaked — she released so many phenomenal records with the Dap-Kings that it all just felt like a sustained, powerful welcome presence — but it’s not hard to pick a good candidate for when she sounded her most resilient. Released shortly after her first bout with the cancer that would eventually take her life in 2016, she sings with the gusto of a woman who slammed a door right in the Reaper’s face like he was an unwanted salesman, with every bit of defiance in her voice made poignantly vibrant by her survivor’s drive. And even if her pushback against the cruel authorities, wrong-doing lovers, and misdirected karma of the world on songs like “Retreat!”, “Stranger to My Happiness,” and “People Don’t Get What They Deserve” weren’t direct responses to her brush with mortality, they’re all the better from being sung by a voice that declares I’m still here, so what do you think you can even do to me?

– Nate Patrin