Ranky Tanky’s music celebrates the African American Gullah culture of America’s Southeast. Credit: Courtesy Photo / The Kurland Agency.

Vocalist Lisa Fischer, a longtime backup singer for both Luther Vandross and the Rolling Stones, will join soulful roots-music group Ranky Tanky this Friday for a performance at the Carver Community Cultural Center’s Jo Long Theatre.

Fischer, a New York native, is known for her ability to weave between R&B, soul, pop and classical, while South Carolina’s Ranky Tanky specializes in a funky and eclectic take on the African American Gullah culture of America’s Southeast.

“The musical stylings of both Ranky Tanky and Ms. Lisa Fischer individually provide something intangibly magical, each possessing a rarity of musical talent,” Frances Egler of the celebrated Kimmel Cultural Campus in Philadelphia said in an emailed statement.

Fischer’s single “How Can I Ease the Pain” earned her two Grammy Awards, and she’s collaborated with artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, YoYo Ma and Sting during a career that began in the early ’80s.

Meanwhile, Ranky Tanky, bagged Grammys for its past two albums, Good Time and Live at the 2022 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. While based in jazz, the act’s sound incorporates elements of gospel, funk and blues that celebrate the low-country mainland and Sea Islands of its South Carolina base.

$42, 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 17, Jo Long Theater, Carver Community Cultural Center, 226 N. Hackberry St., (210) 207-7211, thecarver.org.

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This article appears in Jan 8-21, 2025.

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative...