Irma Thomas and Galactic Create Magic Funky Soul » PopMatters

Irma Thomas has teamed up with the beloved funk band Galactic to deliver a joyful and life-affirming new album that fuses classic soul and 21st-century funk.

Audience with the Queen Irma Thomas and Galactic Tchuop-Zilla Records 11 April 2025

Irma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of New Orleans”, has teamed up with that city’s beloved funk band, Galactic, to deliver a joyful and life-affirming new album, Audience with the Queen. While acknowledging that some things aren’t great right now, the LP brims over with love and hope, and fabulous music. Audience with the Queen is the perfect fusion of classic soul and 21st-century funk that many of us could use right now. 

Both Galactic and Irma Thomas are intimately connected with the music and culture of New Orleans. Although her only Top 40 pop hit was “Wish Someone Would Care” in 1964, Thomas will always be associated with “Time Is on My Side”, a Jerry Ragovoy song first recorded by jazz trombonist Kai Winding in 1963, but later covered by Thomas and, famously, the Rolling Stones. Just last year, Thomas appeared onstage with the Stones for a spirited rendition of the song they share. 

Galactic, meanwhile, have been a mainstay of the modern New Orleans music scene since the mid-1990s, and jointly became the owners of Tipitina’s, a classic New Orleans venue, in 2018. They also prove to be natural collaborators with Irma Thomas on Audience with the Queen. 

The album opens quietly, with a gospel-tinged tone, in “How Glad I Am”, a hit single for pop and jazz vocalist Nancy Wilson in 1964. The song is sung and played beautifully, but provides just a hint of what’s to follow. “Where I Belong” clears up any misconceptions immediately, as Thomas catches her audience up on what she’s been up to over Galactic’s enthusiastic backing. Thomas notes that she “was in Paris drinking champagne / When you were in diapers and crying” and declares, “I still got a love affair with the music in the air.”

While not specifically tackling current political and social concerns, Galactic and Thomas do confront the state of the union, most directly in “Lady Liberty”. “Another Black man shot down last night, and they keep adding up,” Thomas sings, before declaring, “Lord save us all, Lady Liberty took a fall.” 

Despite difficult times, Thomas expresses hope that we’ll pull through, as individuals and as a country, in “Love’s Gonna Find a Way Again”. In “Peace in My Heart”, Thomas acknowledges that “so many things in life can break ya” but that “you gotta find some peace in your heart today”. In lesser hands, these sentiments might come across as cliches, but as sung by Irma Thomas, they sound like solid advice.  

“Over You”, which features catchy and eccentric “do-do-do” backing vocals, is a classic bluesy breakup song in which Thomas sees the writing on the wall and suggests that she has too much to do to pine for a relationship that has clearly run its course. 

Irma Thomas and Galactic carry the general good feeling of Audience with the Queen through to the last track, “Be Your Lady”, a funky tune in which Thomas offers a variety of alternatives for a potential lover she has her eye on. It’s not some grand closing statement, but it’s a fun way to bring the album to a fulfilling conclusion.