Teaming with his longtime collaborator and dear friend, saxophone star Candy Dulfer, Chance Howard just dropped a smooth and soulful R&B reimagination of The Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” that he retitled “Buy Me Love.”
Howard was recently in a one-car crash, and his injuries included spinal cord damage, a severed aorta and breaking twelve ribs. The doctors expect Howard to walk again but they didn’t tell him how arduous the recovery process would be nor how long it would take. Howard is expected to remain an inpatient rehab resident for another year.
Howard recorded “Buy Me Love” prior to the accident. While on tour with Dulfer in Amsterdam, Howard and Dulfer performed an impromptu version of “Buy Me Love” during an informal nightclub jam session. After the gig, a married couple approached Howard. While they were unable to speak English, they clearly loved the rendition. Days after the show, the husband unexpectedly passed away. His wife tracked down Howard and asked if he could record the song to be played at her husband’s memorial service. Howard sings and plays all the instruments on the track except for Dulfer’s sax. That recording is now widely available as a digital single from Apple Music and other streaming services.
The thought of making new music and launching new ventures sustains Howard as he grinds away each day at physical therapy. He envisions recording an album featuring an all-star cast performing songs that he writes and produces; producing an entire album by Dulfer; and launching his own podcast called Chance’s Boom Boom Room (fans of The Smooth Jazz Cruise will understand the reference).
“A big dream of mine is to have a concert hall named Chance’s Boom Boom Room. I want it to be a part of the community that gives back by having two shows a night by a different artist almost every night as well as a venue that provides music lessons for kids, food and clothing drives for those in need, and other efforts that benefit the community,” said Howard, who considers himself to be a giver, which make his circumstances that rendered him dependent upon the assistance and generosity of others so humbling.
“With the holidays coming around, I’m most thankful for being alive. I’m still a work in progress but that’s okay. Progress is just another word for ‘getting better.’ And that’s exactly what I’m doing. I may not have walked in here (the rehab facility), but I’ll be damned if I don’t walk out this MF!”