Anthony Hamilton doesn’t sound like a neo-soul singer; more accurately, Ain’t Nobody Worryin’ sounds like an old soul record, with nothing neo- about it. The songs hinge on subtle, smart songwriting, most evident in “Can’t Let Go.” He sings about how “God made no mistakes when he sheltered me with your love,” but the chorus — “No matter what the people say / I’m gonna love you anyway / You are my life, I can’t let you go” — and his tightly wound vocal suggest that he’s struggling to convince himself that whatever others are saying isn’t really true. His vocal is restrained and contemplative, and when he gets to the title phrase, he sounds so consumed by his internal debate that he accidentally blurts out the song’s title.

 

Like so many great soul men before him, Hamilton is challenged to find reasons to believe — whether it’s in women, society or God — in hard times. The title track is an updated “What’s Going On,” looking at the sorry state of the inner city, chronicling social decay. The chorus is chilling, though, because what Hamilton sees is resignation: “Ain’t nobody worryin’.” Like the heroes of Western movies, soul men such as Hamilton are a part of society, but apart from it, too; engaged with its issues, but not consumed by them. Winning is defined by not going under, and though God is invoked a lot, a more basic human spirituality — hanging on to each other — is usually the key. Hamilton frames that struggle in memorable songs and cool grooves on Ain’t Nobody Worryin’, which makes it a powerful album.