The first time I ever heard Abdel Wright was in the fall of 2005. I was sitting at my desk at work, listening to internet radio — either Accuradio or Radioio — and I was on a New Releases channel and the song “Dust Under Carpet” came on and I was immediately smitten.
I think he popped up a few more times on that channel before I officially decided I needed to get his self-titled album. I actually found somewhat randomly later that fall while in a record store in Madison, Wis. — one more reason Madison ruleth.
As for the album, it’s full of amazing folk-reggae songs that just sound totally different than anything else on the radio. Wright pens songs with a social conscience and he sings with true passion. No two songs on this album are the same. I would consider it one of my top 10 favorite discs of all time
I occasionally surf the web, hoping to find more music by him, but this album is pretty much it. As for other details about this amazing musician, there isn’t much. This article gives some background on Wright’s life and the details leading up to his recording this album.
An internet search on him comes up with several references to Bono, who said Wright would be the biggest musician to come out of Jamaica since Bob Marley. Unfortunately, Wright has yet to record a follow-up, and he’s seemingly fallen totally off the grid.
His official website is no longer active, and he hasn’t logged into his MySpace page since October 2005. But there are three tracks on there that you should give a listen to.
And here is my aforementioned favorite track …
Infinite Shuffle 
[…] Abdel Wright … “Abdel Wright” (2005) … Another one of those albums that I discovered while sitting at my desk in Freeport, I heard one or two songs online via Accuradio and decided to get the disc. When I eventually found it in Madison, I was opened up to another side of reggae that I never knew existed. … Favorite track: “Dust Under Carpet” […]
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