Having opened for bands such as Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears and Charles Bradley,[1] The Relatives are best known for their musical resurrection, having reunited after thirty years of inactivity to produce two critically acclaimed albums.
[6] Writing in The New York Times, James C. McKinley Jr. surmised that during their initial run "Their sound was too close to R&B for the church, too laden with gospel lyrics for R&B radio.
"[2] The Relatives were brought back together after producer Noel Waggener was handed a cracked copy of their 1971 EP "Don't Let Me Fall" by a friend's mother who had found it at a thrift shop.
After Waggener and his partner tracked down Gean West to a church in Dallas, The Relatives reunited to play a concert in 2009 at The Continental Club in Austin, Texas.
[6] The album garnered national attention with NPR and The New York Times both running features on the band's reunion.