Holding true to the promise of upholding analog-only recording in an ever digitizing music industry may pose a challenge to the integrity of many music groups gaining popularity in the 2000s. but not for Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Co-producers Bosco Mann and Gabriel Roth weave East Coast repetition, progressive Motown interludes, and Memphis brass arrangements into a sturdy strand of historical connective tissue and usher the authentic soul of late 1960s R&B into a new decade.

Jones’ powerful voice receives full support from Daptone Records’ house band as they supply gospel doo-wop harmonies, a highly articulate horn section, and interchanging piano, Rhodes, organ, and other xylophonic echoes. In “Better Things,” piano melodies and bright trumpet lines heighten the song’s optimistic message, while swelling string arrangements give way to technically demanding horn runs in “Give it Back,” spanning the emotional spectrum from generous to demanding. Funky, stumbling drums propel the song to an eventual climax as Jones belts, “When I give you my love/ I want to know/Are you gonna give it back, baby?” On track six, the album’s instrumental intermission “The Reason,” the Dap-Kings stretch out and showcase the skill that led to collaborations with artists ranging from the UK’s Amy Winehouse to rap-rock pioneers Public Enemy and funk staple Al Green. As the feature presentation returns, the band musically renders the encouragement offered in the line “Browse around with no intent to buy” by evading resolution until Jones concludes “Keep on window shopping baby/You let a good thing pass you by.”

While the record will be available for digital download, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings reward early purchasers of now-nostalgic formats (either CD or vinyl) with an additional 45rpm single, and a string of tour dates around the world poses to bring the music’s physical experience to the listener. Undoubtedly, Jones has experienced a great deal of heartbreak, which informs her music accordingly, but despite her pain, the sorrowful stories of love lost afford I Learned the Hard Way the emotional authority to effectively instill hope for future relationships, be they romantic or musical.