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Featured: Behind The Scenes: The Making of "Mississippi Boy"; Southern Soul's Cultural Comedians: Poonanny, Lee "Shot" Williams & Willie P. Richardson; "New Label CDS Emerges"; Artist Notes Galore. . . May 6, 2008:
Big, Deep Songs. . . Untimely Deaths:
Gerald Levert's "What About Me," Al Wilson's "Show And Tell" The recent news of Sean Levert's death (March 30, 2008), coming on the heels of his brother Gerald Levert's passing (November 10, 2006), and shortly thereafter, the news of Al Wilson's death (April 21, 2008), although he was much older (although not THAT old), came as a shock.
Once again, artists we had taken for granted clicked through the turnstiles into eternity.
And your Daddy B. Nice got to thinking about the big, deep songs these forerunners of contemporary Southern Soul music left behind, specifically the masterpieces "What About Me" by Gerald Levert and Al Wilson's seventies' classic "Show And Tell," made topical again by Southern Soul artist Eddie Leon's recent excellent cover of the song (Let Me In Your Arms Again, Leon Records, 111 Jenkins Quarters, Pearl, Mississippi 39208.)
Born in Meridian, Mississippi, June 19, 1939, Al Wilson moved with his family to the Los Angeles area in 1958. He signed with rock and roller Johnny River's Soul City label in 1666, and "Show and Tell"--written and produced by esteemed songwriter Jerry Fuller--was released in 1973. "Show And Tell" went all the way to the top, the very top, spending one week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, the magazine's most all-inclusive national chart, in January of 1974.
"Show And Tell" had the majestic, technicolor sound of the great soul classics of its era: Harold Melvin & The Blue Note's "The Love I Lost," Bobby Womack's "Put Something Down On It," "William DeVaughn's "Be Thankful For What You Got."
"These are the eyes
That never knew how to smile
'Till you came into my life.
And these are the arms
That long to lock you inside
Every day and night. . .
Show and tell,
Just a game we play,
When I say
'I love you.'
Show me, tell me,
You feel the same way too."
A "forerunner" of today's Southern Soul, "Show And Tell" was subsequently covered by the likes of Peabo Bryson, Lloyd Brown, David Cassidy, Khani Cole, Englebert Humperdink, Glenn Jones and many, many others.
In 2001 Al Wilson re-recorded many of his best known records for the album Spice of Life and a greatest hits package, Show & Tell: The Best Of Al Wilson, was recently released.
Al Wilson succumbed to kidney failure in a hospital in Fontana, a city about 50 miles east of Los Angeles. He was 68.
If Wilson's death was not entirely unexpected, given his age and prognosis, the deaths of the Levert brothers were. Today it is their father, Eddie, one of the original O'Jays, who is alive, while sons Gerald and Sean are absent from the scene.
And for the Levert brothers, born to R&B royalty, livers of the fast life--even in working-class Cleveland, Ohio, where Gerald is reported to have been living in a house with a dozen women at the time of his death--their demise was as horrible as a B-movie action flick.
Sean, who was serving a one year-plus sentence for withheld child support (variously reported at $30,000 to $90,000), died controversially while under police custody.
Gerald died of an overdose brought on by a combination of Vicodin, Percocet, and Darvocet, along with the anti-depressant Xanax and two over-the-counter antihistamines. The official cause of death was acute intoxication. He was only 40 years old.
And yet, Gerald Levert's best songs--and certainly "What About Me"--were one and the same with the "Show And Tell" generation of the late-sixties to early-seventies: well-crafted, expansively-produced vehicles fueled by catharctic emotional crises.
Known to many of his fans by his nickname, "G-Bear," Levert would toss teddy bears into the crowd while adoring female fans screamed his name. Gerald Levert sang with his brother, Sean Levert, and friend Marc Gordon in the R&B trio LeVert. He was also a part of LSG, an R&B musical group comprising Keith Sweat, Johnny Gill, and Levert.
"What About Me" was written by Levert & Edwin Nicholas, and first appeared on the Love and Consequences album in 1998. It's a weepy song--the most self-centered and anguished of ballads--and yet Levert made it not only personable and believable but emotionally powerful.
"What about how I feel?
What about me?
What about all our plans?
I guess you don't give a damn.
What about me?
What about me?"
The song was maudlin, but it was "maudlin" done to perfection. It was "maudlin" that made you gasp.
On the basis of "What About Me," which has been played on radio stations across the chitlin' circuit for years, your Daddy B. Nice considered Gerald Levert for the Top 100 Southern Soul Chart many times.
I'd always hoped Gerald Levert would make another great Southern Soul classic, which--combined with the classic status of "What About Me"--would bust the door down for good and secure him a permanent spot in Daddy B. Nice's "Top 100." But that never happened, and now he's gone.
The great part of being a musician, however, is that Gerald Levert's "What About Me" and Al Wilson's "Show And Tell" will live on, like surrogate friends, as long as people love deep, soulful music.
DBN
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Click here for Barack Obama Music Video 2 (Scroll down for Music Video 1)
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April 29, 2008.
The Final Word On. . .
"Mississippi Boy": Floyd Hamberlin Jr.'s "Experiment" That Became a Southern Soul Classic
Your Daddy B. Nice first heard a song called "Mississippi Boy" way back in 2003, and it knocked me out with its bluegrass ambience and infectious rhythm--its pure Southern Soul originality.
"I'm tired of the city life.
Everything's much too fast.
I'm used to old dirty roads,
And the smell of country grass."
It was as if Fats Domino had time-traveled to the 21st century and deposited a gem. I didn't catch the name of the artist--it sounded like "Will T."--but to this day your Daddy B. Nice remembers the exact words WMPR deejay Queen Bee used to close out the song.
"Ahhh, just a Mississippi boy," she sighed. "Got that Mississippi mud on my boots."
Since then, readers of Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide on Charles Wilson have been familiar with the long-running saga of "Mississippi Boy," the Floyd Hamberlin-written song that was recorded under obscure circumstances by an even more mysterious artist who hasn't been heard from since. That would be Will T.
Now Floyd Hamberlin, Jr.--who, in case you haven't noticed, has become the hottest songwriter in Southern Soul--weighs in on the song's murky beginnings.
"First of all," Hamberlin told your Daddy B. Nice recently. "Charles had nothing to do with the 'Mississippi Boy' song."
Well, "nothing" may be an exaggeration.
Will T.'s "Mississippi Boy" was first published in an obscure compilation album from Wilson Records (Charles Wilson's own label) in 2003. It was subsequently released as a bonus track (along with Earl Duke's "Salt In My Sugar Bowl," another Hamberlin tune) as a bonus track on Charles Wilson's If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix It CD (2005), even though Wilson himself didn't play or sing on it. Wilson later recorded his own version of "Mississippi Boy"--very faithful--and released it on his Sexual Healing album (2006). Wilson's version of "Mississippi Boy" was also a bonus track on his latest CD, The After Party .
In any case, Ecko Records eventually released the tune in a gender-switching, high-octane version: Denise LaSalle's
spectacular 2007 Southern Soul hit, "Mississippi Woman."
Maybe it was because Daddy B. Nice and a few deejays made such a commotion about "Mississippi Boy" that Wilson's appreciation of the song's "hit quotient" grew over time. The fact remains, however, that Wilson (who has been marketed as Southern Soul's "Mississippi Boy" in recent concert advertising) was peculiarly unaware of the track's potential at the outset.
"Charles had the opportunity to record 'Mississippi Boy,' and should've done the song himself first," CDS Records' CEO Dylann DeAnna admitted to your Daddy B. Nice last year. "Charles missed his chance. Now Denise (LaSalle) has the big hit with it."
But the same dismissiveness--"Mississippi Boy" was a kind of happy accident--can be said for the man who recorded the song, Floyd Hamberlin, who described it to your Daddy B. Nice recently as an "experiment song."
However, for Hamberlin to say Wilson had "nothing to do with the song" is a bit of a stretch. What Hamberlin means is that "Mississippi Boy" was his--Hamberlin's--song, his project. He'd like to get a little credit for it.
Hamberlin maintains that Wilson co-opted his work, reneging on a joint effort by Wilson and Hamberlin to be entitled Southern Soul Chicago--a great title, by the way.
"What happened there was," Hamberlin said, "I was going to put out a compilation album called Southern Soul Chicago. Charles and I was going to do a split label on the project. I wrote the songs. I recorded them. I did the artwork for the CD. And I sent the the finished product to Charles, artwork and all. Then, behind my back, Charles changed the artwork to Charles Wilson's Soul and Blues. And he went on to press. I couldn't do anything about it."
So what about Will T.? What about "Mississippi Boy"?
"The city's so high-tech.
I don't want to rattle my brain.
Lord knows I'm a country boy.
I want to go back to where I came."
"It was an 'experiment' song," Hamberlin said. "I didn't have anyone to sing this song one Saturday afternoon. I told my partner to go out and find me somebody to sing this song."
Like (I was thinking) your brother-in-law? Like the Fed-Ex deliveryman? Like the weekend janitor?
"I'm just a Mississippi boy,
I've got Mississippi mud on my boots.
I'm just a Mississippi boy
I want to go back to my roots."
"My partner brought this guy in," Hamberlin continued. "And he said his name was Will T. We called him guilty," as in Guil-T.
Hamberlin's memories reminded me of what I loved about "Mississippi Boy" in the first place. Even now, when I knew that it had really been recorded in Chicago, the sound of the song made me imagine two or three guys playing in a rustic setting, off-the-cuff, sitting on hay bales in an old converted barn, with wooden barrels in the background and straw on the floor--the kind of place you could spit in, if you were the spitting type.
"We laughed through the whole recording session because we thought the song was funny," Hamberlin said. "And that's how 'Mississippi Boy' came about."
So, after this, when you hear the name "Will T," think not of a person, but an idea--a vision--of originality, of humor, of playfulness. Think of creativity unfettered by demands of technical perfection or media hype. Think of having fun. Think of experimenting. Think of taking chances. It's often the rough-hewn songs (whatever their technical means) that capture the effervescent and irrepressible joy of creation, and more truly carry on the Southern Soul--and indeed the whole rhythm and blues--tradition.
"Mississippi Boy" is a textbook example.
DBN
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April 21, 2008 Southern Soul's Cultural Comedians: Poonanny, Lee "Shot" Williams, Willie P. Richardson The reappearance of Joe Poonanny and Lee "Shot" Williams on Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles for April 2008 got your Daddy B. Nice thinking about the role of comedy in Southern Soul music and the chitlin' circuit in general.
"The U.S.A's only Rhythm & Blues Comedy Singer," as he markets himself on his latest CD, The Signifying Monkey, Poonanny returns to the charts with "Mississippi Shuffle," a relatively straightforward ditty reminiscent of the late Jackie Neal's (That's) The Way We Roll," using a choir of seemingly inexperienced singers--including what sound like children--to capture an exotic yet everyday sound, a skillful use of amateurism to achieve the charm and immediacy that makes Poonanny beloved.
Of course, The Signifying Monkey also contains plenty of the jokes and off-color stories that have been tickling the funny bones of audiences in five-dollar-at-the-door holes in the wall for over a generation.
Lee "Shot" Williams strikes "perfect pitch"--culturally and comedically speaking--in two new singles from his new CDS effort, Shot From The Soul: "Country Woman" and "It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)."
Lee "Shot" followed his peak years--the era of his "Freak" songs ("Somebody's After My Freak," Somebody Blew The Whistle On Me," "She Made A Freak Out Of Me") with what might be called his "food" phase of the last few years: "Meat Man," "(Everything I Like To Eat) Starts With A P" and the like.
"Starts With A P" was probably the best Lee "Shot" song of that phase, with its recitatation of all the food stuffs that begin with a "P"--among them pot roast, pork chops, peanuts, pasta, peaches, pigs' feet, pineapple, potato pie--that Lee "Shot" loved to eat, without actually naming the sexual female zone in the vernacular that threatens to slip out of (but never quite crosses) Lee "Shot's" hungry lips.
"I don't mind a little snack in the bedroom," Lee "Shot" confides to his girlfriend Patricia near the end of the song, "As long as it starts with a P."
And yet in hindsight Lee "Shot" Williams' food phase seems at best an artistic step sideways in terms of his career since the peak conquered with his "freak" songs of the early 00's. But on this new album, Lee "Shot" strikes "perfect pitch" in a number of ways.
"I've been working all week long,
Working like a knee-grew slave."
Two things to like in the new "Shot" single, "It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)" are the humor and the bucking-the-political-correctness-crowd courage displayed in the use of the phrase "working like a Negro (pronounced knee-grew) slave." The mispronunciation makes it even funnier, and encapsulates the pure charm of Mississippi-steeped Southern Soul.
Lee "Shot's "Country Girl" is an even more impressive presentation of finely-tuned, down-home R&B. When Williams sings about putting "the rest of his money in his shoe" so he doesn't "get robbed," you really believe it.
And when "Shot" is talking about loving his "baby" ("Fannie Mae Brown"--the perfect name, by the way), he's so overcome with appreciation for her qualities that he pauses, as a man would do in conversation with a close friend, and lets out a little, knowing laugh that is alone worth the price of the CD.
The appearance of these witty Deep South folklorists--Lee "Shot" and Poonanny--stirred up your Daddy B. Nice's fondest memories of an artist who is virtually unknown outside that intangible, poll-elusive, Deep South, night-time crowd that comprises the hard-core chitlin' circuit.
Specifically, it dredged up my recollection of first hearing Willie P. Richardson's "Frequent Voter" on WMPR (where else?) on one of my first Southern Soul sojurns in Jackson, Mississippi.
The North has its master storytellers like Garrison Keillor of "Prairie Home Companion." The West has its cowboy poets like Baxter Black. But neither, for my money, compares to the Southern-culture-steeped routines of humorist Willie P. Richardson.
Imagine being in a strange place, in a strange city (Jackson), listening to blues and R&B on the radio, when a conversation between a man and a woman comes over the air waves. It's between a citizen-caller and a voter-registration official:
"I thought I was going to be out of town on election day coming up." (Willie is talking.) "And now I found out that I'm going to be here. So I needs to know where I'se supposed to go vote again."
"Well, sir," says the election official, a relatively sympathetic young woman. "You said you already voted absentee."
"Yes, Ma'm, I have," Willie says matter of factly.
"Well, you can't vote again in this election if you already voted," says the election official.
"Well, why can't I?"
"Well, that's the law. Nobody can vote more than one time in a single election."
"Well," says Willie. "I done it lots of times before."
"Sir?" Skepticism is creeping into the election official's pleasant phone demeanor.
"Yes, Ma'm," Willie says. "Just about every election, some of these candidates will come by and give me and my old lady ten dollars a piece to vote for them. And you know, we're on a fixed income, and that money sure do come in handy every year. Sho' do."
Willie goes on to relate how one candidate came by his house that very morning and gave him and his old lady twenty dollars. Again, it was money sorely needed. Of course, Willie didn't tell the second candidate that they'd already voted for someone else. The previous candidate had given him a gift certificate for six hamburgers, six French fries and six "soda waters," and Willie and the old lady had long ago dispatched with them.
Now Willie's in a predicament. He already used the twenty dollars the second candidate gave him for a used tire for his pickup truck, so he's obliged to vote for him. In fact, at one point, he even asks the election official herself if she'll vote for the candidate.
Meanwhile, the growing annoyance and alarm of the official is becoming palpable. She starts asking pointed questions.
"I need the names of both those candidates."
"Well," Willie says politely, "I can't do that."
"Who are you, sir? What is your registration number?"
"Well, I can't. . . "
Willie's too wiley for that, and they go back and forth for awhile longer, Willie getting off a final shot: "You know, everybody entitled to the right to vote."
"That's right," retorts the election official. "But not twice in the same election."
Listening to this the first time (and maybe the second and third), I remember (betwen the belly laughs) shaking my head and reminding myself that this was the land of Huey Long. "This is Mississippi," I said to myself. "It's really backward in these parts. Wait 'till I tell the friends back home about this." In other words, I fell for the "Frequent Voter" story hook, like and sinker.
And it made me love the place and the music--Mississippi and Southern Soul--even more. Like hiphop and low baggy pants, this comedic, politically-incorrect folklore went with the Southern Soul "package." I wanted to drink deeply and often from this well. Indeed, at one point I considered doing a Top 100 Southern Soul Artist Guide on Richardson.
"Frequent Voter" graces the album Phone Pranks, Vol. 2 (Landmark, 2001), and it's particularly appropriate in this presidential election year.
Richardson has done a bunch of these albums, all under the title "Phone Pranks," and it's said he seeks the permission of his victims (like the old "Candid Camera" TV show) to publish them on his albums. (Imagine the phone pranks that never see the light of the day--they must be "doozies".)
In another phone conversation, "License Plate,", Richardson is worried about getting a ticket (or even a DWI because he drinks beer while driving). The catch is that his transportation is a wagon pulled by two big mules. He's trying to find out if he needs to get a "license" to drive them if he stays on the side of road.
The caller-victim in this case is a good-old-girl-sounding woman who keeps telling him that "I can't tell you about that. . . "
But Willie persists even though the lady, while civil and cheerful, can't answer his questions, and in fact keeps telling him to call the Department of Public Safety. Finally, in exasperation, Willie ends the conversation with, "I hope you don't make too much money, because you don't know nothing about anything down there." The red-faced civil servant says she sure doesn't and hangs up.
And by the way, there's another chitlin' circuit humorist on the scene. His name is Marcel. I'll have to save him for some future column. In the meantime, motor your clicker to Daddy B. Nice's CD Store, page "R," and begin sampling the hilarious Willie P. Richardson.
--Daddy B. Nice
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Click here for Barack Obama Music Video
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Click here for Barack Obama Music Video 2
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April 14, 2008 News & Notes In "Backbone," one of the new singles from his Man Up CD (written by Floyd Hamberlin Jr.), Stan Mosley sings:
"Girl, I heard that Theodis song,
Talking about 'stand up in it,'
And I heard another song today,
'I'm going to make your monkey talk.'"
Every self-respecting Southern Soul fan knows the former song, Theodis Ealey's classic, "Stand Up In It." But what song is Stan Mosley referring to in the last two lines?
The answer is Stephanie McDee's "Monkey Talk," from the Avanti album Living The Blues (2002). It has a punching rhythm track, a brash vocal, and an arrangement with just the right mix of humor and pizzaz.
Stephanie McDee, on the basis of "Monkey Talk," was destined to be included in Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artist Guides, but by the time your DBN had made it to the upper regions of the Top 100 Chart (a period of years in the writing), the McDee CD had already gone out of print and McDee had failed to produce any follow-ups. Thus, Stephanie never gained her moment in the SouthernSoulRnB sun. It's nice to see that her song is still on the minds of Southern Soul artists.
The only remaining question is: Whatever happened to Stephanie McDee?
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Mr. Sam will appear May 7, 2008, on the "Live At Nine" news program in Memphis, Tennessee performing his new hit song "VOICEMAIL" at 9:00 pm. Sam says it will be "a can't miss" show.
*****
Wendell B. is the latest Southern Soul artist to take a cruise. Sail April 27, 2008 from Galveston, Texas on a 5-day cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy to Cozumel and Progreso and back again with Wendell B, including a special private cocktail party and performance. 337-477-0835 or 800-737-8735 or infor@globetrektravel.com.
*****
Swamp Dogg's Amsterdam, Netherlands show was captured on video. Fans who want some virtual audience buzz can view Swamp "live" executing numerous songs on these You Tube pages:
Synthetic World
Total Destruction To Your Mind
Sam Stone
Got To Get A Message To You
In My Resume
Sal-A-Faster
In Time Of War, Who Wins
*****
Nellie "Tiger" Travis also has a You Tube video out. Fans can view a photo-montage of Southern Soul's striking new diva (to the accompaniment of "Slap Yo' Weave Off") at
Nellie On You Tube.
*****
Regarding Stan Mosley's single "Man Up" (from the album of the same name): your Daddy B. Nice had never heard anyone use the phrase "man up" in casual conversation until the other night, when I happened to tune into WWE's "Friday Night Smackdown" on the TV.
The verbal jawing between the wrestlers is often more entertaining than the actual matches. 280-pound, barrel-necked Batista was "fronting" with longtime, 200-pound ring favorite Shawn Michaels. Retorting to one of Batista's barbs, Shawn Michaels said, "Let me MAN UP with you right now." (Caps mine.) The meaning was: "Let me level with you, big guy."
"Man Up" update, 4-16-08: Okay, the phrase "man up" is busting out all over. The front page of the "Rocky Mountain News" for April 16 has a full-page picture of NBA star Carmelo Anthony, after an arrest for DUI, standing at a podium with Allen Iverson in the background. The headline reads: "I'M GOING TO MAN UP". The headline is taken from Melo's quote: I'm going to man up to my mistakes." DBN
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Your Daddy B. Nice was fascinated to learn that El' Willie, who took home the "Daddy" award for "Best Southern Soul Male Vocalist of 2007" for his song "You Got Me Where You Want Me" (Dance With Me CD), was in fact the writer (and co-writer) of Theodis Ealey's two biggest hits--at the least, what were considered his two biggest hits up until Theo's latest album.
Those hits would be "Stand Up In It" and "All My Baby Left Me Was A Note, My Guitar, & A Cookie Jar." And El' Willie is the one and same William Travis II who co-wrote "Stand Up In It" with Ealey and solo-wrote "All My Baby Left Me Was A Note, My Guitar, & A Cookie Jar."
Just wondering. . . Was Theodis constantly cranking up the tempo on El' Willie?
--Daddy B. Nice
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April 6, 2008: CDS Records Southern Soul Hits & Signings Signal CDS's Emergence Dylann DeAnna wants you to know he never wanted to be a record label owner.
DeAnnna, the owner and writer of "Blues Critic," one of the most popular blues and Southern Soul websites on the Internet, remembers telling one of the artists who'd suggested he start his own label that he had no interest in such a venture, and in an interview with Daddy B. Nice recently, DeAnna was almost paranoid about "stepping on any toes" in the music business.
"I never even considered forming a record label until repeated requests for my help made me consider it," DeAnna said. In recent years several artists had asked for DeAnna's help in getting signed to labels, and DeAnna--with his many contacts--had often obliged, making a phone call here, a recommendation there. Several of the artists were personal favorites, and still DeAnna remembers resisting the temptation to jump over to the recording side of the music business.
CDS Records was originally conceived as a three-man partnership comprised of Nashville-based soul singer Clarence Dobbins, DeAnna and a Mister "S," the initials of their first names making up the acronym CDS.
In fact, it was the Mister "S" (in CDS) and (to a lesser extent) Dobbins who talked DeAnna into venturing into the "tough" music business. Mr. "S" had a history in the music industry and a persuasive plan. And finally, DeAnna took the plunge: CDS was incorporated in 2007.
DeAnna had wanted to bring in Clarence (the "C" in CDS) Dobbins from the beginning, but personal issues delayed his commitment until early 2008. "I signed Clarence as our first artist," DeAnna said, "always hoping he'd be ready to be a bigger part of the team. Clarence is so talented and so nice of a person as well."
"I just couldn't commit at the time," Clarence Dobbins added. "We had a death in the family and some other issues I needed to deal with. Dylann and I have been friends for some time and I'm really looking forward to working together."
Meanwhile, DeAnna was having trouble with his only true partner at the time, Mr. "S." Serious differences regarding "workload and expense" had led to an abortive falling out between Mr. "D" and Mr. "S" only a couple of months into the label's young life.
"So CDS," DeAnna noted, "was just down to me."
Dicky Williams was one of those artists without a recording contract whom DeAnna had been unsuccessful in hooking up with a label. An overlooked, down-on-his-luck, Otis Redding-influenced singer with a face as creased as a December pumpkin--a face, in other words, born to sing the blues--Dicky Williams had risen high enough in chitlin' circuit circles to record for respected, early-Southern Soul label Ichiban Records in the 90's before disappearing for the better part of a decade.
Williams' work was distinguished by its power, its frequently X-rated, chitlin' circuit-back-alley content and its direct ties to the Otis Redding way of singing, but it lacked focus, consistency, and the overall "persona" that transforms an artist's name into a musical trademark. And, like many other Southern Soul and Blues artists in the early years of the new century, Dicky Williams faced a diminishing field of record-publishing options at the very time Southern Soul music was making huge leaps in popularity.
The "major" Southern Soul labels--the ones with real studios, "live" musicians, songwriters and back catalogs--had been reduced to Malaco-Waldoxy Records in Jackson, Mississippi and Ecko Records in Memphis.
The remaining options for Southern Soul artists were respected "indies" like Ace, Hep'Me, Mardi Gras, Avanti, Suzie Q, Ichiban and Paula. But all but Hep'Me and Mardi Gras had greatly reduced their output or closed doors completely by the early years of the new century.
A few artist-owned labels had proliferated in the resulting vacuum, companies with owner/performers like Wilbe (William Bell), Ifgam (Theodis Ealey) (in his case the acronym spells "I Feel Good About Myself"), Brittany (Mel Waiters) and Loveland (Archie Love), but their budgets (and therefore rosters) remained necessarily frugal and didn't come close to meeting the demand of a new generation of performers.
The most positive development in the Internet age was the appearance of CD Baby, the website catering to independent musicians, who could now market their CD's and effectively eliminate the recording label-contract-distribution process entirely. More and more young artists (T. K. Soul, Bigg Robb) began to do just that, bypassing the traditional labels, essentially self-publishing and availing themselves of the distribution offered by CD Baby.
And yet, for every young artist with the popularity and promotional skills of a Bigg Robb or a T. K. Soul, there were hundreds of other worthy performers left to languish in relative anonymity. This was, in sum, the fate of Dicky Williams at the time DeAnna and his partners formed CDS. And in September of 2007, CDS published a pair of virgin releases: new CD's by Dicky Williams and longtime Southern Soul and Blues vocalist Charles Wilson.
Charles Wilson was himself the owner of a small artist-owned label (Wilson Records) who had also recorded well-known albums for Ecko, among others. His Southern Soul "claim to fame" had been a couple of Ecko hits of the late nineties, "It's Sweet On The Back Street" and "In The Room Next To The Room." More recently, Wilson had helped to "mid-wife" a Southern Soul song, "Mississippi Boy," especially beloved by Southern Soul fans. A cunning vocalist with a honey-toned tenor, Wilson's recent albums had, even in DeAnna's words, been "middlin'." The good news was that CDS's first releases did not disappoint.
A quick synopsis:
Dicky Williams & The Ken Massey Group / I'm Back Again, September 07
DeAnna's comment: "Dicky wanted me to put his record out."
Hits: "Dog Kinda Love (Simeo's Remix) ." "Dog Kinda Love" (Original mix with Ken Massey guitar).
Produced by Ken Massey. All songs written by Dicky Williams and Ken Massey.
Backing vocals: Alyssa Massey on "Dog Kinda Love". Backing vocals and dialogue on "Sugar Daddy's Back": Drea Lynn.
DBN's 2nd-Best Track: "Sugar Daddy's Back."
DBN's Note: "I'm Back Again" and "Sugar Daddy's Back" derived from B. B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone."
Charles Wilson / The After Party, September 07
DeAnna's comment: "Charles just fell into the mix."
Hits: "Plumber Man," (also reprise of "Mississippi Boy").
DBN's 2nd-Best Track: "Broke Into My Heart."
Produced by Simeo Overall, formerly of Cameo. Arrangements keyboard-programmed by one of the best. Songwriter on almost all cuts; also background vocals.
DBN's Note: "Plumber Man" was a remake of a James Smith Southern Soul song--a minor chitlin' circuit hit.
"Hidden" Bonus Track: "Mississippi Boy" (not listed in credits).
Daddy B. Nice's "Quick Review":
Of CDS's two initial offerings, I was more impressed by the Dicky Williams CD, mainly because I think blues guitarist Ken Massey (who produced the Williams CD) brought more "to the table" than Simeo Overall brought to the Charles Wilson CD.
The Dicky Williams CD, I'm Back Again, is the first example I can remember of a white guitar blues "sound" crossing over into the Southern Soul market. That may be because Dicky Williams' vocals are so "ghetto" and so full of energy they burn away all traces of "guitar-slinger blues." At their best moments, "Dog Kinda Love" and "Sugar Daddy's Back" point to another way of presenting Southern Soul--no small accomplishment.
And while I liked the strident Simeo remix of "Dog Kinda Love," which came out as a single long before the CD, and which garnered many "Daddy" Award nominations at the end of 2007, I now vastly prefer the Ken Massey version of "Dog Kinda Love," with Massey's guitar hook insinuating itself around Williams' already strident-enough vocal like the tail of a disappearing snake.
Speaking of Simeo, I didn't care for the quasi-hiphop sound of "That Boom," the first cut on Charles Wilson's Simeo-written and Simeo-produced The After Party album. Simeo broke onto the Southern Soul scene in 2007 with a slick, Teflon-coated sound that permeates the entire Wilson CD.
The music is clear, and it even "sparkles" to a certain extent (see "Broke Into My Heart"), but it's short on below-the-belt "substance." The fact is, had it not been for the chitlin' circuit-sounding "Plumber Man" (and the last-minute addition of the previously-recorded "Mississippi Boy"), the "Simeo'd" version of Charles Wilson on The After Party would almost pass for "urban" R&B.
The plum (no pun intended) of the Charles Wilson album, and the song that saved the album from Southern Soul irrelevance, was the result of CEO DeAnna's encyclopedic mind for Southern Soul music. He introduced Charles Wilson to James Smith's "Plumber Man."
"He'd never heard it," DeAnna explained to your Daddy B. Nice last year. "I really liked James Smith's version and thought it could be a hit. I've heard a few people say that Charles Wilson stole poor James Smith's song, but that's plain silly. Smith had a two-plus year run of the song and it didn't get the airplay it deserved. Now it is."
Meanwhile, back at CDS:
If CDS had ended 2007 with those two releases and not much of note coming out immediately, no one on the chitlin' circuit would have been surprised. Everyone would have said the fledgling label had done pretty well for itself.
But DeAnna was just getting started. Southern Soul stalwarts Stan Mosley and Lee "Shot" Williams abruptly signed on with CDS, and up-and-coming Southern Soul songstress Nellie "Tiger" Travis soon followed. That's when CDS really got the attention of the Southern Soul community. That's when people began to realize that DeAnna was aiming high. And that's when DeAnna probably began to realize that he was "stirring up the waters" to an extent that justified at least a little paranoia. Suddenly, CDS's acquisitions (and from a business standpoint, its risks) signaled that it intended to be a "player" at the highest level. Here were the brash young label's moves "out of the gate" in 2008.
Stan Mosley: Man Up / Jan 08
DeAnna's comments: "Stan and I had been friends for years, so when I now had a label I signed him. Stan and most of Nellie (Travis) was produced by Floyd Hamberlin, Jr.. Recorded in Chicago."
DBN's Projected Hits: "Man Up," "Backbone."
Lee "Shot" Williams: Shot From The Soul / March 08
DeAnna's comments: "Charles (Wilson) brought me Lee Shot. Lee Shot was recorded half in Chicago by Floyd (Hamberlin, Jr.) and half in Mississippi. Stan (Mosley) did backup vocals on It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)
DBN's Note: John Cummings wrote Lee Shot's "Country Woman".
DBN's Projected Hits: "Country Woman," "It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)".
Nellie "Tiger" Travis: I'm A Woman / April 08
DeAnna's comments: "I then went after Nellie.
Bob Jones wrote the duet between Nellie & Stan (Mosley)."
DBN's Projected Hits: Slap Yo' Weave Off," "I'm A Woman."
And still more CDS signings (Barbara Carr, Chuck Roberson) followed, the announcements always promoted and distributed in the most professional and expeditious manner throughout the Southern Soul music community.
"Albums in the early stages," DeAnna continued, "are Barbara Carr & Chuck Roberson. We have a finished album on Bobby Stringer being mixed as well that was recorded in Florida. Clarence (Dobbins) was first, but got severely delayed. It's being mixed now and it's better than everything else. Beginning with Clarence's CD, all our CD's will feature real horns, instruments, etc...and be mostly recorded in Nashville."
DeAnna seldom passes up the opportunity to rail against "the usual keyboard programmed music common to the (Southern Soul) genre." And yet DeAnna, ever the pragmatist, has already put out programmed music under the CDS label, beginning with the keyboard-whiz, Simeo-produced The After Party and continuing with the Floyd Hamberlin, Jr.-produced albums from Travis, Mosley and Lee "Shot" Williams. Call it a love/hate relationship. DeAnna's goal appears to be high-quality recordings--meaning real "live" instruments, i.e. Malaco or Ecko--without losing the down-home feeling of the best of Southern Soul.
So that my readers wouldn't think I was going "soft" on him, I asked DeAnna if he wanted to address what some potential "haters" might perceive as a conflict of interest: his simultaneous involvement in both Blues Critic and CDS.
"Though I also run Blues Critic," DeAnna said, "my label will be treated like any other record label. I started Blues Critic merely as a hobby, not as a business (you know it's just enough to get by, Daddy), but many folks reached out to me and appreciated what I was doing, and that was the motivator.
"Albums released on CDS Records," he added, "will be reviewed by outside writers and so on. Naturally, there will be ads for CDS Records, as we do ads for any record company."
Today, with the prospect of CDS looming ever larger on the Southern Soul music scene, DeAnna still bends over backwards to portray the company as a "last resort"--as something he was practically forced into starting by performers looking for more recording options. And he is especially sensitive about "stepping on toes."
Although, when your Daddy B. Nice queried another prominent Southern Soul record label owner about the emergence of CDS, he was surprisingly sanguine.
"A hit record will benefit the whole market, and give the music wider exposure, and therefore create more interest," he said. "We don't care where a hit comes from, but we do want hits in our market, so any label that can add positively to the market is a welcome thing."
And at last look, those new CDS discs were generating "hits," in particular the top two spots in Daddy B. Nice's Top Ten Breaking Southern Soul Singles for April, with Nellie "Tiger" Travis' "Slap Yo Weave Off" number one and Stan Mosley's "Man Up" at number two. Lee "Shot" Williams held down two spots in Daddy B. Nice's April Top Ten: "Country Woman" and "It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)."
Not bad for a label that didn't exist a year ago.
"I anticipate being 'hated upon' by some in the industry," DeAnna concluded. "They may see me as a threat, or as competition, or hate me for uglier reasons. But if they knew me, they would be at peace. They would see me as a team player in the Southern Soul community."
Daddy B. Nice's bottom line?
The new label's strong start bodes well for Southern Soul.
--DBN
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News & Notes: March 24, 2008
American Blues Network is quickly rising in the Southern Soul Internet radio mix, due in part to recent struggles with sound quality, connectivity and consistency at some of our favorite internet radio sites. If you can get past the station's annoying label of "party blues and oldies" instead of "Southern Soul and Blues," which is what they're playing, especially in recent months, you'll find chitlin' circuit RnB rendered with scintillating sound quality and 24/7 consistency.
What really surprised your Daddy B. Nice one recent Saturday--always a "down" time at the traditional stations--was a "Top 20 Countdown." They didn't call it a "Southern Soul" countdown, but it was--and a knowledgeable one at that. I recommend it wholeheartedly to my readers. DJ Tyrone "The Don" Davis had an interview with Mel Waiters that day. Here's the direct link to check them out: American Blues Network.
Today's Daddy B. Nice "Teaser" (Test Your Southern Soul I.Q.):
Late, great, North-Mississippi bluesman R. L. Burnside's finest uptempo song (curiously, more popular in Chicago and the North than the Delta) was his trance-rock-blues number, "It's Bad You Know." Name the track from the following four songs that best carries on the "locomoting" talking blues of the Burnside classic:
A: "95 South (The High Sheriff From Hell)" by Packrat's Smokehouse (Anthony "Packrat" Thompson)
B: "The Itch" by Keb' Mo'
C: "Key To The Highway" by Bobby Rush
D: "My In-Laws (Ain't Nothin' But Outlaws) by Robert "Dr. Feelgood" Potts
(Scroll down for answer.)
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The highly-anticipated second album by Nellie "Tiger" Travis, who also scored a record deal over the winter, is due out in April on new label CDS Records. The first single leaked from the CD, "Slap Yo' Weave Off, is a monster cut with Nellie in the "fighting" form we all love. (See Daddy B. Nice's Top Ten Breaking Southern Soul Singles for March 2008, holding down the number two spot.) (Update: it's now #1!---April 2008.) It sounds like a Floyd Hamberlin, Jr. tune--more good news, since his material was instrumental in the success of Travis's debut disk--CDS says Chicago-based Hamberlin produced the upcoming CD.
Hardway Connection, who had a big Southern Soul hit with "One In The Morning" in 2005 (about penile enlargement before it became the number-one e-mail spam nuisance), is rumored to have a new CD out. Trouble is, no one knows how to get a copy.
Answer to Daddy B. Nice's "Teaser":
A: "95 South (High Sheriff From Hell)" by Packrat's Smokehouse (Anthony "Packrat" Thompson),
from the album Edge Of The Swamp (1998). This is one of the great, under-appreciated talking-blues classics, inadvertently fallen into the "cracks" between blues and Southern Soul. I first heard "The High Sheriff From Hell" on DJ Handyman's show on WMPR (Jackson, Ms.) radio years ago (and many times since), but "Rag" (DJ Ragman from WMPR) claims he turned Handyman onto it. In fact, "95 South" is the black man's ultimate nightmare of a highway patrolman, but what comes through even more powerfully is the euphoria of driving down the highway in a big car with money in the pocket. The album is out of print, but you never know what's going to pop up on the used records sites. At last check, I found copies going from $10 to almost $100! DBN
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Daddy B. Nice'sQuick Hits
Artists Not Heard From Lately But Definitely Missed:
Bob Steele
Robert "The Duke" Tillman
Sheba Potts-Wright
Dave Mack
LaKeisha
Sorrento Ussery
Pat Brown
Luther Lackey
Terry Wright
Willie B.
Syleena Johnson
Rick Lawson
Test your Southern Soul I.Q. with a. . .
Daddy B. Nice "Teaser"
Which of the following artists was Southern Soul chronicler Jerry "Boogie" Mason referring to when he recently wrote: "The Fat Man was clean enough to put in a Pot of Greens"?
A. Bigg Robb
B. Bigg Joe
C. Big G
D. Fat Joe
E. Big Joe Turner
Too easy? Too difficult? Here's a Bonus "Teaser":
The opening verse to Ms Jody's new song, "It's The Weekend" is a take-off on which of the following Southern Soul classics?
A. "Good Loving Will Make You Cry" by Carl Marshall
B. "Why Me?" by Reggie P.
C. "Slow Roll It" by The Love Doctor
D. "Hole In The Wall" by Mel Waiters
E. "(It's) Friday" by Sir Charles Jones
For answers, scroll down to the bottom of Quick Hits.
Ric E. Bluez
Just heard Ric E. Bluez singing "Somebody"s Cheatin'." What a great song, as were almost all of the tracks on his excellent but poorly distributed debut CD, Sexy Soul (2007). The horn charts that start out "Somebody Cheatin'" are terrific. At first, I couldn't remember what song I was hearing, only that it was musically exciting.
An enormous reservoir of good will builds up among knowing deejays and critics when a great effort by a young unknown goes under-appreciated. And when Ric E.'s second album comes out he's going to get some special attention, with the potential for a career-defining hit song. You heard it here first.
(For more entries on Ric E. Bluez on the SouthernSoul website, go to Comprehensive Index.)
Songs Playing on Southern Soul Radio Stations 7 years ago (2001):
"Part Time Love" by Lady J
"She's In A Midnight Mood In The Middle Of The Day" by Ollie Nightingale
"Swing Out" by Mel Waiters
"Is It Over" by Marvin Sease
"Good Loving" by Vickie Baker
"Hot Wired My Heart" by Artie "Blues Boy" White
"I'll Be There" by David Brinston
"I'm Getting What I Want" by Peggy Scott-Adams
"Something About My Deejay" by Lasha Jackson
"Teaser" Answer: A. Bigg Robb, upon his entrance--besieged by autograph-seekers--at Constable John Brown's 6th Annual Prom Ball in Jackson, Mississippi on Valentine's Day 2008.
Bonus "Teaser" Answer: E. "Friday" by Sir Charles Jones. In fact, the first verse or two of the John Cummings-written, Ms. Jody-performed song resembles "Friday" so closely that your Daddy B. Nice was halfway hoping to hear a "cover" of the Jones classic.
DBN.
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The Top 25 Southern Soul Songs: 2007 are posted permanently on Daddy B. Nice's "Best of 2006-2007" page.
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Feedback, comments, information or questions for Daddy B. Nice?
Write to daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com.
. . . Or send by post to:
Daddy B. Nice
SouthernSoulRnB.com
P.O. Box 19574
Boulder, Colorado
80308
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--------------MAY 2008----------------
1. "Women's National Anthem" --------------------Sweet Angel
Bargain-Priced Handle Your Business CD
2. "I'm A Woman"-------------Nellie "Tiger" Travis
Bargain-Priced I'm A Woman CD
3. "Ladies' Night"-------------------------Booker Brown
Bargain-Priced A New Beginning CD
4. "You're The Best"----------------------Kenne' Wayne
Bargain-Priced You're The Best CD
5. "Better Stop Doggin' Me Around"-----------------Mystery Man
Bargain-Priced What's Wrong With Our Love CD
6. "This Old Music"---------------------Omar Cunningham
Bargain-Priced Time Served CD
7. "Caught Up"-------------------------100% Cotton
8. "Jody's Got My Tutu"-----------------Mystery Man
Bargain-Priced What's Wrong With Our Love CD
9. "Daylight"-----------------------Carl Sims
Bargain-Priced Can't Stop Me CD
10. "Country Woman" -------------------------Lee "Shot" Williams
Bargain-Priced Shot From The Soul CD
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"Saving My Love For You"-------------------------Bobbye Johnson
"Party (Goin' On Up In Here)"------------------Ghetto Cowboy
"This Ain't Livin'"-----------------------Wendell B.
Bargained-Priced Time To Relax... Love Life And Relationships CD
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Send product to:
SouthernSoulRnB.com
P.O. Box 19574
Boulder, Colorado 80308
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TOP TEN SOUTHERN SOUL ALBUMS: MAY 2008
Based on April Sales & Airplay As Compiled By
-----------BLUES CRITIC!------------
1. Time Served ---------------------Omar Cunningham (Soul 1st)
Bargain-Priced Time Served CD
2. I'm A Woman-------------Nellie "Tiger" Travis
Bargain-Priced I'm A Woman CD----------------Nellie "Tiger" Travis (CDS)
3. My Tyme----------------------Willie Clayton (Malaco)
Bargain-Priced My Tyme CD
4. Bigg Robb Presents: Blues Soul & Old School -----------------------Various Artists (Over 25 Sound)
Bargain-Priced Blues, Soul & Old School CD
5. Don't Hate--------------------Big Cynthia (Hearon)
Bargain-Priced Don't Hate
6. I Never Take A Day Off----------------Ms. Jody (Ecko)
Bargain-Priced I Never Take A Day Off CD
7. Shot From The Soul ------------------------- Lee "Shot" Williams (CDS)
Bargain-Priced Shot From The Soul CD
8.
Time To Relax...Love, Life & Relationships------------------------------Wendell B. (Smoothway Ent.)
Bargain-Priced Time To Relax...Love, Life & Relationships CD
9. Popcorn Man--------------------Patrick Green (ACB)
Bargain-Priced Popcorn Man CD
10. Groove You-----------------------Mose Stovall (Soul 1st)
Bargain-Priced Groove U CD
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles
--------------APRIL 2008----------------
1. "Slap Yo Weave Off"-------------Nellie "Tiger" Travis
Bargain-Priced I'm A Woman CD
2. "Man Up"------------------------------Stan Mosley
Bargain-Priced Man Up CD
3. "From The Back"-------------------------L. J. Echols
Bargain-Priced Well Runs Dry CD
4. "Your Lover Is A Bad Habit" ----------------------Reggie P.
5. "Truck Driver"----------------------------Earl Duke
Bargain-Priced Somebody's Getting It CD
6. "Country Woman" -------------------------Lee "Shot" Williams
Bargain-Priced Shot From The Soul CD
7. "This Ain't Livin'"-----------------------Wendell B.
Bargained-Priced Time To Relax... Love Life And Relationships CD
8. It's Friday (Time To Get Paid") -----------------Lee "Shot" Williams
Bargain-Priced Shot From The Soul CD
9. "Ms. Jody's Thing"------------------------Ms. Jody
Bargain-Priced I Never Take A Day Off CD
10. "Voice Mail"------------------------------Mr. Sam w/ Floyd Taylor
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"I Never Take A Day Off (From Loving My Baby)"------------------------Ms. Jody
Bargain-Priced I Never Take A Day Off CD ------------------Ms. Jody
"Turn Back The Hands Of Time"------------------------Honey
Bargain-Priced Love Land CD------------------------Honey
"Mississippi Shuffle"---------------------Poonanny
(Note: when sampling this song on CD Baby press "Lap Dance" due to an error.)
Bargain-Priced The Signifying Monkey CD
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles
---------------MARCH 2008------
1. Ms. Jody's Thing"------------------------Ms. Jody
Bargain-Priced I Never Take A Day Off CD
2. "Slap Yo Weave Off"-------------Nellie "Tiger" Travis
Bargain-Priced I'm A Woman CD
3. "Dope Or Dogfood?"-----------------------------El' Willie
4. "Sweet Home Alabama"--Tricia Barnwell w/ Roy C
5. "It Is What It Is"------------------------Wilson Meadows
6. "From The Back"-------------------------L. J. Echols
Bargain-Priced Well Runs Dry CD
7. "I Got That Feelin'"-----------------------------Reggie P
8. "I Miss My Daddy"------------------------------------Floyd Taylor
Bargain-Priced You Still Got It CD
9. "Dog Kinda Love (Original Mix)" --------------------------------------Dicky Williams w/ Ken Massey Group
Bargain-Priced I'm Back Again CD
10. "Backbone" -----------------------------------Stan Mosley
Bargain-Priced Man Up CD
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"My Life" ---------------------Omar Cunningham
"It's Going Down" ----------------------------------Denise LaSalle
Bargain-Priced Pay Before You Pump CD
"Get Me Weak" -----------------------Vickie Baker
Bargain-Priced I Could Show You CD
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Breaking Southern Soul Singles:
--------------February 2008------
1. "Your Lover Is A Bad Habit"---------------------Reggie P.
2. "I Can't Get Over You"-----------------------------El' Willie
3. Sugar Daddy's Back--------------------Dicky Williams
Bargain-Priced I'm Back Again CD
4. "Groove U Baby"-------------------------------Mose Stovall
5. "Old Neighborhood"---------------------Sherman Hunter
6. "Energizer Bunny"----------------------------------Ms. Jody w/ O. B. Buchana
Bargain-Priced I Never Take A Day Off CD
7. "Whiskey And Beer" ----Tyree Neal w/ Sir Charles Jones
Bargain-Priced All Grown Up CD
8. "Southern Women"-------------------------------------Pookie Lane
9. (Tie) "'Nanna Puddin'" ----------------------------Latimore
Bargain-Priced Back 'Atcha CD
"Man Made Over" ----------------------------J. Blackfoot
Bargain-Priced It Ain't Over Till It's Over CD
10. (Tie) "Broke Into My Heart" -------------Charles Wilson
Bargain-Priced The After Party CD
"Southern Blues With A Twist" ----------David G.
Bargain-Priced Southern Blues With A Twist CD
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"Turn Back The Hands Of Time" ------------------------Honey
"If Loving You Is Wrong"----------Barkays w/ Evelyn 'Champagne' King
"Down Home Blues"-------------------------------------------April
"It Must Be Jelly (Remix)"--------------------------Fred Bolton
Bargain-Priced I'm Gonna Git Mine CD
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles:
------------JANUARY 2008------
1. "My Sweet Back"-----------------------James Smith
2. My Life ---------------------" ----------------------------Omar Cunningham
3. "Come Back Kind Of Love"-----------Roni w/ Sir Charles Jones
4. "My In-Laws"------------------Dr. "Feelgood" Potts
Bargain-Priced Going Down To Memphis CD
5. "No Ring" (Nite Out reprise)-----------------Mel Waiters et al.
Bargain-Priced Nite Out CD
6. "A Bible And A Beer"-----------------------Betty Harris
Bargain-Priced Intuition CD
7. "Jody Got Your Girl & Gone"-------------Larry Taylor
Bargain-Priced They Were In This House CD
8. "Tell It To The Preacher Man"-----------------------Betty Harris
Bargain-Priced Intuition CD
9. "Amen"----------------------------Lenny Williams
Bargain-Priced It Must Be Love CD
10. "(Tell Me When) The Last Time"-----------------Rue Davis
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"A Woman Knows"------------------------Willie Clayton
Bargain-Priced My Tyme CD
"It Ain't Easy"-----------------------Z. Z. Hill, Jr.
Bargain-Priced Goin' To Mississippi CD
"Two Strangers (Living In The Same House)"------------Bill Avery
Bargain-Priced Southern Fried Soul CD
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Breaking Southern Soul Singles: ----------December 2007
1. Somebody's Cuttin' My Cake (Ecko Reissue)------------David Brinston
Bargain-Priced Somebody's Cuttin' My Cake CD
2. "A Woman Knows"------------------------Willie Clayton
Bargain-Priced My Tyme CD
3. Ride It Like A Pony--------------Snatch Nelson
Bargain-Priced Ride It Like A Pony CD
4. "Loneliness Inside Me"------------------O. T. Sykes
5. "Why Are You That Way"----------Jimmy Taylor
6. "Breakin' Me Down"---------------Vick Allen
Bargain-Priced Baby Come Back Home CD
7. "Where Has The Love Gone" ------------B. Dupree
Bargain-Priced Down South Music CD
8. "If You Catch Me Sleepin'"------------Floyd Taylor
Bargain-Priced You Still Got It CD
9. "Now That We're Talking"------------Jimmy Taylor
10. "Slip Away For Christmas"--------The Love Doctor
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"Too Much Lickin'"------------Jacquel "Too Much Lickin' (2007 ReIssue & Remix)
"Shake What You Got" -------------Coco
Bargain-Priced All Of Me CD
"Morning Rain"-------------La Keisha
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Breaking Southern Soul Singles: November 2007
1. "Good Lovin' Will Make U Cry" (Remix)------------ Bigg Robb w/ Carl Marshall
Bargain-Priced Blues, Soul & Old School CD
2. "I'll Take Care Of You"----------------Sterling Harrison (Posthumous)
3. "Grown And Sexy"------------------Da Problem Solvas w/ Sir Charles Jones
Bargain-Priced Blues, Soul & Old School CD
4. "I Like This Place"------------------------------ Carl Sims
Bargain-Priced Can't Stop Me CD
5. Take Everything In------------------------Angie Stone
Bargain-Priced The Art Of Love And War CD
6. "I Fooled You This Time" -------------------------Patrick Harris
Bargain-Priced Long Time Comin' CD
7. "Say Yes"--------------------------------------------Cupid
Bargain-Priced Time For A Change CD
8. "She Didn't Have To Hurt Ya Boy Like That" ------------------Wendell B
Bargain-Priced Save A Little Room For Me CD
9. "Down South Shuffle" ------------------------R-3 w/ Onyx Amiira
Bargain-Priced Bigg Robb's Blues, Soul & Old School CD
10. "After Party"-------------------------------David Brinston
Bargain-Priced Here I Go Again CD
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"Same Old Bullshit"----------------------------------Lady J
"Plumber Man" -----------------------------------Charles Wilson
Bargain-Priced The After Party CD
"Try Me" --------------------------------------------T. K. Soul
Bargain-Priced Undisputed: The Album CD"
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles: October 2007
1. "Red House"-----------------------------Uncle Wayne
2. "Thank You Mamma"---------------------L. J. Echols
3. "You Got Me Where You Want Me" (Re-Entry)-----------------El' Willie
Bargain-Priced Dance With Me CD
4. "My Give A Damn Gave Out"-------------Latimore
Bargain-Priced Back 'Atcha CD
5. "The Rabbit Got The Gun"-----------Walt Love
6. "Crazy Kind Of Love"----------------El' Willie
Bargain-Priced Dance With Me CD
7. "Southern Soul Slide" ------------Little Kim Stewart
Bargain-Priced Southern Soul Slide CD
8. "Red Cadillac"------------------------------Uncle Wayne
9. "Too Many Women" -------------------------------David Brinston
Bargain-Priced Here I Go Again CD
10. "Do Yo Dance" -------------------------Cupid w/ Cristal
Bargain-Priced Time For A Change CD
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"Since You've Been Gone"------------------Mr. Sam
Bargain Priced Lookin 4 Love CD
"Friends Don't" ----------------------The Duchess
Bargain-Priced It's My Time Now CD
"For Your Love" -----------Sir Charles Jones
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles: September 2007
1. "I Fell In Love With You (At The Barbeque)"----------- Cupid
2. "#1 Fan" ---------------------T. K. Soul
3. "She's Holding Back" ---------------------------- Willie Clayton
4. "All My Money's Gone"------------- O. B. Buchana w/ Luther Lackey
Bargain-Priced Goin' Back HomeCD
5. "Dog Kinda Love" (Simeo Remix)------------ Dickie Williams w/ Ken Massey
Bargain-Priced I'm Back Again CD
6. "Older Woman" --------------------Pat Cooley
Bargain-Priced Blues, Soul And Old School CD
7. "Do What It Takes" -------------------------- Walter Waiters
8. "Get Me Weak" ------------------------------------------ Vickie Baker
9. "The Shadow Knows"-------------------- Fred Bolton
10. "You Walked Out"-------------- Ghetto Cowboy
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"Mr. Love"------------------ Walt Love
"One Pay Check (From Being In Debt)"------------ Patrick Green
"Moan" ----------------------------- Patrick Harris
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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10: August 2007
1. "Dirty South Steppin'" ----------------------------Mr. Sam
2. "Work Yo Body"---------------------------------Mr. Sam
3. "Zydefunk Slide" ---------------------------------Lil' Fallay
4. "Block Party" ("On Brdwy" sample)-------Chuck Brown
5. "Respect"--------------------------------Huriah Boynton
6. "Lookin' For A New Love Tonight" -----Z. Z. Hill, Jr.
Bargain-Priced Goin' To Mississippi CD
7. "Will You Marry Me"----------------------------El' Willie
8. "Someone Else's Bed"--------------------------- Mashaa
9. "By Your Side" ------------------------------Aaron Young
Bargain-Priced They Call Me A.Y. CD
10. "When I'm Gone"----------------------------Rosie Ledet
Still Can't Get Enough Of. . .
"I Ain't Never Been Down Like That"------ Wendell B.
Bargain-Priced Good Times CD
"Angel"---------------Ric E. Bluez
"Two Different People"------------------------J. Blackfoot w/ Ann Hines
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SOUTHERN SOUL STATE OF THE UNION
January 28, 2008 Daddy B. Nice's...
Southern Soul "State Of The Union": 2008
Southern Soul music is a teeming city unto its own, with over a couple dozen new radio singles jumping out and vying for attention this month--February 2008--a time ordinarily reserved for accounting, vacationing and cold-weather hibernation.
Dozens upon dozens of Southern Soul artists have been saying, "Just wait until next year!" Well, 2008 is here. It's enough to make you lick your lips.
The new year's umbilical cord was just cut and Sir Charles already has two new collaborations out. (With Roni on "Come Back Kind Of Loving" and with Tyree Neal--Jackie's brother--on "Whiskey And Beer".) Is he going for a new record?
People are buying records. Insiders have a sense of the momentum building. Outsiders are being attracted.
But like the Bible city Babel, in which the mighty ruler Nimrod commissioned a tower to be built to "reach the heavens" (think "Apocalypto"), there has been a lot of attendant confusion.
Most of it centers around the term "Southern Soul" itself.
Now it doesn't really matter what the music is called--good music cuts across all genres and boundaries--except for one thing. A good name can do wonders in terms of disseminating a musical genre around the globe.
Looked at another way, if the proponents of a musical genre can't agree on what to call the music, how can outsiders be expected to take it seriously?
Ironically, the uneasiness with the tag "southern soul" doesn't lie within the fan base, which uses the term as easily and comfortably as they use the word "the blues." And the younger generation of performers, deejays and studio professionals has embraced "southern soul"--for them it's simply second nature, an accepted fact.
It's the "powers that be," the older performers and producers and media professionals--the chitlin' circuit establishment, if you will (and as funny as it sounds)--whose eyes still grow furrowed occasionally by the term "Southern Soul."
"Genesis: Chapter 11" relates that:
"And the earth was of one language and of one speech. . . and they said one to another, let us make brick for stone, and slime for mortar, And they said, Go to, let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven. . .
"And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower. . . And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language, and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them. . .
"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city."
So here's Daddy B. Nice's analogy. Southern Soul is the "city." The "brick and the slime" are the records. The "one language" is Southern Soul, and the "heavens" represents Southern Soul breaking through to widespread success, international in scope, with millions of records sold.
Some force from above (I'd prefer not to think God in this case) looks down and says, "We can't allow this. Let's scramble these people's minds."
Suddenly people begin babbling stuff that others can't understand: words like "deep soul," "new soul," "neo-soul," "nu-soul," "party blues," "chitlin' circuit-blues," "southern blues, "grown-folks music" and the latest, "soul-blues" and "southern-soul-blues."
I can hear some people laughing--at least I hope they are. Because I've discussed this subject with guys like John Ward at Ecko Records and Dylann DeAnna at Blues Critic Media, who are probably doubled over in belly laughter that I would sneak "soul blues" into a reference to the Tower of Babel. At best, they probably think of me as a gardener trying to pull "weeds" in the little garden of Southern Soul in my mind.
If you're looking for real chitlin' circuit establishment discomfort with "southern soul," however, look no further than the Southern Soul Capital City's two biggest institutions: radio station WMPR and its flagship deejays, and Malaco Records, which planted the seeds for the Southern Soul scene way back in the mid-eighties with Z. Z. Hill and Johnnie Taylor.
The two Jackson "institutions," Malaco and WMPR, don't get along--they don't speak "the same language"--but they have one thing in common: neither officially uses "southern soul" to describe their product.
This aversion to using the term "southern soul" extends to many of the older recording artists, who have forged their careers through R&B-hostile times with no aid from a Johnny-come-lately called the "Southern Soul" movement.
Never mind that these living legends have produced the deep cache of Southern Soul music in which the young artists have thrived. These artists have lived the majority of their careers without the Southern Soul terminology--and it's of little use to them now.
And how about the American Blues Network, a new and extremely professional internet radio station--actually a network that markets to affiliates? They have moved increasingly to a sophisticated Southern Soul mix, and a very knowledgeable one at that. And yet they disdain the term "southern soul" in all their promotions in favor of "grown folks music" and, of late, "party blues and oldies."
John Ward of Ecko Records once told me he used "soul blues" to distinguish his label's specialty, blues-based R&B, from "so- called white folks blues or guitar-slinger blues," and if you're looking at things from a blues perspective, that makes perfect sense.
But it doesn't make sense if you're looking at it from the standpoint of a young artist who wants to capitalize on the popularity of the "southern soul" label to further his or her career.
Ward also distrusts the "popular" element in today's Southern Soul music--in other words, a lot of the non-blues-oriented rhythm and blues that goes under the title of "southern soul," be it influenced by 70's soul, funk or hiphop.
All of these fine distinctions by longtime powers in the blues/R&B community have contributed to the "speaking in many languages," even as the music has grown by leaps and bounds under the tattered Southern Soul banner, a fact which everyone--even the old guys--recognize in casual conversation by using "southern soul" as freely as anyone else.
So is it. . . like. . . an unofficial policy? This yearning--this apparent search--for a better term than "southern soul"?
In his year-end nominations for Blues Awards, Blues Critic lists the following artists under nominations for best "Soul Blues Album" of 2007:
A NEW POINT OF VIEW Tad Robinson (Severn)
CHANGE OUR WAYS Root Doctor (Big O)
STATE OF GRACE The Holmes Brothers (Alligator)
SOUTH OF THE SNOOTY FOX Sterling Harrison (Hacktone)
SCENE OF THE CRIME Bettye LaVette (Anti)
BUILD YOUR OWN FIRE Jimmy Hall (Zoho Music)
WE'LL NEVER TURN BACK Mavis Staples (Anti)
To me, this was enlightening. Not a Southern Soul artist among them. And for the first time, I realized unequivocally that "Soul Blues" is not a euphemism for "Southern Soul," because Blues Critic did their "Southern Soul" (or was it "Southern Soul Blues"?) artists a couple of weeks back.
But when Ecko Records uses the term "soul blues," I think it's referring to its own musicians, chitlin' circuit R&B performers like Sheba Potts-Wright, O. B. Buchana, and Ms. Jody, who are generally considered Southern Soul artists. That makes "soul blues" a euphemism for "southern soul."
You see, it's confusing.
In his song "I'm Going Back Home," O. B. Buchana sings about making a trip up north to visit some friends who want him to make the move permanent. O. B. seriously considers it (all those fine women and parties, you know), but then he tells his friend. . .
". . . There's just one reason I won't.
'Cause there's just one thing wrong.
You don't have any Southern Soul music,
When I turn on my radio.
All I hear is hiphop,
Country, talk shows and rock."
O. B. ticks off the people he can't hear up north: among them Marvin Sease, Bobby Bland, Willie Clayton, Mel Waiters, and Sir Charles Jones. Back home, he adds, "I can even hear some O. B. and T. K. Soul."
What the John Cummings-written tune reminds us is: Yes, there's a hell of a lot of musical space between Marvin Sease and T.K. Soul, but it's all Southern Soul music. And it all works, even if that darned Bigg Robb did sneak in from Ohio dragging his funk trunk behind him.
If anything, the current "Babel" only brings home to me how lucky your Daddy B. Nice was, and what an astounding twist of fate in my life it was, to be the right guy in the right place at a particular point in time, traveling constantly through central Mississippi in the late 90's and the turn-of-the-century, and hunkering down in motels where my main priority was recording the Southern Soul music so I had something good to listen to when I went back up north and had to deal with the very predicament O. B. describes.
That seamless mix of Jackson-area Southern Soul and Blues didn't get up to Memphis, John Ward's territory, where it was all about straight blues and urban R&B on the radio waves, much less out to California, where DeAnna resides. Is that ultimately the source of their distrust of "southern soul"? It's certainly the source of my comfort-zone with the term.
I believe that what many people think of as "Southern Soul's" weaknesses---its pimp-and-whore string of styles (from the blues to hiphop) on the one hand and its geographical particularity on the other--are in fact its strengths.
And the very fact that "southern soul" was birthed in a place as isolated and forgotten by time as central Mississippi, in the Petri dish of Dirty South bugaboos and Delta-blues stereotypes that all non-Southerners hold dear, is exactly why "southern soul music" paints an immediate, vivid picture for the world--a descriptive media "handle" every bit as vivid as reggae with its dreadlocks and shanty towns. There's an allure with Southern Soul, a mystery, and the strong whiff of Clarence Carter.
Here's the ultimate paradox. You don't have to be from the South to make it in Southern Soul. You do, however, have to listen to the music as it's played in the South. It's where traditional rhythm and blues in the guise of (all together now) "Southern Soul" music lives.
Now where are those two dozen hot new radio singles. . . ?
---Daddy B. Nice
P.S. Less than eight hours after I posted this piece, along with the information that Malaco Records has always disdained the term "Southern Soul," I received (by pure chance) a media release from Malaco which states:
"Malaco (USA), one of the United States' largest independent music groups, representing the best in southern soul, blues and gospel music since 1968. . . "
Say it again? "SOUTHERN SOUL, blues and gospel. . . "
So I stand corrected, and anticipate that this may not be the last time I'm "dusted" on this subject. But I'm smiling. That's life in the fast lane, Southern Soul style. DBN.
TONI GREEN/LAWRENCE HARPER SOUTHERN SOUL MUSIC
February 3, 2008.
Toni Green and Lawrence Harper: Another "Take" On Southern Soul's "State Of The Union" In the "State of The Union of Southern Soul: 2008" (above), Daddy B. Nice quoted from O. B. Buchana's "I'm Going Back Home" in his arguments for "Southern Soul" as the preferable term for the (southern soul) music loved by readers of this column. Seems kind of silly, when it's put as simply as that, but the terminology obstacles are still real.
Here's an equally compelling song in defense of "Southern Soul" as a term and as a genre, its only fault being that its "air-play" came a few years ago and consequently didn't come immediately to mind.
The song is "Southern Soul Music" by the masterful Toni Green. It's a great song on its musical merits alone. But it doesn't stop there.
Written by one of Southern Soul's premier songwriters, Lawrence Harper, "Southern Soul Music" has some telling points to make.
"I'm not into rappin'," (Toni sings)
"And I don't rock and roll.
I'm not much into hiphop,
But I love me some Southern Soul.
Down south they've got a soulful sound,
It once was lost but now it's found.
They took the old and made it new.
They're doing it like they used to do.
Soul music, Southern Soul music.
Music from the dirty, dirty South.
Soul music, Southern Soul music.
Music that will make you shout."
The most telling stanza comes near the end.
"I took my CD to the radio station.
They said they liked my music.
Then I asked them to play my song.
They said, 'I'm sorry, we just can't do that.
'Soul music is dead and gone.'
And I'm just about to prove them wrong,
One day soon, and it won't be long.
They're gonna be playing my song."
Toni (and Lawrence), they are playing your song. I heard it on American Blues Network just this last week.
They might be calling it "party blues," but they're playing it just like you said they would. And they're doing it years after you released it.
That says something pretty remarkable about you and the music.
DBN
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