Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)

Daddy B. Nice's #1 ranked Southern Soul Artist



Portrait of Sir Charles Jones (21st Century) by Daddy B. Nice
 


"Friday"

Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)

Composed by Charles Jones


April 19, 2021: "Friday" is now the 2nd-ranked southern soul single...

...and Sir Charles Jones is the #2-ranked southern soul artist on Daddy B Nice's new Top-100 Chart---The New Generation. Click here.


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September 1, 2020: Originally posted in Daddy B. Nice's CD Reviews.

August 10, 2020:

The Jones Boyz: 2 Kings. Four Stars **** Distinguished effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

To state the obvious for the majority of fans reading this review: The Jones Boys are not related. Sir Charles Jones ("The King of Southern Soul") is from Montgomery, Alabama. Rejected by Malaco Records, the renowned, old-school label of southern soul's past greats like Johnny Taylor, Bobby "Blue" Bland and Little Milton, Charles (aided by Jackson, Mississippi's Senator Jones, no relation) more or less kicked off the contemporary southern soul era with the publication of his first two albums.

Jeter Jones ("The Kang of Trailride Blues") is from the Shreveport, Louisiana area. Appearing on the scene a dozen years after Sir Charles with a couple of unschooled albums utilizing over-used rhythm tracks, Jeter has morphed into one of the most creative, innovative and prolific artists of the last decade, and arguably the most dominant southern-soul writer/performer/artist-enabler of the last three years.

The jacket of the new CD features both Jones boys, Charles and Jeter, with World Wrestling Entertainment-style "belts" slung over their shoulders signifying their "royalty" and achievements.

I was mistrustful of this album at first. I knew a number of the tracks were not only "reruns" of past singles but duplicates (or near-duplicates) of songs simultaneously released by Jeter Jones on his new solo album Mufassa. (See Daddy B. Nice's five-star review elsewhere on this page.) So my initial reaction was: What's the point? But as I actually started listening to 2 Kings, my skepticism turned to appreciation and, gradually, pleasure and delight.

The set kicks off with a cover of the eighties' classic, Cameo's "Candy". In my review of "Mufassa" I compare it unfavorably to "Mind Playing Tricks On Me," the Jeter Jones' cover of the old hiphop standard included in "Mufassa". In the latter Jeter re-imagines the Geto Boys' rap as an almost bluegrassy (although not "acoustic," as I mistakenly described in my review) southern soul vehicle, while in "Candy" The Jones Boyz simply present a glorified, cover-band treatment of the original, epitomized at the moment Jeter sings (Cameo-style), "You give me a heart attack," at which point your head snaps back like you're traveling through a time machine.

Listen to Jeter and Sir Charles singing "Candy" on YouTube.

A funny thing happened, though, as I listened to the album as a whole. The tunes held up so well that I actually enjoyed "Candy" a little more each time I heard it. Jeter's winsome, unforgettable tenor. The novelty of hearing Sir Charles singing background. Even the snappy, throw-back rap by Storm.

"Candy" segues into a batch of songs far more varied and realized (including anger and hurt, but more about that later) than anything on Charles' own simultaneously-released album, Intimacy.

See Daddy B. Nice's "New Album Alert: Intimacy."

True, some of the tracks are versions of tunes also heard on "Mufassa". Trail Ride Version 2.0 duplicates "Old Back Road" from "Mufassa". Prior to that, the Jones Boyz (although not yet known by that name) put out a single and "official video". The title was "Trail Ride," incidentally the very collaboration that first signaled Charles' and Jeter's mutual simpatico.

The Slack-produced "Soul Brothers Moonshine" was first published in P2K's 2018 debut album, "Welcome To The Boom Boom Room," featuring Sir Charles Jones. Sir Charles even sang the first verse (typically the host artist does). "Soul Brothers Moonshine" was also released on "Mufassa," with Jeter taking P2K's place.

"Moonshine," as it's called in this iteration, has become so ubiquitous on YouTube and internet radio that it almost rivals "Friday" as Sir Charles' current signature tune. Now, with this third official publication, "Soul Brothers Moonshine" becomes a top-shelf, southern soul standard and one to be permanently associated with Sir Charles Jones. (R&B Pooh, another Jeter Jones discovery, contributes a verse.)

However, it's the new tunes---at first so easy to overlook---that really "seal the deal". Dedicated to zydeco star Brian Jack, the effervescent "Zydeco With Me" percolates on the froth of its cajun button-accordion accompaniment, with Charles engaging the uptempo vocal with enthusiasm.

"Like Voodoo," with a soothing refrain---"This southern soul / Will take control of you"--- marks a dazzling collaborative effort. Both Jones boys (aided by guest artist King South) give superb vocals, spiced with lyrics marking each singer's coming-of-age moments, and once again, Sir Charles is turned-on.

Not that Jeter Jones is in any way unequal to the task. The set's finale, "Can't Do It No More" is a solemn ballad sung from Jeter's heart, and the evocative ballad "Can I Get Some" is a stellar solo outing, meshing perfectly with the quality of the set as a whole. Jeter more than holds his own as a vocalist of the first order and an "equal" of Sir Charles. And, to look at the reverse side, Sir Charles seems to be in his true element around Jeter. He's seldom appeared as relaxed and in tune with his unique mojo.

There are only ten tunes on The Jones Boyz: 2 Kings---nine if you don't count the thirty-second intro---and little filler. To be picky, there's not much of interest in recycling Parliament-Funkadelic in "Party, which simply reminds me of coke-crystal-meth zombies clubbing to George Clinton at hours when working people are just getting up to go to work. (Mr. Smoke, Daddy B. Nice's "Best Debut Artist" of 2019, guests a verse on this one.)

But I have saved the best, including the aforementioned anger and hurt, for the last. It is sheer ecstasy to report I was knocked over like a Mack truck by the spectacular ballad, "I Don't Understand".

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "I Don't Understand" on YouTube.

Here Sir Charles gives us his all. Emotions---very real, very frightening emotions---pulse like strobes in Charles' vocal, and Charles' amazing vocal enhancements take the aural beauty to a celestial level. The production is off the charts in the way only a super-producer like Sir Charles can manage. All of the trademark techniques are there---only totally, brilliantly fresh.

This is the true Sir Charles Jones. The emotional tone is perfect. Why? Because love---I'm talking about real love--shines through the hurt propelling the tune's vehement power. And all the while the instrumental wealth just keeps raining down like coin poured from giant kettles. This is a song comparable to "Is Anybody Lonely?" and "The Letter". It's the kind of song we've waited years to hear from the King.

The Jones Boyz should make this a series.

--Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from The Jones Boyz: 2 Kings album on YouTube.

Buy The Jones Boyz: 2 Kings album at Apple.

Buy the Jones Boyz: 2 Kings album at Amazon.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Sir Charles Jones.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Jeter Jones.

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July 1, 2020:

Sir Charles Jones and Jeter Jones, who recently guested on each other's singles ("Trailride," "Still In Love With You") have released a new album of collaborative material called "The Jones Boyz: 2 Kings," not to be confused with Jones Boyz Entertainment, the Louisiana label (Jeter and brother Gary Jones) that publishes Jeter's music.

See Daddy B. Nice's Corner, "News & Notes," July 1, 2020.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

May 10, 2020:

NEW ALBUM ALERT!:

Buy Sir Charles Jones new INTIMACY album at Apple.

INTIMACY TRACK LIST:

1
Intimacy Interlude

2
Be With You

3
Still In Love
feat. Jeter Jones

4
Stay With Me

5
Smooth Operator

6
Intimacy

7
Paradise

8
Shining Star

9
Sailing

10
I Wish I

Daddy B. Nice notes:

Following on the heels of his “Masterpiece” and “Sir Charles & Family” discs comes another new solo album of original work by Sir Charles Jones: Intimacy. Two cuts are already gaining attention: “Still In Love” and “Be With You”.

A duet with Jeter Jones, “Still In Love” is a passionate and well-produced ballad. The verses carry the song musically, but the chorus ("Still...In...Love...With...You...") is strangely flawed--a single musical note repeated. Charles teases the listener with possible harmonic chords, but the effect is still repetitive: fixated on that single note. The effect is deflating and disappointing, falling short of the promise in the verses. So I can't make up my mind about this song and will have to give it some time. The vocals--both Charles and Jeter--are incredible, and composition-ally, the verses move along like a thing of grace. Maybe the chorus will grow on me, but right now it grates and spoils an otherwise great song.

"Be With You," more modest and classically-shaped in scale (think "Friday"), is refreshingly uptempo (meaning mid-tempo) and arguably more successful. While not as sophisticated as "Still Love You," "Be With You" signals a willingness on Charles' part to work within the simple confines of southern soul to impressive effect. And with a similarly simple structure, benign melody and sparkling production, with light helpings of female background adding coloration "Stay With Me" is in the same vein.

Surprisingly, “Just Hang Tonight,” Sir Charles' recent, high-profile duet with Wilson Meadows, does not appear. In fact, however much one might expect some chitlin'-circuit-style rambunctiousness for a little variety, the album hews to a thoroughly proper tone that wouldn't be out of place in a chapel. The tracks are relentlessly positive and love-focused in--dare I say--the most Pollyannish way. In the title tune “Intimacy” Charles lapses into outright sentimentality, producing with a smooth-jazz-like palette. "Smooth Operator" has the same dewy-eyed instrumental approach, as does the mawkish "Paradise,” in which the background chorus flashed me back to the light harmonies of Sergio Mendez’ Brasil ’66 (without the Brazilian rhythms).

With the recent release of Bigg Robb's Smooth, Grown & Sexy, a southern soul fan can be forgiven for wondering if the genre's stars have opted for fifties'pop blandness, the very thing rock and roll, fueled by formerly "race" music stars like Little Richard, Fats Domino and Chuck Berry, rebelled against.

I do not hear a stone-cold hit song—-a tune you’d want to hear over and over again—-on this set. There’s no "Squeeze Me,” although "Still In Love" comes oh-so-close. But summed up another way, the music works as an album. It’s consistently and inoffensively romantic, and will undoubtedly appeal to the "ladies" Charles dedicates it to.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones' new INTIMACY album on Spotify.

Listen to all the tracks from Sir Charles Jones' new INTIMACY album on YouTube.

Browse Sir Charles Jones albums in Daddy B. Nice's CD Store.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

June 1, 2020

Sir Charles Jones Mailbag Posting!

Originally posted in Daddy B Nice's Mailbag

June 1, 2020:

RE: Sir Charles Jones’ “Still In Love” Commentary

Dear Daddy B Nice,

I’m a longtime fan of the website. Thank you for what you do. And I know you and Sir Charles have tons of history going back to the beginning. Your Comprehensive Index on him is as long as the Bible. Still, I have to take friendly exception to your comments on Sir Charles’ new song, “Still In Love”. I agree with you that the verses are the best part, but I don’t think the chorus ruins the song, as you do. I see it has 100K YouTube views. In the commentary you said you would give it some time, but I haven’t seen an update. Have you changed your mind about “Still In Love” in the three weeks since you wrote it?

Luther

Listen to Sir Charles Jones and Jeter Jones singing “Still In Love (With You)” on YouTube.

Daddy B Nice replies:

Thanks for the thoughtful letter, Luther. Right now I’m “feeling it” for Sir Charles Jones. He’s got Tucka passing him on the left and Pokey Bear passing him on the right and Wendell B and Jeter Jones stepping on his heels. Isn't it within the realm of possibility for the King of Southern Soul to feel a little “tight” (which is what I sense in that chorus)?

For the readers’ benefit, Luther is referring to Daddy B Nice going “off the deep end” in the middle of May on Sir Charles’ latest single, “Still In Love (With You),” posting my gut-wrenching “why-I-don’t-like-it” on Sir Charles’ artist-guide page. I still considered it unfinished and had an “Under Construction” sign on it, but I couldn’t come up with anything new to say and so it sat, and sure enough, behind my back, the thing went near-viral.

But let’s go back to what makes the song so good, the peaceful and meditative place conjured in the verses. “The verses are those of a #1 hit single. The “I was just thinking…” verse is perfect—as good as anything Charles has ever done--maybe the best. That tempo, that emotional evenness, suits him. And when Jeter takes a verse, it’s a beautiful variation. But then, coming into the chorus, Charles wants to crescendo, and from there it explodes into a wholly different, hyper-emotional tone.

The chorus is not even hummable, and at the tail-end of the first chorus, Charles literally screeches that ascending phrase of “Yes, I am!” Three weeks later, I think there is a melody in that chorus, but Charles chooses to hide it in favor of a more dramatic peak. It’s as if Charles is trying to “bully” the song, get rough with it. But it’s supposed to be a profession of love, like in the verses, isn’t it?

One thing I’ll say, Luther. I’ll take a Sir Charles Jones who puts out 3 albums in 2 years any day. Charles is engaged. If you’re paying attention, you know he’s all over the place. And if Charles is engaged and happy, I’m happy, because it’s good for southern soul.

Read the original commentary at “Sir Charles” (New Album Alert!)

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

Feedback, comments, information or questions for Daddy B. Nice?
Write to
daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com

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October 25, 2019:

NEW ALBUM ALERT!:

Sample/Buy Sir Charles Jones' new SIR CHARLES JONES & FAMILY VOL. 1 album at Amazon.

SIR CHARLES JONES & FAMILY VOL.1 TRACK LIST:

1
Trail Ride
by Sir Charles Jones featuring Jeter Jones

2
To The Dance Floor
by Sir Charles Jones and Fat Daddy featuring J.Rizo

3
The Weekend
by Sir Charles Jones and Hummin Boy

4
Living Years
by Sir Charles Jones featuring Stevie J Blues

5
I've Got My Baby On My Mind
by Sir Charles Jones and Mr. Smoke

6
Rocking Chair
by Sir Charles Jones and Charlesia Jones featuring Charles Jones The III

7
Break Bread
by Sir Charles Jones featuring J.Rizo

Dog
by Sir Charles Jones

9
Country Boy
by Sir Charles Jones

10
Dallas, Dallas
by Sir Charles Jones

Daddy B. Nice notes:

Hey, Sir Charles didn't start this "friends & family" thing yesterday. He started it way back in 2004 with Sir Charles Jones and Friends: A Southern Soul Party, and although there had been many southern soul samplers before (on Ace, Ichiban, Konkord, Mardi Gras), there had never been one centered around a performing artist. The ever-inclusive Charles has been doing it his entire career, back then exposing talent like Terry Wright, Sorrento Ussery and Robert Hill, just as--in the current sampler--he's embracing the talented Fat Daddy and Mr. Smoke. Fans are also treated to much-delayed appearances for the popular YouTube views of "Dallas Dallas" and "Country Boy" (based on Floyd Hamberlin's "Mississippi Boy"). Historically, Sir Charles has taken a lackadaisical approach to publishing, but that may be changing. This album comes on the heels of last year's well-received "Masterpiece" (scroll down). The highlight of the set--and current sensation--is the collaboration with Jeter Jones on the Nas-influenced "Trail Ride," (link is to Official Video). Charles in coveralls, y'all!

Listen to all the tracks from Sir Charles Jones' new SIR CHARLES JONES & FAMILY, VOL. 1 on YouTube.

Buy SIR CHARLES JONES & FAMILY, VOL. 1. at Apple.

Buy SIR CHARLES JONES & FAMILY, VOL. 1. at Apple.


Browse Sir Charles Jones albums in Daddy B. Nice's CD Store.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

January 4, 2019: Excerpted from Daddy B. Nice's Corner:

2018: THE YEAR IN SOUTHERN SOUL

In addition to a bevy of collaborations for which he’s always been in the highest demand, top-rated recording artist Sir Charles Jones dominated 2018 with a new album, “The Masterpiece”. The hubristic title raised sky-high expectations and begged comparisons to “The Love Machine,” the classic that launched Jones’ career. The singles “Step It Out” (with Prince Damons), “Squeeze Me,” “Call Me” (with Calvin Richardson and Omar Cunningham)” and “100 Years” charted #1 (January), #1 (May), #2 (May) and #1 (August) respectively on Daddy B. Nice’s monthly Top 10 Singles.

Sir Charles was also a prime influence for artist P2K Dadiddy’s 5-star-rated debut album, “Welcome To The Boom Boom Room,” which included an outright Sir Charles homage, “Soul Brothers Moonshine,” a collaborative effort (Sir Charles, P2K and Jeter Jones) on which Charles also sang the opening verse. The song was so steeped in Sir Charles Jones musical lore it could have graced “The Masterpiece”.

Whether “The Masterpiece” was the crowning achievement of the King of Southern Soul’s career was debatable--fans would probably still give “Love Machine” that honor--but there was no disputing the quality of the lyrics, which eclipsed “Love Machine’s” youthful yearnings with the ruminations of a grown man.

In “Squeeze Me,” the song that blended the best of the new and old Sir Charles, the troubadour sang, “Said it’s been three years now,/ And you still don’t see/ How much you mean to me./ I know, baby, I’m a man./ He did you wrong,/ But don’t make me pay/ For the other man’s mistakes."

And in “100 Years” Charles opined, “When God made a soul/ He split that soul in two./ He gave half to me,/ And the other half to you./ As fate would have it,/ The day came when we met./ Friends called me Romeo/ And you Juliet./What are you doing/ For the next one hundred years?”

"Southern Soul fans should be proud of Charles," (Daddy B. Nice wrote in his August '18 critique) "1/ for recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime classic when he hears it, and 2/ for being brave enough to record it in a no-frills, pop-balladeer style (acoustic guitar, strings, piano), putting the emphasis squarely on the naked vocal."

Buy Sir Charles Jones' The Masterpiece at Amazon.

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Sir Charles Jones as "Man of the Year": See Daddy B. Nice's Best Of 2018: The Year In Review

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Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "Squeeze" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "100 Years" on YouTube.

Browse through Sir Charles Jones CD's and mp3's in Daddy B Nice's CD Store.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

April 22, 2018:

New Album Alert

THE MASTERPIECE
TRACK LIST




1
Introduction

2
My Everything

3
Squeeze Me

4
Call on Me (feat. Calvin Richardson & Omar Cunningham)

5
Wherever I Lay My Bone (feat. Pokey Bear)

6
This Is Your Night

7
Destiny

8
Step It Out

9
100 Years

10
Just Let Me Go

11
What Can I Say

12
Hello Mother

13
Fight the Pain

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "Squeeze" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones, Omar Cunningham & Calvin Richardson singing "Call On Me" on YouTube.

Buy Sir Charles Jones' new album THE MASTERPIECE at Amazon.

Daddy B. Nice notes:

The collaboration with Omar Cunningham and Calvin Richardson, "Call On Me," already has 200,000 views. If you're a true-blue Sir Charles fan, you'll love "Squeeze," with all the heart (and technical tics and mannerisms) of Charles' historically-classic style.

Watch for the review.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide



Note: Sir Charles Jones also appears on Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul Artists (90's-00's).The "21st Century" after Sir Charles' name in the headline is to distinguish his artist-guide entries on this page from his artist guide on Daddy B. Nice's original chart.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

Scroll down this page to "Tidbits" for the latest updates on Sir Charles Jones, including Daddy B. Nice's 5-star review of PORTRAIT OF A BALLADEER (#7) and Daddy B. Nice's feature article EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SIR CHARLES JONES (#8).

To automatically link to Sir Charles Jones' charted radio singles, awards, CD's and many other appearances and citations on the Southern Soul website, go to "Jones, Sir Charles" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.


SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

--Daddy B. Nice


About Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)

Charles Jones Jr. was born in Akron, Ohio on April 25, 1973. His father, Charles Jones Sr., was a regional gospel singer, writer and pianist, and his mother, Blanche--originally from Birmingham, Alabama--was a longtime civil rights activist.

When his parents divorced in the early eighties, Charles moved with his mother and four brothers to Birmingham, where Charles, a self-professed "gang-banger," failed to graduate from high school.

Always musically gifted, Charles worked odd jobs until one of his bosses in the early 90's heard him singing and suggested Charles try out at a local club named the French Quarters.

Charles began singing regularly on the weekends, and one night (according to an interview Charles gave the Michigan-based "Muskegan Chronicle") the club announcer, Michael McMillan, at a loss for how to spice up Jones' ordinary name, introduced him as "Sir Charles."

The sobriquet stuck and eventually evolved into the royalty-based nickname, "the king of southern soul." This appellation came about after Charles worked and toured with Marvin Sease (the defacto "king of southern soul") for five years in the late nineties.

"Marvin just taught me everything that I know now about the business," Charles told David Whiteis for his in-depth profile in Southern Soul Blues.

With Sease's encouragement, Jones took a twelve-track demo to Sease's label, Malaco Records in Jackson, Mississippi.

"They were looking at me like, 'Man, you crazy?'," Jones told Whiteis. "Twenty-six-year-old dude singing the blues? No twenty-six-year-old know 'bout no blues....We're off into the Johnnie Taylors, and this and that.' Tommy Couch Jr. told me that he didn't believe in my kind of music because it didn't have the Johnnie Taylor horns; this didn't sound like Z. Z. Hill and Latimore."

Stymied, Jones was buoyed by a promo man in Malaco's employ named Senator Jones (no relation), who upon hearing Jones' demos took him to his country studio outside Jackson and honed the songs for his debut disc, Sir Charles Jones on Senator Jones' own imprint, Hep'Me Records. The year was 2000.

Charles and the Senator continued to collaborate on an even better set of songs for the release of Love Machine, which would debut on Warren Hildebrand's New Orleans-based Mardi Gras Records in 2001.

Although it was purely Southern Soul in form, Love Machine, replete with hits--"Friday," "Is Anybody Lonely?", "Just Can't Let Go," "For Better Or Worse," "Just Like Fire"--accomplished the unprecedented task of charting on Billboard's hiphop-dominated R&B chart for more than a year, where it peaked at #28 in June 2002. The album thrust Sir Charles into a "brand" to be reckoned with on both sides of the Atlantic.

Southern Soul, a comparatively lackluster outing, followed on the PMG label in 2002.

Jones had a near fatal motorcycle accident in 2003 in Jackson, Mississippi. The artist was in a coma for three days and slow to recover. The setback marked a turning point for Jones, who withdrew from the public.

However, Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party (Hep' Me 2004), a compilation album including The Love Doctor and other new artists whose style had been influenced by Sir Charles, gained an enthusiastic response, while also spawning two solid Jones hit singles, "The Letter (Guilty)" and "Same Thing It Took To Get Her."

With the aptly-titled Thank You for Holding On (Jumpin' 2006), Sir Charles acknowledged that he had become a relative recluse. The songs--"Running," "Come To Me Baby," "Baby Love," while worthy additions to the Sir Charles catalog, suffered from rusty, demo-like vocals and tentative, sketchy arrangements.

Meanwhile, For Your Love...Best of Sir Charles Jones, a greatest-hits set, was released by Mardi Gras Records in 2007.

The CD My Story (Mardi Gras, 2008), marked Jones' most accomplished set of new material since Love Machine, including the ballads "Happy Anniversary" and "You're My Latest, My Greatest (Inspiration)" and the dance jam "I Came To Party."

With its scintillating acoustic sound and lush string choruses, the anthem-like "Happy Anniversary" marked a post-"Is Anybody Lonely" peak and a major step forward in Jones' evolving stylistic approach.

Tribute To The Legends, in which Charles covered R&B standards he himself performed before he became a solo recording act, was released on Mardi Gras Records in 2009.

Three YouTube videos of new Charles Jones songs, "You Ain’t The Father Of The Child," (2010, unsanctioned),

"On My Own Again," (2011, an officially-filmed video),

and....

"Country Boy," (2012, also an officially filmed video)

....made a strong nucleus for a long-rumored new Sir Charles Jones album, but as of November 2013 no CD was forthcoming.

Portrait Of A Balladeer (Endzone, 2014)

The Masterpiece (Southern King Entertainment, 2018)

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide


Tidbits

1.

November 2, 2013: Sir Charles Jones on YouTube:


Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "Happy Anniversary” on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "Good Old Country Boy" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "The Letter (Guilty)" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "Friday" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "Is Anybody Lonely?" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones and LaKeisha singing "Just Another Love Song" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "On My Own Again" on YouTube.

Listen to Sir Charles Jones singing "You Ain’t The Father Of The Child" on YouTube.

2.

November 3, 2013: Sir Charles Jones in concert:


Robert Brown, aka website guru Big K-9, has chronicled many of Sir Charles Jones' concerts in phenomenal detail. Here's an excerpt:

His royal highness, "The King Of Southern Soul", Sir Charles Jones was up next and it's so amazing to see the impact that one performer can garner from a crowd. The ovation that came from the crowd was so surreal. There were women screaming and even the fellas were up on their feet as he made his way to the stage. Just his mere presence I believe would have been enough to satisfy some of these women who by now had flocked to the stage area led by "Da Dawg Pound Divas".
(Sir Charles) hadn't sang one lyric and already the place had erupted. That’s some big time s**t! He opened his performance with "Friday" and although it was Saturday night the boy sounded so good he made you feel like it was actually Friday." Natural Woman" was his next song and my girl Roni was definitely feeling this cut. He said he was feeling good tonight and he was ready to please all the women in attendance and he did just that as he performed his classic hits "Better Or Worse", "Just Can't Let Go" and "Hang On.”


Read more about Sir Charles Jones' concerts at WELCOME 2 DA DAWG POUND!

3.


April 12, 2015: NEW FREE DVD ALERT!

I've just come upon the entire 2008 Sir Charles Jones DVD on YouTube, a leisurely, forty-two minute journey through Charles' life and career. It was published on Aug 21, 2014. If you ever wanted to hear the story of Sir Charles and Southern Soul directly from Charles himself, this is the golden egg laid by the goose.

Watch "Sir Charles Jones, His Life and Times: Undisputed King of Southern Soul DVD (2008)" on YouTube.

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4.


October 12, 2014:

See Daddy B. Nice's new 5-star ("Pure Southern Soul Heaven") review of Sir Charles Jones' PORTRAIT OF A BALLADEER.

"The best assortment of new Sir Charles material in a decade, a soulful fabric far richer than MY STORY, a set sophisticated enough to hark back to the definitive LOVE MACHINE. The songs all vary, but they all have that Sir Charles sound: a modern-day Johnny Mathis forged in a cauldron of the blues."

--Daddy B. Nice


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5.


May 13, 2014: NEW ALBUM ALERT!

Sample/Buy Sir Charles Jones' new Portrait Of A Balladeer CD.

See Daddy B. Nice’s Corner

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6.


September 1, 2015:

Updating The Singles: See right-hand column.



SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

7.


August 15, 2015: Re-Posted from Daddy B. Nice's New CD Reviews:

October 12, 2014:

SIR CHARLES JONES: Portrait Of A Balladeer (Endzone Ent.) Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.



Five years since his last album dropped--six if you're counting the years since his last collection of original material--Sir Charles Jones finally overcomes his mid-career recording malaise with Portrait Of A Balladeer, a collection that begins awkwardly but picks up energy, confidence and even a modicum of transcendence as it abides.

Sir Charles' professional life has been a case study in bewaring what you wish for. In the early years of the new century, only three people were talking about the illegitimate bastard form called "southern soul": Charles' first producer, Senator Jones (no relation to Charles and not a politician); Sir Charles, who had the chutzpah to call himself the "King of Southern Soul"; and media writer Daddy B. Nice, who was hunkering down in Mississippi towns like Jackson, Greenville-Leland, Indianola, Hattiesburg and Vicksburg, memorializing this unique sound that heralded a new era of rhythm and blues or--conversely--a little-known genre doomed to be lost forever.

A few "industry" people used the term "southern soul" begrudgingly (while constantly searching for other euphemisms), but Senator Jones, Sir Charles and Daddy B. Nice were the only ones who wouldn't shut up about it. And that was due primarily to the breakthrough represented by Sir Charles Jones's music, which brought a new sound to the table, one legitimate enough to compete with the older stars.


Then, as first Johnnie Taylor passed, then Tyrone Davis, then Little Milton and (later) Marvin Sease, Southern Soul flagship label Malaco Record's Tommy Couch, Jr. pronounced "southern soul" dead.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the cemetery. A new generation of young stars embraced the sound ushered in by Sir Charles Jones and southern soul rebounded with a vengeance, becoming more popular than the naysayers ever imagined.

One could have reasonably assumed that creatively speaking, as a songwriter and producer, Sir Charles Jones would ride this wave of interest in southern soul music like the "king of southern soul," Superman cape rippling in the wind. And yet, the mantle of "king" hung heavily on Sir Charles, a blessing onstage but a curse in the lonely room at home or in the studio, a creative burden, a hard-to-achieve perfection he had to live up to or be seen as a failure.

As his original "discoverer" and guiding light, Senator Jones aka WMPR Jackson, Mississipi's late-night DJ Uncle BoBo passed away, then his good friend, the late recording genius Reggie P., and finally his musical mentor, Marvin Sease, Sir Charles lost confidence in his songwriting abilities.

To make things worse, Charles's early recording hassles with labels, including rejection by Malaco and betrayal by Mardi Gras, made him wary of all commercial avenues to producing and distributing his music. So Sir Charles became a commercial loner, rejecting (with exceptions) any and all labels and shrugging off the sale and distribution of what little music he made in the fallow years, a paranoia about marketing which lasts to this very day: witness the current unavailability of Portrait Of A Balladeer so soon after its release.

DBN NOTES: There are new links to Sir Charles' PORTRAIT OF A BALLADEER since that writing. Here's one: Portrait Of A Balladeer

In effect, Charles has relied on his sporadic singles to bolster his concert revenue, which has steadily grown. And in this Charles reflects the changing times in the music industry, with CD sales plummeting even as concert income grows--especially in southern soul, with its devoted fans.

New stars like Cupid and J-Wonn are following the same formula: free music/pay me at my next concert.

But Charles' long bout of "writer's block" has been as worrisome to his fans as it has been a hardship to him. Thus, Portrait Of A Balladeer begins apologetically ("I've been away a long time"), with a tentative piece of TV-familiar sentimentality called "Glow," in which, rather than just getting into the good stuff, Charles makes unnecessary demurrals in an effort to re-connect with his audience. It may be the most un-soulful song he's ever recorded, and you get the sinking feeling the album may be a disaster.

In the second track, "Tear Our Love Down," Charles is still not himself. He is easing himself into "his old self"--the one we want to hear--by way of digression, but you can hear something primal in him beginning to stir.

Fans will know he's in his element instantly during the talking introduction--vintage Charles--to the third track from the set, "Independent Ladies."

"I want to dedicate this song to all the independent ladies all around the world," he says in his best, gutteral, sexy voice of old.

"Lord knows I take my hat off to every woman that's being a woman and being a woman about hers. All the independent ladies in the world, keep your head up. This song is dedicated to you from Sir Charles Jones."


You can sense the women melting "all around" the world--at least the ones who've heard that voice before. The song has already amassed almost 13,000 hits on YouTube as of this writing, more than doubling the number of listens of most of the other tracks off the album.

What follows is a delight by any measure for anyone who's been waiting since MY STORY'S "Happy Anniversary" for the kind of Sir Charles Jones music that transports you to an emotional space you'd almost forgotten existed.

Although there may not be a single masterpiece on the order of "Anniversary," there are eight great tracks, not counting the admirable "Independent Ladies" and the two opening tracks already discussed.

Sir Charles utilizes a lot of new songwriting talent, including Kortez Harris III, co-writer of "Sweet Sweet" and "So Beautiful," and Jermaine Rayford, co-writer of "Nasty" and "Expire," and John Phillips, another co-writer on "So Beautiful."

Willie Clayton, whose imprint Endzone is the publisher of PORTRAIT, is all over the album, including co-writing credits on "So Beautiful," "Sweet Sweet" and "Do You Feel," on which the ubiquitous soul singer shares vocals with Charles.

Willie Clayton

Both "Do You Feel," and"So Beautiful" have been featured on Daddy B. Nice's Southern Soul Singles Review as follows:

Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .

----------MAY 2014------------

2. "Do You Feel (Like Partying Tonight)"--------Sir Charles Jones & Willie Clayton

With expectations high, duets are almost always a little disappointing, but this collaboration defies the odds: it's the two right superstars at the right time, ready and willing to give one other unconditional respect. Both are in awesome vocal form, performing vocal acrobatics (like kids on a trampoline) over the robust and resonant rhythm track.


and....

Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .

----------JULY 2014------------

3. "So Beautiful"----Sir Charles Jones

And while we're giving into summer madness, are you ready to slow jam? How about yours truly, Sir Charles, with HIS new and magical song with a hint of the Far East? After the long hiatus from recording CD's, Sir Charles' vocal sounds oh-so-fresh, simultaneously relaxed and full of "want-to," and the lush instrumentation is served up with a technical flair that surpasses even his vintage work. Sir Charles' "So Beautiful" reminded your Daddy B. Nice of Malcom McClaren's 1984 electronica version of Madame Butterfly.


Musically, the songs are distinct and of a piece--not one even vaguely qualifies as "filler." "I Can't Breathe" opens and sustains with a Carole King-like piano riff.

"(Do Me The) Honor (Of Marrying Me)'s" doodling synth lines revisit the pungent, dreamy atmosphere of "Take Care of Mama."

"Expire," with the great line, "I've been hustling on the streets since 1991," plumbs the breathtaking emotional depth and male-female give-and-take in the fan-revered "The Letter (Guilty)," but with positive results.

Elements of Bill Withers' "Use Me" and Bobby Gentry's "Ode To Billy Joe" mingle and echo in the back hallways of the marvelous, churning stanzas of "Sweet Sweet."

And "Nasty's" voice-enhanced solo towards the end cries out for Sir Charles' natural voice, but the flaw ultimately disappears in the overwhelming wash of synthesized background.

By the time the album queues to the ballad "Sunshine,"
Sir Charles has returned to the mainstream balladeering with which he so awkwardly began the set ("Glow"), but now he's in full form, his southern soul genes handily co-opting the sentimental aspects of the majestic central riff and transforming it into deep, deep soul as only he can.

The album, astonishingly, is already out of print, but fans can watch for a re-issue and in the meantime stream the songs directly from the YouTube links provided in this review.

In the credits the songs are frequently and unfortunately constricted to one-word titles, so that "Honor" (which sounds military) stands for "Do Me The Honor" (actually a wedding proposal), and "Expire" (which sounds terminal) for "My Love Don't Expire." (Sic on the grammar.) In the case of "I Can't Breathe," the abbreviated title means something almost diametrically opposite to the fuller lyrics, "I Can't Breathe Without You."

But the songs themselves constitute the best assortment of new Sir Charles material in a decade, a soulful fabric far richer than MY STORY, a set sophisticated enough to hark back to the definitive LOVE MACHINE. The songs all vary, but they all have that Sir Charles sound: a modern-day Johnny Mathis forged in a cauldron of the blues.

--Daddy B. Nice

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

8.


Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sir Charles Jones:


November 1, 2013:

I won't say there would be no contemporary Southern Soul without Sir Charles Jones. But your Daddy B. Nice can't imagine what it'd look like.

Mel Waiters works a lot harder. Willie Clayton puts out better records. Bobby Rush has more moments of genuine inspiration. Even generational rival T.K. Soul has out-toured and out-recorded him.

So how is Charles more deserving? Is it because he's better-looking? More of a heart-throb?

Don't sneer. Johnnie Taylor gained his 20th-Century Southern Soul throne in no small part because he was an impossibly good-looking man with a demeanor to match. And Johnnie Taylor inspired the most fervent response from his audiences, especially women.

Remind you of anyone?

Clayton has disdained being labeled a "southern soul" artist, although that doesn't make him any less central a figure.

Bobby Rush is off in his own conceptual universe, but like Clayton is a beneficiary of Southern Soul radio and fans, whom he plays like a violin approximately every other album.

Mel Waiters is arguably the truest other contender for the contemporary Southern Soul crown. Indeed, there is a YouTube video--complete with WorldWrestlingEntertainment-style fronting--of Sir Charles and Mel onstage together in a "battle" to finally settle who is #1 and "The King Of Southern Soul."

But Sir Charles is the only one who had the balls to call himself "The King Of Southern Soul" from the beginning.

On the other hand, Waiters has been around longer. (He's mentioned by Charles himself in "Friday" when he croons "Mel Waiters on the radio, / Singing about the whiskey.")

And Waiters (like Clayton) has been far more productive than Jones, releasing records annually right up to the present, while Jones’ albums have come almost fitfully, with a disconcerting fallow period since 2009.

That was the year Tribute To The Legends came out. It's been five long years since any original CD-enclosed Sir Charles Jones material (2008's My Story.)

Even more puzzling to his fans and advocates is Charles' lackadaisical approach to promoting and selling the music he does make.

Charles has notched some sensational southern soul YouTube videos ("You Ain't The Father Of The Child" and "Country Boy," a remake of Will T.'s "Mississippi Boy") while neglecting to put out a corresponding single for sale, even on indie sites like CD Baby. (The exception: YouTube's On My Own Again," is also for sale on CD Baby.)

If Charles worked harder to market his more recent product, would the songs vie in fans' minds with the early classics?

As it is, there is an almost total disconnect with recent material--otherwise worthy songs like "Happy Anniversary," "You Ain't The Father," "My Latest, My Greatest"--when fans think of Charles.

The true audience connection goes back to "Friday" and "Is Anybody Lonely?"

Maybe it's the incredible impact of the early work--the surprise of it, the freshness of it, never again to be re-captured--that defines Charles and makes it impossible to ever match again.

Think about it. Turn of the century. Nobody saw it coming. The Southern Soul stars of the last dozen years were dying. Charles had the right sound at the right time.

Nevertheless, it was the sound to which Tommy Couch, Jr. of Malaco & Waldoxy Records of Jackson, Mississippi gave a big thumbs down, devastating Charles.

This was the label that had published Charles' mentor, Marvin Sease. This was Malaco, the flagship of southern soul, and they were rejecting him, the would-be "king of southern soul," a snub which critic David Whiteis reports Charles suffered bitterly.

Luckily, producer Senator Jones (and his alter ego WMPR graveyard-shift deejay Uncle Bobo) came to the rescue. Senator Jones was working at Malaco, and he saw the artistic promise Sir Charles represented. He contacted his friend Warren Hildebrand at New Orleans' Mardi Gras Records and the rest is history.

The sound was different. Synthesizer washes, dirge-slow ballads, perky and idiosyncratic rhythm tracks, synthetic brass. The sound said you could go in a different direction. You didn't necessarily have to have the deep-soul keyboards and live horn sections (although Charles would have undoubtedly had live or faux-live horn sections if Malaco had signed him).

The sound is something we take for granted today, when we hear a cutting-edge, solidly 21st-Century Southern Soul-sounding song like Nellie "Tiger" Travis's "Sexy Man" (written by Floyd Hamberlin Jr.), which I heard a deejay proclaim (with some hyperbole) the other day "the number one song in America!"

Your Daddy B. Nice used to refer to the little roller-coaster of ascending and descending notes from "Is Anybody Lonely" as the "Sir Charles Jones horn hook" in commentary over the years. L.J. Echols used the melodic hook intact in his Sir Charles-produced "I'm Gone Party."

I went through all the songs and tallied the presence of this signature chord progression in a number of Jones' songs:

"Is Anybody Lonely?" Love Machine (Mardi Gras 2001)

(This is most people's connection with the "hook," Charles' signature song: he opens concerts with "Friday" but he ends them with "Is Anybody Lonely?")

"Just Can't Let Go" Love Machine (Mardi Gras 2001)

(same horn hook as "Is Anybody Lonely");

"The Letter (Guilty)"

Sir Charles & Friends: A Southern Soul Party (Hep' Me 2004)

(the same horn hook as "Is Anybody Lonely?"; in "The Letter" the chord progression seems to be also imbedded in the melody line;

--and, after a hiatus of a few years--

"I Came To Party" My Story (Mardi Gras 2008)
(the song features a snipped version of the "lonely" hook, for the first time in a fast-tempo song).

The point being, the first three of those four songs are stone cold classics. The "hook" never grows old.

Now Listen to Charles' "horn hook" in L.J. Echols' "I'm Gone Party," produced by Charles.

Marvin Sease may have schooled Charles, but it was Senator Jones who helped shape his recorded sound. Senator Jones was a fascinating man who lived by night and was just getting into his prime about 3 am in the morning.

Then, between the hours of 3 and 6 am on Jackson's WMPR, Senator would shamelessly play track after track of this new, hybrid Southern Soul music, mostly Sir Charles Jones and The Love Doctor, whose blockbuster hit "Slow Roll It" was written, produced and background-sung by Sir Charles.

The songs spread to chitlin' circuit clubs and deejays like wildfire. Others took notice, like Ecko Records in Memphis with Sheba Potts-Wright's even more successful cover of "Slow Roll It." And the game was on: you could be young and sexy and still love Southern Soul.

Senator Jones may not have been a "hands-on" producer, as Carl Marshall once maintained in an interview with Daddy B. Nice, but Senator more than made up for it with his ear. He advised and channeled Charles in ways Charles never approached again.

Much of that early, "classic" Sir Charles sound came from Senator Jones' love of gospel music, and in particular the style of gospel that borrowed from the smooth, streamlined, singing-cowboy style of 50's and early 60's western troubadors. It was a clean, minimalist palette against which Charles' heart-tugging tenor sprang to emotional life.

Mundane phrases like "washing my own clothes" (from "Is Anybody Lonely?") took on significance, ambiguities, shadings of feeling, experience, loneliness and vulnerabilility out of all proportion to the everyday meaning of the words.

So the hits rolled out in those early years of the century: "Better Call Jody," "Just Can't Let Go," "Friday," "Is Anybody Lonely," "Slow Roll It," "Take Care of Momma," "For Better Or Worse." Most of them graced Jone's landmark second album, Love Machine, arguably the single most influential album in 21st Century Southern Soul music.

The younger generation (which the old school blues and R&B artists had written off) took to the new sound like kittens to catnip, and Charles embarked on a collaborative career--best memorialized in the equally ground-breaking and influential Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party--that brought dozens of young artists into the reborn genre, and influenced hundreds more musicians who would nurture their own Southern Soul dreams in the years to come.

Included in the creative swathe Charles made in those formative years (roughly 2001 to 2008) was an unprecedented series of collaborations:

The Love Doctor:

Sir Charles Jones wrote the bulk of the tunes for The Love Doctor's first album, Doctor Of Love. "Slow Roll It," the Love Doctor's classic, remains arguably Sir Charles' finest piece of songwriting, and he performs it in concert.

Omar Cunningham

"Baby Don't Leave Me Alone"

2003 from Cunningham's Hell At The House album.

Same melody and sound as Sir Charles' "The Letter (Guilty)." Sir Charles Jones added technical support on the CD, and although the credits aren't specific, the musical marks (and voice) of Sir Charles Jones are all over the track, "Baby Don't Leave Me."

Indeed, for Sir Charles Jones' fans, this song--with its stately melody and impeccable, instantly-recognizable arranging style--constitutes a major contribution to the Jones oeuvre.

Andre Lee

Andre Lee's profile took a huge leap forward during the Sir Charles Jones era at Mardi Gras Records (out of New Orleans) in the early 2000's, when he contributed backup vocals to many of the young wunderkind's projects (such as La Keisha's exceptionally evocative "Morning Rain") and secured a niche on arguably the best Southern Soul sampler ever, Sir Charles' Ultimate Southern Soul collection (on Mardi Gras) with his song "Pony Ride."

Jody Sticker

"Booty Do Right's" (Jody Sticker) distinctive synthesizer fills--straight out of the Sir Charles vocabulary on Jones' own "Tell Me How You Want It" and The Love Doctor's "You Got To Roll It Slow"--represent a huge chunk of creative territory reclaimed from what was beginning to look like Southern Soul oblivion.

Sir Charles also shares vocals with Jody Sticker on "Roll That Thang," a super-evocative sexual plaint, and "Sacrifice For Love," which sounds like a direct out-take from a Sir Charles album.

Terry Wright

Terry Wright's debut album, Anytime Man was released by Hep'Me Records in 2004. Two of the album's premier tracks were "Anytime Man" and the mid-tempo. Sir Charles Jones-influenced "Ooh Wee." (Sir Charles also sang background vocals).

"Ooh Wee," was included in a Mardi Gras Records sampler the same year (Hot New Southern Soul, Vol. 2). Another song from the Anytime Man CD, "Sophisticated Freak," was featured on Sir Charles Jones' Southern Soul Party album (Hep'Me, 2004).

Sorrento Ussery

Young singer Sorrento Ussery first came to the attention of the chitlin' circuit on the Sir Charles Jones CD, Southern Soul Party: Sir Charles Jones & Friends (Hep'Me) in 2004.

"Put That Thang In Motion" (from Make Sweet Love, Hep'Me, 2004) leaped a half-decade ahead in terms of style if for no other reason than it bore the arranging mark of Sir Charles Jones.

Reggie P.

Despite his sparse recording, the late Reggie P. was Charles' true equal as a southern soul vocalist. Shy by nature, the late Reggie P. was also Charles' fishing buddy and frequent touring partner.

Sir Charles and Reggie hooked up most prominently on "P's And Q's" and "I've Got The Feeling."

Roni

Come Back Kind Of Love, with a title tune written and co-performed by Southern Soul star Sir Charles Jones, was released in 2008 (Allison).

Calling him her "little brother," Roni ("Fool On My Hands") has been both a longtime advocate for and beneficiary of Sir Charles Jones.

J. Blackfoot

In 2007, "I'm Just A Fool For You," became a big hit for J. Blackfoot in two versions, a duet with Lenny Williams and a subsequent duet with Sir Charles Jones.

"I'm Just A Fool (Part 2)" by J. Blackfoot w/ Sir Charles Jones (Winner of Daddy B. Nice’s Best Southern Soul Ballad 2007)

Daddy B. Nice wrote:

A marriage of two songs ("I'm Just A Fool For You" and "Is Anybody Lonely") made in Soul Heaven. Ironic, when you think about it, though. The most potent nostalgia comes not from the older man's material, which you would expect, but the younger man's classic, "Is Anybody Lonely."

L. J. Echols

Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "Breaking" Southern Soul Singles For. . .

DECEMBER 2008

1. "I'm Gonna Party"-------------L. J. Echols w/ Sir Charles Jones production (the song that borrowed the "Sir Charles horn riff" DBN)

Tyree Neal

Tyree Neal is the late Jackie Neal's brother. Forging the same path laid down by Sir Charles, Tyree has become an ever-stronger producer, writer and musician, helping to revitalize the careers of Big Cynthia and Stephanie McDee, among many others.

7. DBN's Top Singles 2008: "Whiskey And Beer"
----Tyree Neal w/ Sir Charles Jones

Lee Fields

Fields' "I'll Put My Life On The Line" had the same atmospheric synth background that Sir Charles' songs did, but Fields didn't know what was going on in the South and never followed up with that song, which became an underground classic in the Delta…

Mr. David

"Shoo Da Wop" with Sir Charles Jones

(which Southern Soul's Daddy B. Nice called at the time "the best Sir Charles fast song ever")

LaKeisha

If listeners who'll "pass on slow songs, thank you," really want to test their patience, they can refer to La'Keisha's duet with Sir Charles Jones on "Just Another Love Song." This song lurches forward so slowly, so tentatively, that you begin to wonder if the drummer's going to nod off and keel over backwards. The glacial pace puts the burden on the vocalists, and to their credit, Sir Charles and LaKeisha pretty much pull it off. From LaKeisha’s album Stop, Drop & Roll.

Bigg Robb

3. "Grown And Sexy"------------------Bigg Robb & Da Problem Solvas w/ Sir Charles Jones
Blues, Soul & Old School (2007)

Charles' best fast songs have involved other artists, and one of the finest was this collaboration with Bigg Robb, whose album Blues Soul & Old School followed the guest-artist formula set down by Sir Charles in Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party (Hep'Me, 2004).

Without the success of Sir Charles Jones, Bigg Robb's blend of Ohio funk, hiphop and southern soul themes may never have been accepted by the fans.

O. B. Buchana

.... And the collaborations continue to the present day (2013) as in O.B. Buchana's spirited duet with an equally-energized Charles: "Can't Get You Off Of My Mind."

********

Although any one of three other recording artists with more extensive experience and bodies of work--Mel Waiters, Willie Clayton, Bobby Rush--could as well claim the title, at this point in time (2013), Sir Charles Jones is 21st Century Southern Soul’s number-one draw.

Jones will have to deliver new music in the next few years to maintain his stature, but in terms of his influence and his emotional connection with the Southern Soul audience, Charles really has no peer. He showed the way for all the younger artists, and he made it cool for all the fans.

--Daddy B. Nice

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide


Honorary "B" Side

"Is Anybody Lonely?"




5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Friday by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Friday


CD: Love Machine
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Love Machine


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Is Anybody Lonely? by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Is Anybody Lonely?


CD: Love Machine
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Love Machine


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy 100 Years by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
100 Years


CD: The Masterpiece
Label: Southern King Entertainment

Sample or Buy
The Masterpiece


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Ain't No Sunshine by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Ain't No Sunshine


CD: Tribute To The Legends
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Tribute To The Legends


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Better Call Jody by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Better Call Jody


CD: Sir Charles Jones
Label: Hep'Me

Sample or Buy
Sir Charles Jones


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy For Better Or Worse by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
For Better Or Worse


CD: Love Machine
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Love Machine


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Happy Anniversary by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Happy Anniversary


CD: My Story
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
My Story


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Just Can't Let Go by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Just Can't Let Go


CD: Love Machine
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Love Machine


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy So Beautiful by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
So Beautiful


CD: Portrait Of A Balladeer
Label: Endzone

Sample or Buy
Portrait Of A Balladeer


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Squeeze by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Squeeze


CD: The Masterpiece
Label: Southern King Entertainment

Sample or Buy
The Masterpiece


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Take Care Of Momma by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Take Care Of Momma


CD: Sir Charles Jones
Label: Hep'Me

Sample or Buy
Sir Charles Jones


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy The Letter (Guilty) by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
The Letter (Guilty)


CD: Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party
Label: Hep'Me

Sample or Buy
Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy You Ain’t The Father Of The Child (unreleased)    by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
You Ain’t The Father Of The Child (unreleased)



5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy You’re My Latest, My Greatest (Inspiration)     by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
You’re My Latest, My Greatest (Inspiration)


CD: My Story
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
My Story


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Baby Love by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Baby Love


CD: Thank You for Holding On
Label: Jumpin'

Sample or Buy
Thank You for Holding On


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Bring It On Home To Me by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Bring It On Home To Me


CD: Tribute To The Legends
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Tribute To The Legends


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Country Boy (unreleased) by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Country Boy (unreleased)



4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Do You Feel feat. Willie Clayton by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Do You Feel feat. Willie Clayton


CD: Portrait Of A Balladeer
Label: Endzone

Sample or Buy
Portrait Of A Balladeer


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy For Your Love by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
For Your Love


CD: For Your Love...Best of Sir Charles Jones
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
For Your Love...Best of Sir Charles Jones


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy I Came To Party by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
I Came To Party


CD: My Story
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
My Story


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy I Tried (featuring La'Keisha)     by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
I Tried (featuring La'Keisha)


CD: My Story
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
My Story


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Independent Ladies by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Independent Ladies


CD: Portrait Of A Balladeer
Label: Endzone

Sample or Buy
Portrait Of A Balladeer


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Just Like Fire by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Just Like Fire


CD: Sir Charles Jones
Label: Hep'Me

Sample or Buy
Sir Charles Jones


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy On My Own Again by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
On My Own Again


CD: On My Own Again MP3 Single
Label: Charles Jones / Kiss

Sample or Buy
On My Own Again mp3 Single


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Rainy Night In Georgia by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Rainy Night In Georgia


CD: Tribute To The Legends
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Tribute To The Legends


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Running by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Running


CD: Thank You for Holding On
Label: Jumpin'

Sample or Buy
Thank You for Holding On


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Same Thing It Took To Get Her    by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Same Thing It Took To Get Her


CD: Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party
Label: Hep'Me

Sample or Buy
Sir Charles Jones & Friends: A Southern Soul Party


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Sweet Sweet by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Sweet Sweet


CD: Portrait Of A Balladeer
Label: Endzone



3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Expire by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Expire


CD: Portrait Of A Balladeer
Label: Endzone

Sample or Buy
Portrait Of A Balladeer


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Love Machine by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Love Machine


CD: Love Machine
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
Love Machine


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Pop That Coochie by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Pop That Coochie


CD: My Story
Label: Mardi Gras

Sample or Buy
My Story


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Tear Our Love Down by Sir Charles Jones (21st Century)
Tear Our Love Down


CD: Portrait Of A Balladeer
Label: Endzone

Sample or Buy
Portrait Of A Balladeer





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