Best of 2013: The Year In Review
Daddy B. Nice's #495 ranked Southern Soul Artist
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Best of 2013: The Year In ReviewDaddy B. Nice's #495 ranked Southern Soul Artist |
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Best of 2013: The Year In Review SCROLL DOWN FOR JANUARY & FEBRUARY TOP TEN SINGLES
SOUTHERN SOUL MUSIC: THE YEAR IN REVIEW Despite the usual attrition 2013 was a fantastic year for the last "segregated music" in America (as singer/songwriter Luther Lackey called Southern Soul music in an insightful "farewell" interview with Daddy B. Nice in January), with steady output from veterans and buzz-filled epiphanies seemingly on a monthly basis by a parade of bright new and/or little-known performers.
Not to be mistaken for your mama's southern soul, 2013 was the year of Nellie "Tiger" Travis's "Mr. Sexy Man," called in many quarters the "number-one song" in America. Even Medea (aka Tyler Perry), boasted that the song--the result of Travis' reunion with writer/producer Floyd Hamberlin--was her favorite during a guest stint on The Steve Harvey show. One of the keys to the song's popularity was the line in the chorus, "what-yo-name-is?" (which Medea mimicked perfectly), proving once again that good English grammar ("What is your name?") just doesn't (don't?) make sense in the world of blues. Like a 100-year flood, "Mr. Sexy Man" crept into media outlets long known for eschewing southern soul music, but close in its wake, especially throughout the established chitlin' circuit, was Ms. Jody's "Just Let Me Ride," in which the fiercely competitive diva "rode the cowboy, not the horse," and in the process notched arguably her finest club song to date. 
And Ms. Jody also took the music beyond its roots, winning (and triumphantly performing) at the Carolina Beach Music Awards for her single "Still Strokin'," the title tune from the same CD featuring "Just Let Me Ride." But the ultimate southern soul high of the year, at least for the insiders fortunate enough to hear his debut in the Delta (Jackson, Mississippi, the heart of the music), was the Big Yayo-tutored young singer J-Wonn's "I Got This Record." With only word-of-mouth, local air-play and one meagerly-recorded live-with-boombox YouTube video in a Jackson shopping mall, J-Wonn became an overnight sensation, the charisma and sensitivity of his vocal compelling your Daddy B. Nice to call his coming-out party "dramatic enough to recall Sir Charles Jones' 'Friday' or LaMorris Williams' 'We Can Do It (Impala)'." Deejays called this song "the #1 song in the WORLD," (How's that, Nellie Travis?), but it was really the #1 Song in the Delta, where its popularity thrust J-Wonn on stage with Willie Clayton and subsequently led to headlining gigs with the likes of respected Southern Soul veterans Wilson Meadows and Dave Mack. J-Wonn's lightning-speed acceptance--without a published CD--wasn't unique. Only a few months earlier, during the heat of the summer, a young performer whose only claim to fame was being the little sister of singer/songwriter L. J. Echols, put out a single called "Mad Dog 20-20." An anthem to low-budget, country-style inebriation, with brother L.J.'s admirably rustic guitar picking for background, Krishaunda Echols' "Mad Dog" (which your Daddy B. Nice called "the best thing since the late Jackie Neal") broke with only a YouTube video, without the benefit of distributed single or CD. In the span of two months, Ms. Echols became a feted headliner at Mississippi southern soul concerts, most exceptionally headlining a show at the Laurel, Mississippi fairgrounds with the greatest divas in Southern Soul (Peggy Scott-Adams, Denise LaSalle and Shirley Brown), with the radio spot featuring Krishunda's "Mad Dog 20-20" exclusively in the commercial. So fast did events unfold, there was often a disconnect between the day-to-day Southern Soul media, which catered to and supported the small but vital network of established Southern Soul artists, and the emerging younger generation of new acts, largely introduced by Daddy B. Nice, often with little distributed product--J-Wonn, Krishaunda Echols, T-Baby, Fredrick (King Fred) Hicks among them--who more often than not had little access to the chitlin' circuit network of the older generation. Unheralded, young, Delta-based producer Big Yayo (Stevie J's "Because Of Me," LaMorris Williams' "Impala"), was again at the heart of the action, producing not only T-Baby's "The Swag" but J-Wonn's resplendently-arranged ballad, "I Got This Record." And Big Yayo's 2012 success with the disco-edged, Dave Mack-sung, club anthem "Booty Talking" presaged the success of Nellie Travis' similarly-driven "Mr. Sexy Man" in 2013. Another vital stream of new southern soul music came from a traditional bastion of the genre, southern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast, where--with the demise of the once-invaluable Chico's Radio--WDLT Mobile's deejay Nikki DeMarks fought the good fight, championing artists like Stephanie McDee, Cupid and Tucka, whose "Sweet Shop" seduced listeners. "Twerking" finally hit the mainstream. Hey, America: Louisiana's Jackie Neal was doing it and singing about it a dozen years ago. And Jackie Neal's little brother Tyree finally moved out of her shadow, producing Big Cynthia's best work in years,  not to mention producing fellow Louisianan Pokey and providing the irrepressible guitar lick in the Louisiana-based, "return-of-the-southern-soul-queen" Stephanie McDee's instant classic, "When I Step In The Club."
2013 was noteworthy for the publication of David Whiteis's monumental primer to contemporary Southern Soul: Southern Soul Blues (University of Illinois Press). The overwhelmingly-accurate, exhaustively-researched tome was the first up-to-date analysis of contemporary Southern Soul in cloth and paper, lending further credence (in the mainstream) to the genre's still obscure existence. Whiteis wrote (and confirmed with your Daddy B. Nice) that the term "southern soul blues" was a compromise--that the phrases "southern soul," "soul-blues" and "southern soul blues" were all used interchangeably in the book. Yet, such was the heft of the book's influence that respected European online critic Heikki Suosalo wrote that: “Soul-Blues” is now in the U.S.A. the common term for the music we used to call and still call in Europe “southern soul.” Even though some artists like Willie Clayton don’t like the phrase “southern soul” in terms of describing his music – and Chicago isn’t very south, I agree – I’ll still use it anyhow, because it’s an established, respectable term, going all the way to the 60s. Among European soul music lovers, it’s a positive term and it conjures up an image of certain kind of music, highly emotional and powerful. It’s not necessarily tied up with geography, but purely sound. We also have “northern soul”, and every black music fan and club-goer in Europe understands what we’re talking about." In the critical sphere, 2013 was also the year Daddy B. Nice completed his Top 100 21st Century Countdown, two and a half years in the making, and the first ranking of southern soul artists since his Top 100 Southern Soul Artists a decade earlier, with Sir Charles Jones replacing the late Johnnie Taylor as the #1 Southern Soul Artist. Mel Waiters, Willie Clayton, T.K. Soul, Bobby Rush, Ms. Jody, Shirley Brown, Theodis Ealey, O.B. Buchana and Bigg Robb rounded out the top ten.  A vocalist some industry people doubted existed emerged from anonymity in an interview with Daddy B. Nice: Will T., the mysterious singer of the original "Mississippi Boy," (often attributed to Charles Wilson), one of the most iconic and oft-covered songs in contemporary Southern Soul. It was written by the same Floyd Hamberlin of this year's "Mr. Sexy Man" fame and most recently covered by Sir Charles Jones under the title "Country Boy."
2013 posted outstanding CD's by some of Southern Soul's banner artists: Theodis Ealey, Vick Allen, Mel Waiters, Ms. Jody, O.B. Buchana, Klass Band Brotherhood and Donnie Ray, to cite only a few.  2013 witnessed the passing of some of the music's most beloved practitioners: Artie "Blues Boy" White, Gus Geeter (of Alabama's King Tutt Band) and Tina Diamond. And in December, to the consternation of the blues community, Robert "Chick" Willis--in his heyday one of the most risque of performers--passed on to Soul Heaven.
Onetime enfants terribles Bobby Rush and Willie Clayton found themselves the elder statesmen of traditional rhythm and blues, with old classics like Rush's "Hard Feelin' With Me" (from Blind Snake)... Different strokes For different folks. Special kind of stroke For the soulful folks." ...and Clayton's "Can We Talk" (from Full Circle), dressed up with reggae dancehall trimmings, rematerializing in current air play and wowing a new generation. Lyrical highlights that made 2013 a little more distinctive: "Hey mista sexy man, What yo name is?" Nellie "Tiger" Travis, "Mr. Sexy Man" "Everyone's watching you throughout this room, Women watching men watching you. Jealousy is kicking in." Mel Waiters, "Hottest Thing" "Tonight we're eating perch with tartar sauce." Big "Ro" Williams, "Good Love Muscle" "They conversated (sic) for awhile." Vick Allen, "My Baby's Phone" "Just like Al Green said, 'I'm tired of being alone,' Thank God for the men That made these smart phones." Billy "Soul" Bonds, "Get Her With My Twitter" "They call me Pokey, Big pokey bear, Anytime you need me, baby, I'll be there." Pokey, "They Call Me Pokey" (from an album entitled JOSEPHINE SON POKEY) 
"We didn't know a damn thing about bills. Thought we were living it up like in Beverly Hills. Plenty of Kool-Aid and government cheese, Collard greens and black-eyed peas. Man, those were the good old days." Vick Allen, "I'm Tired Of Being Grown" "I'll tell you what. Stop giving up the cookie And see how long he stays around." Nellie "Tiger" Travis to Adrena in "Another Woman's Man" And, from the debut of the year... "I caught 'em at the grocery store. I caught 'em in the Mall. Saw 'em at the casino, But my grandma even caught 'em at bingo." J-Wonn, "I Got This Record" --Daddy B. Nice ********** 
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . . FEBRUARY 2013 1. "Another Get Drunk Party"-----------Ms. Jody With gleaming, layered alto harmonies and an overriding, soprano-riffing vocal, Ms. Jody transforms a modest, doo-wah-diddying chorus into what Daddy B. Nice calls "the sleeper" from her new country-soulful CD Still Strokin'. See DBN's 4-star "Distinguished Effort" CD Review. Sample or Buy "Another Get Drunk Party" mp3 at iTunes. Sample or Buy Ms. Jody's Still Strokin' CD at CD Universe. 2. "I Miss My Ex"-------DeCarlos Bonds The melodic, straight-ahead, ultra-transparent singing style, the sincerity and the sensitivity, even the references to Billy "Soul" Bonds' standards and the last name of the singer (family?) constitute an homage to the low-key Mississippi master. From the same Hot Spot compilation that gave us RB & Company's "You Can't Watch Your Wife (And Your Woman, Too)." Listen to DeCarlos Bonds singing "I Miss My Ex" on MySpace. Sample or Buy DeCarlos Bonds' "I Miss My Ex" mp3 on the Southern Soul Blues Hot Spot, Vol. 2 sampler from Hot Spot Records on I-Tunes. 3. "On The Way Home"---------LaMorris Williams This song languishes in the ambience of LaMorris Williams's "Impala" ("You can make me holler/ In the back of my Impala")--as soulful a place to segue from Billy "Soul" Bonds as anything you'll find out there. Listen to LaMorris Williams singing "On The Way Home" on SoundCloud. Sample or Buy LaMorris Williams' "On The Way Home" mp3/Ladies' Choice CD at CD Baby. 4. "Precious, Precious"----Lina Lina ("I Won't Let My Baby Down") resuscitates Jackie Moore's little-known, 1971 hit, the most obviously-Southern Soul offering from her new CD. Read Daddy B. Nice's 4-star "Distinguished effort" CD Review. Listen to Lina singing "Precious, Precious" on MySpace. Sample or Buy Lina's "Precious, Precious" mp3/The Love Chronicles Of A Lady Songbird" CD at CD Baby. 5. "I'm Rowdy, Rowdy"----O. B. Buchana The most melody-starved Southern Soul vocalist of his generation inches halfway back to his full mojo on the title tune of his upcoming CD. But I may be under-rating "Rowdy Rowdy." It's beginning to grow on me. 6. "Where Can I Find A Good Man?"----------Ms. Jody Ms. Jody isn't afraid of delving into country influences any more than Sam Cooke was afraid of delving into Latin calypso influences: it's the secret to her distinctiveness. Chalk up another hit song. See Daddy B. Nice's 4-star CD review. Sample or Buy "Where Can I Find A Good Man" mp3 at iTunes. Sample or Buy Ms. Jody's Still Strokin' CD at CD Universe. 7. "Got My Own"------Lysa It tickles me that Lysa references Madonna's "Holiday" both musically and lyrically-- "Hard at work / Hard at play / We ladies need a holiday" --because when we clubheads in NYC first heard and danced to Madonna's debut single back in the day we all assumed she (Madonna) was as black as a moonless night. Lysa performed last year's creditable "Keep On Walking," but neither single is currently for sale. Listen to Lysa singing "Got My Own" on YouTube. 8. "Mississippi Boogaloo"------Shea Simone (sp?) Fans would cry real tears if they knew how many great songs get ruined between the demo and the "polished" final product. In the sixties composer/producers grabbed teenagers off street corners and the radio loved the crude, street-real product. Today the "mafia" of industry professionals would kill it before it ever hit the air waves. Here's an example of such a song from Meridian, Mississippi. You'll have to request it from DJ Mighty Burner at WMPR. 9. "Don't Waste My Time"---------T. Honey Brown This female artist, on the other hand, is at the other (polished) end of the spectrum, and there's nothing wrong with that when the goings-on are as soulful as "Honey" sings. 10. "Down At CeeCee's"------Mr. Sam Don't go to Memphis's CeeCee's if you're intimidated by razor wire, chain-link, tumbleweeds and pavement cracks, but hey--music lovers--someone or something's got to keep the sophisticated riffraff at arm's length, and--hey--it's about time someone memorialized this grimy hole-in-the-wall. Sample or Buy "Down at CeeCee's" mp3 at iTunes. Sample or Buy Mr. Sam's Just Like Dat CD at CD Universe. *********** 
*********** Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . . JANUARY 2013 1. "When I'm Gone"--Luther Lackey In this age when everyone protects their ego at any cost, it's hard to believe a man can still take an unflinching look into the depths and flaws of his character. There's not a whiff of self-deception or self-aggrandizement in Luther Lackey's scathing autobiographical masterpiece. Listen to Luther Lackey singing "When I'm Gone" on YouTube. Sample or Buy Luther Lackey's "When I'm Gone" mp3/The Contender CD at iTunes. 2. "How Do You Keep"----Mr. Sam I know Mr. Sam and the record company are pushing "All I Need" as the new single from his worthy Just Like Dat album, but to these ears it's the safe, mainstream choice. Listening to How Do You Keep, with its gorgeous musical textures, is like walking down an unfolding carpet of pure soul. Sample or Buy "How Do You Keep"mp3 at iTunes. Sample or Buy Mr. Sam's Just Like Dat CD at CD Universe. 3. "Booty Pop"---Bigg Robb The fabulous Bigg Robb intro to this take-off on the over-rated line dance "The Wobble" (think a chitlin'-circuit version of House music) features the theme from 2001: Space Odyssey. As usual, Robb blesses the material with a boundlessly sexier groove. The coup de grace is a marching-brass-band hook that reminds you of the bite of cold humid air at a Friday night football game. Great Busta Rhymes-like video. Watch the Bigg Robb video for "Booty Pop" on The Boogie Report. 4. "Shake It And Work It" ----Mr. X There are no traces left of The Love Doctor or Senator Jones, where Mr. X (Mark Safford) got his start in Southern Soul. "Shake It and Work It" is a percolating, ultimately seducing, eighties-like, disco-funk dance jam with a vocal an avid Southern Soul fan would never recognize as Mr. X. Sample or Buy Mr. X's "Shake It And Work It" mp3 at CD Baby. 5. "Crazy Over You" -----Vick Allen "Say it ain't so, Vick!" you'll be saying when you hear Allen's natural, cello-sensitive voice twisted up an octave, i.e. vocally-enhanced, but there's a lot of the natural, too. This isn't a home-run record on the order of "Soul Music," but the third time through I swear I heard the ghost of Sam Cooke, and my eyes and ears were opened. Sample or Buy Vick Allen's "Crazy Over You" mp3/Soul Music CD at CD Baby. Sample or Buy at iTunes. 6. "Think It Over"--------Theodis Ealey & Lacee "Theodis Ealey, you so full of shit," Lacee begins Ealey's best song in awhile, a mid-tempo, waltz-like remix of a tune from Ealey's notorious 2006 Let Me Put the Head in It CD. Lacee has a beautiful, Beyonce-like verse towards the middle, and Theodis's vocal is surprisingly effective and reminiscent of his best work, although towards the end he begins to parody himself. 7. "Love"-----Lina I'm seeing....Annette Funicello. I'm seeing....Lesley Gore. And if you don't remember those pop icons, you're not a sixties', girl-group-loving, Mickey Mouse Club-watching baby-boomer. From the creator of "I Won't Let My Baby Down." Sample or Buy Lina's "Love" mp3/Love Chronicles CD at CD Baby. Sample or Buy at iTunes. Read Daddy B. Nice's 4-star CD Review. 8. "Stay Home Kitty Kitty"----Jessi Terrell 9. "Baby It's Over"----Lomax 10. "Yo Big Head In Trouble----Luther Lackey *********** ***********
*********** --Daddy B. Nice |
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