King George #1 Single! Keep On Rollin

Daddy B. Nice's #301 ranked Southern Soul Artist

King George #1 Single! Keep On Rollin

King George is now the #4-ranked artist on Daddy B. Nice's Top 100 New Generation chart. Click here.

March 1, 2022:

Listen to King George singing "Keep On Rollin'" on YouTube.

Once more, in the tradition of Big Pokey Bear, Tucka and Ronnie Bell, a recording artist and a "complete unknown" comes out of nowhere (that is to say outside the well-worn, traditional southern soul and blues circuit) with a hit single containing so much swagger, honesty and downright, day-to-day emotion that it eclipses everything out there. On its various YouTube pages "Keep On Rollin'" has amassed some three million page views in a little over a month.

Here are just a few snippets from the giddy journey your Daddy B. Nice has travelled since first becoming aware of "Keep On Rollin'" two weeks ago.

1/ On hearing the tune for the first time, Daddy B. Nice features "Keep On Rollin'" in the February 14th "News & Notes" in a story on four-letter expletives in recent southern soul singles:

....Which brings me to a new song in the vein of Arthur Young's "Funky Forty". It uses the word "fuck" in such an apt and conversational and seemingly ordinary fashion that it may sneak or even charm its way onto radio platforms. It's by a new artist named King George and it's entitled "Keep On Rollin'". The lyrics in question concern a man whose mate is leaving him. He retorts that she can "go ahead and leave" because "one monkey don't stop no show". King George needs not one or two but three(!) women at the same time, and it goes like this: (I need) "One woman just to hold me down / One woman just to lift me up / And I gotta have at least one woman on the side / That really don't give a fuck."

2/ Downloaded onto Daddy B. Nice's huge monthly playlist of new work (from which the monthly Top 10 Singles and Top 40 Singles are culled), "Keep On Rollin'" quickly rises like cream to the top, propelled by its distinctive melody, tempo and vocal performance. And of special mention, two lines from the lyrics immediately stand out as original and powerful additions to the southern soul lyrical canon:

"And I got to have at least one woman on the side,
That really don't give a fuck."

and....

"One thing you got to remember,
One monkey don't stop no show."

3/ In researching (or shall we just say "googling") King George, your Daddy B. Nice discovers he's been active on the touring circuit of late, including solo gigs and a supporting role in Coldrank's Birthday Bash last January 8th. But the performance that really stands out is a snippet from a well-attended outdoor gig in which a very ordinary-looking, bespectacled (no costume or dress-up) King George is wearing a backpack onstage. (See King George in concert wearing a backpack.) That's something I have never seen. And it speaks to the fact that George must not have had anyone with him to watch his stuff! And yet the big, night-time audience is totally into the song and familiar with the lyrics, at one point chanting them out without the performer.

4/ Further research indicates that "Keep On Rollin'" isn't King George's first time out. A December YouTube video posted the day before Christmas in 2020 has accrued almost four million page views. The song is "(Can't Stay) Too Long". And another song from 2020, "Friday Night," is even better: an update, if you will, of Sir Charles Jones' "Friday". These songs and others are available as singles, although no album is available yet. (Buy King George singles at Apple.)

5. In my initial write-up in February's "News & Notes" (Daddy B. Nice's Corner) I wondered if "Keep On Rollin'" could possibly "charm" its way onto radio in spite of the "fuck". Well, it has and it did. Listening to my favorite station and deejay (that would be WMPR Jackson, Mississippi and DJ Ragman) the other afternoon, I was astounded to hear the opening chords of the song and I listened raptly to see how they would deal with the "I really don't give a fuck." Very simple, they just blanked out the "fuck". It was great to hear it on radio.

In sum, your Daddy B. Nice is just in awe of the power of southern soul music to connect with fans. It doesn't matter if it's a star singing it. It can be performed by an "unknown". It doesn't matter. The fans KNOW. The fans sniff out the good stuff because the good stuff is for real. "Keep On Rollin" speaks to that unconscious "id" we all carry around, unaware we're blinkered by social norms and civility until we encounter someone or something that upsets that apple cart of norms and strictures. That's why we react with such surprise and enjoyment. And that's why southern soul music is becoming so popular.

--Daddy B. Nice

About King George #1 Single! Keep On Rollin

March 12, 2022:

King George On YouTube