Artist Guide

West Love: #1 Single! God's Been Good

#5 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Put It On Me"

West Love: #1 Single! God's Been Good

Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles.

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

May 2026

1. "God's Been Good"-------West Love

I can't stop playing this scorching "God" jam---probably queued it up a hundred times---but please believe the deference with which I approach this subject. I don't praise "God's Been Good" to offend Christians who might take umbrage at a secular music critic transporting gospel music to the secular world. Nor am I trying to foist Christian values on southern soul fans who may not go to church or even believe in God. I'm only saying in all humility: this is music of the first order, music completely compatible with---even superior to---the best that southern soul has to offer right now. This is music that's a shoo-in for best southern soul lead vocalist of the year. This is music performed by a southern soul singer at the peak of her powers. To deprive southern soul fans of this music (via radio programming decisions, streaming algorithms or retail compartmentalizing) would be---pardon the Christian metaphor---a sin. From her completely (and inexplicably) un-hyped and as-yet-unpromoted Reach: The Voice After The Storm album, "God's Been Good" eclipses all of West Love's recent southern soul projects. Whatever its commercial path(s), I sincerely hope she takes full possession of it and enjoys the pride in it she so richly deserves.

Listen to West Love singing "Been Good" on YouTube.

Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's New Album Reviews.

April 14, 2026:

WEST LOVE: Reach: The Voice After The Storm (2026 Kelsie West) Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.

Buy West Love's new REACH: THE VOICE AFTER THE STORM album at Apple.

REACH: THE VOICE AFTER THE STORM Track List:

1. Reach
2. Keep Pushing
3. At The Altar
4. All I Need
5. Mighty Good God
6. No Negativity
7. Nobody
8. Walk With Me
9. Won
10. Been Good

Don't consider this a "Christian" only album. Approach it as if it were straddling the fence between gospel and southern soul. Ardent fans of West Love will have no problem with that. Read the comments section on the YouTube page for the title track, "Reach," first published three years ago. From Sam Cooke to Vick Allen, blues singers have by and large been gospel singers, kids who grew up singing in church. Yes, there are formulas, mannerisms, inflections, vocal and instrumental, that distinguish the religious from the secular genres, but without church music there would be no secular music. No black music, no race music, no blues, no rhythm and blues, no southern soul. And without Kelsie West, there would be no West Love.

I encountered the precursor to West Love's new album REACH: THE VOICE AFTER THE STORM a couple of years ago on YouTube as part of a newly-posted, ten-minute-long, inspirational, two-song mash-up entitled "Reach" and "Keep Pushing" and was so impressed I resolved to recommend it not only to fans but to West Love for commercial release. Then, while looking for an alternative YouTube link for publication, I discovered a "Keep Pushing" video released by one Kelsie West five years before she became famous as West Love---a self-fulfilling classic if ever there was one!

These two heart-rending ballads, "Reach" and "Keep Pushing"---the former a chilling account of a soul floundering in the depths of despair, the latter a motivational sermon any coach of a despondent collegiate team would be thrilled to deliver at halftime---constitute the first two tracks of this amazing album. As impeccably written and performed as they are, however, I would not recommend REACH to the good-times-seeking sensualists of southern soul music if another pair of monstrous singles---"Won" and "Been Good"---didn't bookend this sublime set at its close.

These are fast-tempo tunes. Clocking in at a svelte three minutes, the rhythm track-driven "Won (Again)" may take you all the way back to Ike & Tina Turner's rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary". So focused is West Love on the thigh-thumping instrumental background, her vocal seems to slur throughout from "won again" to "born again," and the last three words I hear at the song's conclusion are "You are asinine." If the great (and religiously devoted) Peggy Scott-Adams were still available, she'd undoubtedly correct me on that and reveal the words' true meaning.

"(God's) Been Good," on the other hand, is arguably over-long at four and a half minutes (four might have been enough), but in all other respects it is the feature performance of the album. Couldn't be better. Bitching instrumental track. Celestial lead vocal. Wild, joyous chorus. I don't know about you, but I can dance to this. This is church taken to the club, and any southern soul-er who can't get into this is an imposter. My fantasy is to see "God's Been Good" morph into a secular club favorite, with dancers waving their hands in the air and testifying to "Jesus!"

I'm not suggesting secular fans will like everything about REACH: THE VOICE AFTER THE STORM. But what's not to like about "Mighty Good God," a retitling and repackaging of West Love's former, million-streaming single "Mighty Good Man"? Or if, like me, your favorite funky soul music of the seventies was reggae, the impressively genuine"No Negativity"? Searching for a love song that makes the competition sound smarmy? Try "Nobody". Need an incredible new tune that fits any format? Check out "Walk With Me". And there is much more. For that we have West Love, the secular flowering of Kelsie West, to thank.

Southern soul's big musical tent is always at its most vibrant when it welcomes outside influences---Dylan's long and anthemic "Like A Rolling Stone" inspiring Cooke's long and anthemic "A Change Is Gonna Come," or Belafonte's Caribbean swing gently influencing Sam's teenage-dreamy "Having A Party". No outside influence is greater---nor deserves more access---than gospel. The more you listen to this album, the more essential and gratifying as a southern soul showcase it becomes.

---Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from West Love's "Reach: The Voice After The Storm" album on YouTube.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to West Love.

Buy West Love's new REACH: THE VOICE AFTER THE STORM album at Apple.

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West Love Ascends To The Top-Ranked Female Artist....

November 22, 2025:

Over the last quarter-century Daddy B. Nice’s Top 100 Artists charts have defined the hierarchy of southern soul music’s most distinguished performers with near universally-accepted accuracy. Constructed of comprehensive artist guides including profiles, biographies, discographies, recommended singles and more, each chart takes about a decade to complete. And roughly halfway through his third and newest chart, Southern Soul: The New Generation, Daddy B. Nice is on schedule. However, given the marathon nature of the project---and as with his two previous charts---adjustments sometimes become necessary in order to retain the integrity of the rankings. Such is the case with the following recording artist.

....Bypassing Nellie "Tiger" Travis And Ms. Jody.

With commendable self-awareness and humility, recording artist West Love (aka Kelsie West) has long fashioned her southern soul persona as the "Princess of Southern Soul" in deference to the ladies---Ms. Jody and Nellie "Tiger" Travis (with a nod to Karen Wolfe)---who have defined top southern soul diva-hood since the heyday of Peggy Scott-Adams, Shirley Brown and Denise LaSalle. Ms. Jody was ranked #34 on my original chart (1990-2010) and Nellie Travis #43. Ms. Jody had risen to #7 and Nellie "Tiger" Travis to #17 on my 21st Century chart (2000-2020). Nellie is currently #5 on my New Generation chart (predominately on the spectacular success of her "Mr. Sexy Man") and Ms. Jody #11 (on her steady and unrivaled catalog of hit singles). Both artists entered southern soul in the mid-aughts and were especially dominant throughout the teens (the era of my second chart), but their recording activity has dropped precipitously in the twenties.

Meanwhile, West Love has electrified audiences in recent years with her one-of-a-kind passion and emotional intensity both on record and onstage in hits like the Omar Cunningham-written "Put It On Me" and the Stan Butler-written "Down In The Country". Moreover, she has taken over Nellie Travis's long-secured spot on southern soul's most prestigious and national venue, the Blues Is Alright Tour, two years running.

West Love didn't have her most fruitful year in the recording studio in 2025, although she finished 2024 with the Daddy B. Nice-awarded BEST COLLABORATION for teaming with another, highly-talented, up-and-coming diva, Cecily Wilborn, on her signature hit "Southern Man" (scroll down this page to Tidbits #3).

West Love's latest single "Treat Me Right" is actually a reissue of a song recorded a few years ago. And although her other projects this year did not fare well, her strange, ten-minute cloning of two inspirational songs, "Reach" & "Keep Pushing," first chronicled in Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles for April '24, has quietly accumulated 225 thousand YouTube views despite never being packaged by West Love for retail sale. The sight of real tears running down her cheek in the YouTube video is unforgettable.

Nor, despite a steady output of singles, has West Love ever published an album, peculiar given her impressive accomplishments. Other notable singles, not currently included in the "Recommended Tracks" section of this Artist Guide, are "Work It," whose dance-floor vibes have garnered it an amazing two million-plus streams, "Love Will," a rousing duet with Lenny Williams, and the atmospheric "The Mac," (773K views) featuring King George.

Congratulations to the indomitable West Love!

See the chart.

Listen to West Love singing "Put It On Me" on YouTube.

June 1, 2022:

Daddy B. Nice's Profile

West Love is the recording name of Kelsie Davis. The daughter of Charles and Vivian Davis, she grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, a town straddling the Florida panhandle. Kelsie married Slater West in Serenity Christian Church in her hometown, eventually incorporating his surname into her performance name. She sang in church and won local singing contests, culminating in an appearance on Ricky Smiley's Comedy & Karaoke show, singing songs by Betty Wright and The Staples Singers, whose influence is all over her doo-woppy anthem "Put It On Me".

Sometime around 2018 Kelsie/now West Love met already established southern soul singer/songwriter Stan Butler and partnered with him on "He's Doing That Donald Trump," her first southern soul single, which charted at #8 on Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles. Like J'Cenae with Wendell B, she had discovered the key to her career---a collaborative approach that's netted her a head-turning string of popular southern soul singles culminating in last year's duet with Butler, "Down In The Kuntry," winner of Best Chitlin' Circuit/Blues Song of 2021.

And at a time when there's a dirth of female vocalists at the top of the southern soul genre, West Love has filled some of that vacuum, reinforcing her recordings with an ebullient stage presence and touring, where she frequently headlines. But the key thing in her rise (and what has separated her from the "pack," as it were) has been the artistic structure provided her by writer/producer Stan Butler.

Here's a video of Butler and West Love singing "Down In The Kuntry" on YouTube.

As can readily be seen in the video, West Love is a dynamo and an endearingly open book. She's all gospel---just flipped to the secular---an awesome technician, expressive beyond norm. You know in the first few bars she can do anything with her voice. And you believe that not only can she do it; she's not afraid to do it.

She undoubtedly would have "made it" in some fashion without Butler. In fact, she detoured creatively in 2021 with veteran hit-maker Omar Cunningham (who established Karen Wolfe as a first-tier artist with "If You're Man Enough To Leave" back in the day) for what would turn out to be her most successful single to date, the Big Yayo-produced "Put It On Me". So she knows how to bring in the firepower.

But Stan Butler has been her go-to guy. Known for his humility and self-effacement (traits not normally associated with blues singers), not to mention his astonishing writing abilites (I once compared him to Dylan), Stantavio (his legal name on the labels/copyrights) has done for West Love what Floyd Hamberlin did for Nellie "Tiger" Travis and what John Ward and the writers at Ecko Records did for Ms. Jody. He's given West Love the opportunity to be a regularly-occuring, female recording artist---a rare breed these days---and doing it on a very high level.

The string of collaborations (Butler writing/producing and West Love performing) has been impressive: "Donald Trump." "Stop Looking," "You Betta Go," "Mighty Good Man," "I'm A Good Woman," "Put It On Me," "I Can't Breathe," "Down In The Kuntry". (All available for purchase on the right-hand column of this page. Scroll down to "Tidbits" section to listen on YouTube.)

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To automatically link to West Love's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other citations on the website, go to "West Love" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.
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--Daddy B. Nice

Tidbits

5-22-22....1. West Love On YouTube:

2. Feb. 1, 2024 #1 Single

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

-------FEBRUARY 2024-------

1. "Swing Out"-----West Love

It's not even the best of the "Swing Outs," a storied title going back to Mel Waiters' "Swing Out Song," but it's an immediate winner, the perfect, mid-tempo showcase for the talent, skills and energy that have taken West Love to the top of southern soul diva-dom. See her many upcoming dates as a rare female headliner on the Blues Is Alright Tour. (See Daddy B. Nice's Concert Calendar.)

Listen to West Love singing "Swing Out" on YouTube.

See Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles: February '24.