Artist Guide

Carolyn Staten #27 The New Generation Southern Soul

#27 ranked Southern Soul Artist

"Nukie Pie "

Carolyn Staten #27 The New Generation Southern Soul

See the chart.

Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Nukie Pie" on YouTube.

See #1 Single April 23: "Let's Chill" by Carolyn Staten.

April 1, 2023:

Daddy B. Nice's Profile:

It’s something about the voice. Certain artists just have it. Crystal Thomas, most recently. Before that, Karen Wolfe for sure. On top of all their other superlative vocal skills, shared with many other deserving singers, these rare, freakish singers take their vocals to another level. It has to do with their use of inflections and tics and phrasing, also something unique and possibly genetic, something in the timbre of the voice that combines with the technical notes to give us extra pleasure.

Carolyn Staten is such an artist. When she sings a word, it sounds better than when others sing it. “Nukie Pie,” a pure and catchy, no-apologies funk jam in the style of Nellie Travis’s “Mr. Sexy Man,” showcases Staten’s special vocal prowess at its apex. “My, my, my,” drawn-out with just the right intonation and inflection, conjures entire worlds before she follows with , “Come and get this nukie pie”.

Certain phrases just drip with “rightness”. “This young buck” (emphasis on the “buck”) from the same jam carries a punch not necessarily more powerful than other singers can muster but different, unique. If you remember Karen Wolfe’s “If You’re Man Enough To Leave, I’m Woman Enough To Let You Go,” you may recall your initial wonder at how someone could sound so “country,” so bona fide and plain-spoken all at once and yet sound so swinging and cool.

That‘s the same pleasure (in a different guise) one gets from “myyy-myyy-myyyyyy” in Nukie Pie” or when Staten sings “rayyy-rayyy” as in “Little Ray-Ray” in “Somebody Gotta Leave,”. the best of the many “response” songs in the wake of King George’s “Keep On Rollin’.

Staten hasn't copyrighted her singles. She seems content, at least for the present, to leave the publishing to a handful of producers who have crafted an impressive if still small catalog of southern soul tunes for her. And while a steady procession of producers appears to be vying for her vocal talents, Carolyn Staten has given every sign of choosing her material carefully. Her debut album, Ladies Night, won a five-star review here at SouthernSoulRnB (scroll down this page), and with "Nukie Pie," "Somebody Got To Leave" and her latest release, "Let's Chill"---all noteworthy singles---waiting in queue, we should anticipate a follow-up album later this year or next.

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For the latest updates (including biography, discography, album sellers, CD reviews and contemporaneous reports) on Carolyn Staten, scroll down this page. To automatically link to Carolyn Staten's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other citations on the website, go to Carolyn Stten in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.
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--Daddy B. Nice

About Carolyn Staten #27 The New Generation Southern Soul

Carolyn Staten was A Best Southern Soul Debut Artist contender for 2017 for her debut single "Thump Mr. DeeJay".

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

-------NOVEMBER 2017-------

...5. "Thump Mr. DJ"---- Carolyn Staten

Great title--and yet another great debut. Mike Darden produced.

She returned in 2018 with another significant single:

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

-------MAY 2018-------

…5. "Mr. Ain't Gone Do Right"----- Carolyn Staten

This is the young singer who debuted last year with the smashing "Thump Mr. DJ". She's mentored by up-and-coming producer Mike Darden, who serves up possibly his finest instrumental track to date.

Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Mr. Ain't Gone Do Right" on YouTube.

Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Thump Mr. DJ" on YouTube.

In 2018 Carolyn Staten released the album LADIES NIGHT:

October 1, 2018:

Debut Album Alert!

LADIES' NIGHT TRACK LIST:

1. Thump Mr DJ

2. This Luvin'

3. Wall 2 Wall

4. Ladies Night

5. Mr Ain't Gone Do Right

6. Used to Stay

7. Just the Way You Want It

8. Jody Ain't Got No Job

9. Wobble Wobble (feat. Kandi Man)

10. Thump Mr DJ (Remix) [feat. Ms Diva Dee]

November 25, 2018:

Reprinted from Daddy B. Nice's New CD Reviews.

November 19, 2018:

CAROLYN STATEN: Ladies Night (Michael Darden/Firefyre Records) Five Stars ***** A Can't Miss Debut. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.

An abundance of great singles by new female artists have populated the southern soul charts the last two or three years, but great albums by women have been another story--a rung too wide, as it were, a hurdle too high. Vets Lacee and Sweet Angel and recent arrivals Adrena, Rosalyn Candy and Ms. Portia, among others, have published albums to scant reception, while labels like CDS and Coday have avoided any new females and ever-dependable Ecko Records has struggled to find fresh material for its headliner, Ms. Jody. So the emergence of an aspiring independent producer like Mike Darden, coming on the heels of Keith Taylor's emergence as producer/performer P2K (elsewhere this page) is especially welcome.

Carolyn Staten's album Ladies Night is the best debut by a female vocalist since last year's southern soul coming-out of Sharnette Hyter (strangely absent and sorely missed on both the recording and touring scenes in 2018), and Mike Darden's songs and arrangements for Staten's Ladies Night

(Scroll down this page to Tidbits #1 to read the complete review.)

Then, in 2020, Carolyn Staten released her most popular single to date:

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

-------APRIL 2020-------

1. "Nukie Pie"-----Caroline Staten feat. Jennifer Watts & Unkle Phunk

Unkle Phunk is the second southern soul producer in less than a month (after Ricky White) to use the suddenly "in" riff from the 80's New Wave band Laid Back's "White Horse," and Carolyn Staten, the most under-rated female singer in southern soul music, absolutely mugs it, obliterating any memory of the original. The three words, "My, My, My..." never sounded so good. Jennifer Watts admirably grafts her vocal onto Staten's tour de force, making it even more powerful, and Unkle Phunk mixes this club classic to perfection. From the best new southern soul compilation since Slack's award-winning "My Music, My Friends". It's called Unkle Phunk's Juke Joint, Vol. 1. and it's going to be a thing.

Listen to Carolyn Staten & friends singing "Nukie Pie" on YouTube.

In 2022 Carolyn released a "response" song to King George's mega-hit, "Keep On Rollin'". The name of the song was "Somebody Gotta Leave":

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

-------AUGUST 2022-------

...2. "Somebody Gotta Leave"-----Carolyn Staten

Staten-ize me, Carolyn! Sock it to me! There have been other female "answer" songs to King George's "Keep On Rolling," but this is the one that delivers the toughest punch.

Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Somebody Gotta Leave" on YouTube.

And as this artist guide was going live (late March 2023), a new single, "Let's Chill" appeared, with an interesting change for Carolyn---a romantic vehicle---the kind of song that in the hands of most singers would sound like pure pop and sentiment. Not in Carolyn's, however.
Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Let's Chill" on YouTube.

Tidbits

1. Complete Ladies Night Review by Daddy B. Nice:

Reprinted from Daddy B. Nice's New CD Reviews.

November 19, 2018:

CAROLYN STATEN: Ladies Night (Michael Darden/Firefyre Records) Five Stars ***** A Can't Miss Debut. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.

comprise the finest, album-length work by a female in the southern soul genre since Floyd Hamberlin's 2017 collaboration with Nellie "Tiger" Travis on the one indisputably successful, female collection of the last couple of years, Mr. Sexy Man: The Album. It's no coincidence that both albums, Travis' and Statens', benefit from top-notch writer/producers at the top of their game, Hamberlin the aging master and Darden the young gun.

Darden, who has been bubbling up the southern soul charts with sporadic hits for artists such as Adrena ("Better Thangs") and Miss Mini ("That Act Right"), makes good on the promise hinted at in those singles with an outstanding collection of compositions for Ms. Staten, whose husky, no-nonsense phrasings perfectly suit the steady pounding of Darden's dominant themes of female empowerment and the bawdy celebration of love.

Staten's "Thump Mr. DJ" (the only track from the album not written by Darden--Carolyn wrote it) crashed the charts exactly a year ago, November 2017, powered by Darden's seductive rhythm track and Ms. Staten's unique, low-register vocal. Lending the song even more allure was the curious title, "Thump Mr. DJ".

Does a deejay "thump"? Not really, but a "house" beat booming from gigantic speakers does. The "thump" of the title gave the tune a bit of mystery, an identity, in the way Floyd Hamberlin gave "Mr. Sexy Man" a twist--a singularity--by transforming the commonplace phrase, "What's your name?" to "What yo name is?"

Darden serves up an even more high-profile classic with "Mr. Ain't Gone Do Right," a guitar-friendly instrumental track that dollops up generous helpings of the slinky melody along with some of the most deliciously-detailed lyrics of this or any era.

"He won't keep no job.
That ship's done sailed.
And every time he goes to jail
You got to pay his bail."

Or...

"He won't feed the damned dog,
Unless you remind him,
And when you need a man around
You can never find him."

Staten's vocal (beginning with a great voice-over) is unflaggingly powerful, yet full of personality, shifting from honeyed to scathing with thrilling variance, giving you the same comfortable buzz you used to get listening to Marvin Season sing "Hoochie Momma".

Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Mr. Ain't Gone Do Right" on YouTube.

A new single from the album, "Just The Way You Want It," has been out for a couple of months, and an even newer single, the title tune "Ladies' Night," is coming out soon. "Just The Way You Want It" has a thematic connection with another tune, "This Luvin".

"This loving don't come free,
And you ain't gone rush it,"

Staten says in "This Luvin," adding--

"You wanna get this loving,
But I ain't no fool.
You got to go to work,
And pay your dues."

"This Luvin" comes early in the album. "Just The Way You Want It" comes later, and now Carolyn is singing a different tune.

"I know I made you wait.
I had to get to know you.
You done paid your dues.
I've got some things I want to show you."

Listen to Carolyn Staten singing "Just The Way You Want It" on YouTube.

Together, the two tunes form a satisfying arc of emotional involvement that gives the album a story-like quality. Both songs are lovingly produced, "Just The Way You Want It" with an acoustic interlude. There's a timelessness to the arrangements. They sound modest yet pack a punch, and Darden has so thoroughly absorbed southern soul techniques these songs could have been recorded twenty years ago. Still, they're absolutely up to date and cutting-edge.

"Wall To Wall" and "Ladies Night" also share a duality. They're party songs, but party songs with a distinct romantic bent. "Wall To Wall" cruises along on a "stepping" tempo. The attention to detail is amazing, with string backgrounds, keyboard fills, background singing (including male) all contributing to the flow.

One of the charms of this album is its grit, and grit is the very essence of a pair of bluesier vehicles, "Jody Ain't Got No Job" and "Used To Stay". The uptempo "Jody Ain't Got No Job" features an amusing, deep-voiced "Jody," while "Used To Stay" ("This is not your home/It's where you used to stay.") is a blues lament in the style of David Brinston's "Somebody's Cuttin' My Cake". Once again, the hook is a keeper, and Carolyn's vocal meshes with Darden's textured instrumental track like Crystal Thomas on a Beat Flippa track. The comparison is apt, because Staten resembles no other current singer as much as Thomas in her God-given talent and larger-than-life ability to project.

There really isn't a tune on Carolyn Staten's debut you wouldn't want to hear coming over your radio or streaming device. Thanks to producer Michael Darden, Ms. Staten has delighted us with one of those rare albums you can listen to over and over again with renewed pleasure and surprise.

--Daddy B. Nice

Buy Carolyn Staten's new Ladies Night album at Amazon.