April 19, 2025:

VOLTON WRIGHT: Love Games
Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Buy Volton Wright's new LOVE GAMES album at Apple.

LOVE GAMES Track List:

1. Love Games Intro
2. Love Games
3. Real Thang (feat. B. Pureese)
4. Lost And Found (feat. Sir Charles Jones)
5. She's A Good Woman
6. Take Care Of Home
7. Southern Soul Southside (feat. Bigg Sacc)
8. Don't Get Down Like That
9. Just A Man
10. Maneater
11. Pick It Up (feat. P2K & Slack)

Love Games (Volton Wright's third and newest LP) finds a deep and authoritatively-voiced announcer intoning, "JBE presents the smooth vocals of Volton Wright." It's an interesting opening and one which I think is more apropos than the artist and his team may realize. First, it's an accurate observation. Volton's vocals are "smooth," and in southern soul music, at least, smooth implies a tendency towards mainstream (I'm tempted to use the adjective "polite") R&B as opposed to the wilder, rougher, more humorous or raucous tendencies to be found in southern soul vocals.

Second, "smooth vocals" focuses on what I believe to be the major issue when assessing Volton's music. Does the audience readily recognize Volton Wright's vocals in the way, for instance, it knows the vocals of Theodis or Jeter or Latimore or Sir Charles? Another way of putting it: Has Volton recorded a song (like "Stand Up In It," like "Black Horse," like "Let's Straighten It Out," like "It's Friday") which the audience immediately relates to as a Volton Wright vocal? I don't think so. Naturally, this is the quandary of every aspiring performer, but I believe Volton to be one of the most talented aspirants in southern soul. So I was most interested to see if LOVE GAMES contained that magical, hot-button tune that will define and endear Volton to the fans for posterity (aka "make him a star").

In Volton's case the process is complicated even more by his natural humility and propensity to share the spotlight with guest artists. Who can forget "Southern Soul Girl" feat. T.K. Soul, arguably his most popular song, with over one million YouTube views? Or how he defers the lead vocal in "Supa Woman," a deliriously catchy tune featuring J.D. and Jeter Jones (also from his impressive debut disc), to the youthful J.D. who despite his anonymity and amateurism has an instantly recognizable vocal identity and steals the show? A process, I might add, that is repeated in Love Games when Volton cedes the lead vocal to P2K in the estimable "Pick It Up"

Love Games the album is a mixture of previously recorded material (for example, the superb, cradle-rocking melody of "Lost And Found" with a cameo remix by Sir Charles Jones) and surprising new projects like "Southern Soul Southside," possibly Wright's most southern-soulish undertaking yet, with the assistance of rapper Bigg Sacc. "Love Games," the title tune, is especially impressive, a worthy composition with majestic choruses and a fine Wright vocal. Another previously-released single, "Just A Man," comes closest to what I believe is Volton Wright's best vocal identity---a charismatic mix of personality, texture and timbre pleasantly recreated (for much different purposes) in the new tune "Maneater". Other worthy tracks include "Real Thang" (featuring B. Pureese) and "She's A Good Woman".

I dwell on Volton's vocal identity because every singer can sing in a multitude of ways and/or styles. Although variety is to be desired, vocal recognition---usually accomplished via a hit single---takes precedence. Even in the absence of a hit single, vocal personality is what we associate with the singer and why we love the artist. Wright's vocal style in "Take Care Of Home" represents Volton's yellow brick road to acceptance and stardom. The more generic R&B style Volton adopts in Don't Get Down Like That" is a dead end path. And indiscriminate sampling of vocal styles is something to be avoided. There is plenty of evidence in LOVE GAMES that with the right character, intensity and self-awareness Volton Wright can become a southern soul star. Until he scores that elusive hit single, however, the focus needs to be on forging and marketing a more coherent, creative and consistent vocal sound.

---Daddy B. Nice.

Listen to all the tracks on Volton Wright's new LOVE GAMES album on YouTube.

Buy Volton Wright's new Love Games album at Apple.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Volton Wright.

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March 23, 2025:

MS. JODY: Cougar On The Prowl
Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Buy Ms. Jody's new COUGAR ON THE PROWL album at Apple.

COUGAR ON THE PROWL Track List:

1. Cougar On The Prowl
2. I'll Be Your Lollipop
3. I'm In That Mood Again
4. Our Love Ain't Going Nowhere (feat. Mr. Willy)
5. Dance Dance Dance
6. Bitch You Better Not Have
7. You Done Messed Up
8. I'm Ready For Whatever
9. Strokin' Kind
10. It's Still Yours
11. I Need A Car Drivin' Man

This album arrived as a hard-copy CD in the mail, and as the small print at the end of the reviews on this page clearly states, hard copies are given preference. Having said that, Ms. Jody's Cougar On The Prowl is the first hard copy I've received in a year. Even Jeter Jones doesn't send me hard copies any more. I was beginning to think they had become extinct.

John Ward's Ecko Records has set the standard for professionalism in southern soul over the last twenty-five years. When they promote a record, they do it the right way. The tracks are listed, each one with its composer(s). The producer or producers are memorialized, as are the musicians. Southern soul artists would learn a lot about the recording business visiting Ecko's studio on North Hollywood in Memphis. From the creative and producing process through the licensing and distributing process, John Ward has created a catalog of music whose royalties will carry him stress-free through retirement. Isn't this in essence what all creative artists strive for?

One of Ecko's signature artists for the last two decades, Ms. Jody (Vertie Joanne Delapaz) brings a light touch to Cougar On The Prowl. The first three tracks of the set ("Cougar On The Prowl," "I'll Be Your Lollipop" and "I'm In That Mood Again") have garnered the predominance of initial streams, with "I'm In That Mood Again," the first official single, gaining the most attention with a respectable 8.8 thousand views on YouTube in the album's first month. Watch "I'll Be Your Lollipop" however. The melody, as light as an ice cone, occasions one of Ms. Jody's most pleasant and appealing vocals.

The Raymond Moore-written "Bitch You Better Not Have," arguably the album's most confrontational tune, is also one of the set's best tracks, but even its production and instrumental track adhere to a lady-like propriety and "lite" vibe.

Ms. Jody has always had an uncanny ability to balance a kind of empathic niceness with a roguish orneriness, but in "Bitch You Better Not Have" and "You Messed Up" she brings so much "shine and polish" to irreverent behavior it feels almost socially acceptable. The lyrics in songs like "Strokin' Kind" and "It's Still Yours" are similar, running sexual innuendo through an R&B blender and pop-music filter until they seem acceptable for all age groups and any occasion---washing morning dishes with kids running around the kitchen, for example.

Is this a bad thing? The worst you can say is that this is not "cutting-edge" music as West Love and Cecily Wilborn are currently making music. And yet, Ms. Jody's genteel gravitas, along with the exceedingly supple instrumental sound John Ward and the Ecko crew generate throughout, carries the day, emphasizing the melodic with a smooth and seamless ease. There may not be a blockbuster hit single in this set, but it is an incredibly easy and pleasing album to listen to.

---Daddy B. Nice

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February 23, 2025:

T.K. SOUL: Timeless
Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Buy T.K. Soul's new TIMELESS album at Apple.

TIMELESS Track List:

1. Put A Freak On Me
2. The Way I Do
3. Baby Got Us Jamming
4. Freaking With Our Boots On (feat. Luster Baker)
5. There She Go
6. Confessions Of A Girlfriend
7. Never Gonna Cheat (Throw Back)
8. Toxic
9. Throw The Flag
10. Small Town Kingpin

T.K. Soul's new TIMELESS album doesn't rank among his best. It's just flawed enough to get fans thinking about his career and its many highlights. I was there in Jackson, Mississippi in 2001, listening to his very first southern soul radio single, "Meet Me At The Spot," on the local radio station WMPR. And I'm here in 2025, rejoicing over his upcoming and well-deserved appearance in the Blues Is Alright Tour---long known for inexplicably spurning him---in an upcoming April 18th appearance in Houston's cavernous NRG Arena.

Along with Sir Charles Jones and a few other intrepid young guns, T.K. (short for Terry Kimble) was a key member in the generation given short shrift to succeed the likes of Johnnie Taylor, B.B. King and Marvin Sease. It was the generation I've been vindicated in supporting and promoting for the last two decades, and yet who could see ahead to today's southern soul scene in which Sir Charles and T.K. are now the grizzled, soon-to-be seniors watching today's young generation (King George, etc.) climbing on their calloused shoulders and clamoring for the attention?

TIMELESS contains some worthy songs, among them "Freaking With Our Boots On" (a duet and ballad with Vickie Baker's brother Luster), the previously-released "There She Go" and the new, zydeco-tinted, album favorite, "She Put A Freak On Me". But it doesn't include the kind of blockbuster hit singles that were staples of T.K. Soul albums in his mid-period, salad days. However, "Confessions Of A Girlfriend" and "Never Gonna Cheat" possess flashes of excellence, and Baby Got Us Jamming deserves to be in the exalted company of that heady trio of best songs, making TIMELESS a valuable addition to the T.K. Soul catalog.

Overall, though, the once plentiful melodies appear to be in short supply. "The Way I Do" has a recycled feel (where have we heard it before?), and "Toxic" and "Small Town Kingpin" are fragments looking for more pieces, more substance---perhaps more instrumental background and more production enhancement around T.K.'s solid but somewhat stubbornly solo vocals. It's as if T.K. is insisting he's a singer/songwriter and that is enough: nothing else is needed. That is why this longtime advocate comes away from the set with the nagging suspicion T.K. Soul is (perhaps unconsciously) holding back, keeping a distance. Neither the vocals or arrangements have the intensity and passion of "Try Me" or "Looking For A Lady" or any of the couple dozen or more mid-period T.K. Soul classics. That T.K. is contained in the full-bodied, mid-tempo gems "There She Go" and "She Put A Freak On Me" and even more so in the unique and fresh vibe of "Freaking With Our Boots On".

---Daddy B. Nice

Buy T.K. Soul's new TIMELESS album at Apple.

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January 4, 2025:

JETER JONES: My Fans Only
Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.

Buy Jeter Jones' new MY FANS ONLY album at Apple.

MY FANS ONLY Track List:

1. My Fans Only
2. Can't Run From Love (feat. Maia B. Music)
3. Lean Back And Stroke It (feat. FPJ)
4. Another Round
5. Hit My Line (feat. Kandy Janai)
6. Nail In The Middle
7. Dirt Road Remix (feat. Cecily Wilborn)
8. Boss (feat. JaLi The Gentleman)
9. Where I Belong
10. Second Chance At Love (feat. LaShonda Ford)
11. We Getting Ready Ready (feat. DJ Jubilee)
12. Let's Ride (feat. Hd4president)
13. Popping Tags (feat. Dioaka)
14. If You Say So (feat. Squirt Kelly)
15. Heart Of A Cowboy (feat. JaLi The Gentleman)

I think even those of us who admire Jeter Jones---and there are legions of us---underestimate what a unique treasure he truly is. In an era when even the top-grossing southern soul performers muster at best a few new songs per year, and the great majority of recording artists struggle to produce two or three songs, much less an EP, much less a full album, Jeter Jones is "jaw-droppingly prolific". I wrote that only a little more than a week ago in Southern Soul 2024: The Year In Review, before I realized Jeter had dropped yet another new album a couple of days before Christmas to go along with the Trailride Kang disc he released in August. Jeter Jones not only produces and networks harder than anyone else in the genre; his creativity keeps pace with and justifies his volume. Oh, and he sings like an archangel.

My Fans Only includes two newly-released songs that are slated for this month's Top 10 singles, "Another Round," a hefty, bluesy, mid-tempo gem in the vein of M. Cally's December-charting "She Say I Make Her Cheat," and "A Nail In The Middle (Of A Block of Wood)," a laid-back, more melodically supple, mid-tempo tune with an unusual but fascinating lyric. "A Nail In The Middle is currently ahead of "Another Round" by a nose.

The album also features at least two more previously-released and well-received singles, "Lean Back And Stroke It," accompanied by popular, younger-generation star FPJ, and a remix of TRAILRIDE KANG's "Dirt Road," which made Daddy B. Nice's Top 25 Singles of 2024, also just published a little over a week ago, at #14.

The only problem with "Dirt Road Remix" is that Cecily Wilborn, the talented young diva whose country-western-influenced material has taken southern soul by storm, opens the tune with a verse in which her vocal is double-tracked like an echo, distracting not only from the simplicity at the heart of the song but from the lucid and direct vocal style that has made her famous. (The duet does get better as it goes on.) There's no problem in that regard, however, with another fantastic new track, "Can't Run From Love". Here another newcomer with a set of gorgeous, deep pipes, Myia B ("Stand On Business"), justifies and adds to her burgeoning reputation.

These examples just scratch the surface of My Fans Only, a fifteen-track cornucopia of ballads, mid-tempo musings, hiphop-trailride hybrids and assorted experiments, not to mention a a Rose Bowl-like parade of guest artists (see track list above). You could do worse than sample the beginning and ending tracks: the aptly-titled and exquisitely-executed "My Fans Only" and "Heart Of A Cowboy" featuring JaLi The Gentleman.

---Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from MY FANS ONLY on YouTube.

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January 1, 2025:

SIR CHARLES JONES: The Elite King
Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.

Buy Sir Charles Jones' new THE ELITE KING album at Apple.

THE ELITE KING Track List:

1. Good Time
2. Drop It Low (feat. Al Kapone)
3. Flow Like A River
4. Rooster (feat. EP The Blues Doctor)
5. Paying My Baby's Bills
6. Six In The Morning (feat. Boosie Badazz & YTB Fatt)
7. Love We Share (feat. Gary "Lil' G" Jenkins)
8. Are You Lonely
9. None of My Tears
10. Sorry (feat. Roi "Chip" Anthony)
11. Where I Belong
12. Drop It Low (Hip Hop Mix) (feat. Al Kapone)

If your expectations mirrored mine, you expected to see "Pour Me A Drank," which made Daddy B. Nice's Top 25 Songs of 2024 at #19, showcasing if not anchoring Sir Charles' new "The Elite King" album, which dropped almost exactly two years after his last long-play, the Christian and very personal My Life's Testimony. It's not included. However, it's embedded in the opening track ("Good Time") of this immensely interesting new set, making the perfect segue from past to present.

And the present is good. The first three tracks---"Good Time," "Drop It Low" and "Flow Like A River"---will make any Sir Charles Jones fan snap to attention. The brisk tempos and bubbling instrumental tracks are nothing short of head-turning. They charm with their originality and novel, buoyant sound, almost like a different back-up band has joined Charles' studio session. And after the comparatively somber and introspective "My Life's Testimony," the tunes leave the listener with a smile, thinking Charles is happy, Charles is "out and about," dropping nifty couplets like:

"Going to the Blues Palace
Down in Dallas"

Accompanied by ET The Blues Doctor, the album shifts gears with the provocatively-titled "Rooster" but loses none of its impetus or lyrical freshness, with couplets like:

"I know I'm a little older
But I hit it like a soldier"

and the chorus line:

"I can't rooster like I use-ter
But I still can get it on"

With "Paying My Baby's Bills" Charles returns to more familiar, balladeering territory but with a lilt and a lightness that maintains the album's radiant positivity. "Six In The Morning" is in the same vein, with Boosie Badazz assisting and extending Charles' commendable yet selective use of hip-hop guest artists.

Then Charles springs yet another surprise. In any past set a remix of his classic "Is Anybody Lonely?" (re-titled "Are You Lonely") might have a more predictable and lesser effect. But in this set, with its variety and fluid tempos, "Lonely" is luminous, searing. Charles twists and turns the phrasing that fans are so accustomed to in all the right ways.

Finally, as if "Is Anybody Lonely" reminded Sir Charles that he built his musical palace with stones made from carefully quarried ballads, "None of My Tears," "Sorry" and the musically brawny and thematically emotional "Where I Belong" slow things down, immersing fans in the familiar, meditative pool of classic Sir Charles Jones melancholy.

This is one of Sir Charles' best.

---Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from Sir Charles Jones' THE ELITE KING on YouTube.


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November 17, 2024:

M. CALLY: 40 & Up (Plus 1)
Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.

M. Cally was the recipient of Daddy B. Nice's "Best Southern Soul Debut" award for 2023 (shared with Lady Redtopp), and that award-caliber expertise and inspiration continues to maturate in his newest release, 40 & Up. The "Plus 1" in the headline above refers to the M. Cally single They Talkin' 'Bout Me, another thunderclap of a track released so soon after 40 & UP that it begs to be considered (and purchased) part and parcel with the EP. Together, they represent some of the strongest music to arrive in 2024.

Here's the track list for 40 & Up:

1. I Can Try (feat. Ronnie Spencer)

2. Ain't No Love Like This

3. Wake Up

4. She Say I Make Her Cheat

5. Mrs. Parker (feat. Jeter Jones)

6. She's So Fine (feat. Roi "Chip" Anthony & Nino)

As hickory-hard as vintage Jaye Hammer, Cally's confident production and double-tracked vocals are givens, but what really impresses in this new material is his willingness to branch out in style and not just repeat and potentially dilute previous successes like "Brown Liquor," "Southern Soul Sunday" and "That Comeback".

"I Can Try" kicks off the set with a stepping beat and a somewhat softer, broader and more diffuse presentation than we've heard from Cally before."Ain't No Loving Like This"showcases Cally's deftness with melody and tempo as well as introducing robust keyboard/organ fills, while the somber but pleasantly locomoting "She Say I Make Her Cheat" rounds out a trio of "can't miss" cuts. These tracks swing with melodies so fresh and tantalizing it's nearly impossible not to hum along, not to mention the talented guest artists, including Jeter Jones and Roi "Chip" Anthony, who enhance the remaining three songs.

However, like an inspired afterthought, M. Cally has released a follow-up single, "They Talkin' Bout Me," in which Cally robs the legendary Marvin Gaye line "I heard it through the grapevine" to forge a completely new stepping song, one which nudges the listener into its musical currents with the most pleasant effects. Cally's 2023 breakthrough singles "Brown Liquor" and "Southern Soul Saturday" may have actually been more technically realized, introducing a southern soul singer with the plain-spoken directness and clarity of Mel Waiters. But like pioneers in 19th-century covered wagons, these new songs traverse a bumpier road, moving into new and unexplored musical territories. They're if anything more mesmerizing, every note hinting that these broader influences will coalesce into an even more panoramic and long-lasting M. Cally brand.

---Daddy B. Nice.

Buy M. Cally's new 40 & Up EP at Apple.

Buy M. Cally's new They Talkin Bout Me Single at Apple.

Listen to all the tracks from M. Cally's 40 & Up EP on YouTube.



August 23, 2024:

JETER JONES: Trailride Kang
Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.

Before I delve into TRAILRIDE KANG I want to give some props to Jeter Jones' Big Boss EP released in January of this year. BIG BOSS is (or was) Jeter's experiment in country, and it is so labeled (as country) on Apple's retail/buy page. The only single to appear on Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles was "Yo Truck (Ain't Better Than Mine)" (#8 February) with a note of caution that Jones was "stretching some boundaries, blending southern soul with hard-hitting rap and hardcore country-western". The title track with T. Howell, which made the Top 40, was particularly "hard-hitting," and "Country Girl was "hardcore country western" and then some, so wild it sounded like a parody.

The EP failed to connect with many fans, but in a roundabout way it led to your Daddy B. Nice discovering the unknown recording artist Curt The Country Man and his subsequently #1 country-crossover, southern soul single, "Back Roads". A few months later Curt did a remix of "Back Roads" with Marcellus The Singer. And over the same period Cecily Wilborn and Ciddy Boi P, among others, charted with compelling and soulful country-style projects. I don't know if Jeter regretted not scoring a number-one single like "Back Roads" in his own personal quest into country, but I want to give him his due. Without trailride music, which he single-handedly pioneered, championed and made popular, southern soul would never have been receptive to a recording artist singing in a style so honest and authentic it transcended the boundary between country and southern soul.

Jeter Jones seemingly hadn't been as dominating on the singles charts since the Sugar Hill and Mufassa II albums, which jointly garnered "Best Southern Soul Album" honors in 2023. I remember thinking that neither "No Poking" or "Smashing Someone Else" was particularly effective or worthy of "Top 10 Singles" status when they were released earlier this year, but on TRAILRIDE KANG they jump off the set. They have aged---"matured" might be more apt--- with incredible grace. Then there is the irony of Jeter admitting last year that he didn't know "how much music he had left in him". TRAILRIDE KANG makes that comment appear to be nothing but teasing, a self-deprecating joke to make his fans worry. It is so full of melodic material of the first order that one can only listen to it again and again marveling at the depth of the man's inspiration.

Trailride Kang isn't about picking out a couple of digital club-bangers to buy, although "My Paper" and "Zydeco Freestyle" certainly qualify. It's a true album in the traditional sense, one you want to buy in totality, take home and play on a loop while it diffuses good vibes constantly like central air conditioning. And the one constant, beyond the never-let-you-down melodies, is the voice we take for granted because it has grown so familiar---the soothing pipes of Jeter Jones.

I was enamored with the irresistible tempo and percussive distinctiveness of "I'll Take You There" from the moment I heard it, and the recently released "Leave," with David Jones and Tiffany Rachal singing the background part Volton Wright would typically fill in a Jeter project, is an outstanding ballad. Even more enthralling is
"Dirt Road," surely one of the most tender and memorable slow jams of the year, sung with Jeter's typical modesty and poignancy.

And yet, Trailride Kang offers even more. "Complacent," "CB Lover," "Find Me A Country Girl" and "Drama Girl"---all tracks so new the paint has barely dried on them---are nearly as compelling. And if I had to sum up this album in one word, it would be a "serenade". Wikipedia defines "serenade" as derived from the Italian "serenata," which itself is derived from the Latin "serenus". In a word, serene. "Serenades," Wikipedia continues, "are typically calm, light pieces of music." Yes, exactly. And of all of Jeter's illustrious albums, Trailride Kang is balm for the fans of southern soul, a bountiful, multi-tracked serenade.

---Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from Jeter Jones' TRAILRIDE KANG on YouTube.

Buy Jeter Jones' TRAILRIDE KANG album at Apple.

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July 22, 2024:

ARTHUR YOUNG: Straight Outa Summit (Summit Boi Entertainment) Four Stars **** Distinguished effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Hard to believe in 2024, but Straight Outa Summit is Arthur Young's sixth full-length studio album since his 2020 album debut, A Trucker's Blues, which itself followed Young's true debut, the "Funky Forty" EP. In an era when a new generation of southern soul artists led by King George is almost exclusively focused on recording singles, one-time truck driver Arthur Young is an outlier, building his legacy on one solid album after another, with Straight Outa Summit his finest effort to date. It isn't as if he hasn't done plenty of singles and EP's, the recent cover of his longtime mentor Tyrone Davis's"Are You Serious" being only the latest example.

In the hallowed and much-missed tradition of John Ward's Ecko albums of the aughts and teens, Young's newest album begins with a pair of "familiarizing" numbers, "Tipping In The Juke Joint" and "Cheat In Peace". Then, having put the spade to the earth, Arthur starts digging in earnest for gold. "Let It Move" showcases Young's new and improved attention to detail, fortifying his first-class songwriting and vocalizing with top-notch instrumental track production (with solid lead guitar), not always his strong suit in the past. I often harp on the disappearance of the mouth harp in southern soul (pun intended), but Arthur Young even exhibits a harmonica-led instrumental track in "Black Cat". And he goes to the man with the harmonica himself (Bobby Rush) for a cover of "I Ain't Studdin' Ya".

"Some men have a cougar/But I have a "Bobcat," Young sings in the tune of the same title. "Your 'forty' ain't enough for me," she cautions, referencing Arthur's signature song "Funky Forty". Young has already recorded a single called "Cougar Talk" (also included), but "Bobcat" is the oldest (fifty-five), toughest, and most discerning cougar Arthur's encountered.

Another solid mid-tempo groove, the bluesy and cryptically-titled "D.D.B.N.M" actually translates to the very ordinary and domestic, "My Dog Don't Bark No More". "And my neighbor hang around the house" is the refrain---and from there it's all breaking bad---"And now I think they're mad that I'm hanging around." Worse for Young's besieged narrator (and even better for us fans), he's confronted with trespassers "Fishing In My Pond," taking away those easy, night-fishin' catches.

And thus harassed on every side by intransigent, show-me cougars and bobcats, tenacious "Jody's" and dubious "funky forty's," Young makes his way through this entertaining set. A throwback to the days when you could put a CD or a 33 RPM in the stereo system and go about your household duties knowing you had a half-hour of seamless sounds to buoy your spirits, it would be hard to find a collection by a current artist as steeped in the pleasant (and sometimes hilarious) themes and memes of southern soul culture.

--Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from Arthur Young's new STRAIGHT OUTA SUMMIT album on YouTube.

Buy Arthur Young's new STRAIGHT OUTA SUMMIT album at Apple.

Listen to Arthur Young's STRAIGHT OUTA SUMMIT album on Spotify.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Arthur Young.

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June 30, 2024:

BIG G: Sitting On The Sidelines (Cynthia Vaughn)
Three Stars *** Solid. The artist's fans will enjoy.

Big G's aptly-titled Sitting On The Sidelines has been out for a few months now, gathering modest traffic. It's the "new normal" for southern soul artists who came of age before the social media explosion of the last dozen years. Young artists like J'Cenae, Young Guy, Marcellus The Singer and F.P.J. attract many millions of YouTube views, carving out lucrative touring careers on singles alone. Meanwhile, artists like Big G, who has been recording southern soul albums for over twenty years, languish on the sidelines, starved for high-dollar bookings.

The latest bead in Big G's musical necklace, this album could impress newcomers more than veterans. In "Give Him His Papers" Big G responds to a request for money from a female friend. "Baby, I'm just your sidepiece, I'm not your husband." He then proceeds to put a new twist on the "sidepiece" drama, suggesting a responsible solution. Divorce the husband, get with me. The tune reflects the old Ann Nesby/Al Green standard, "Put It On Paper".

Big G confronts another domestic drama in "First Of The Year," notifying a female housemate he's going to show her the door "the first of the year" if she doesn't start doing her part around the house. This is classic Big G---part melody, part talk---woven into a relatively popular treatment (nearly 400K views).

There are retreads, possibly too many. "1-800," first published in the SIMPLY ME CD, swivels around the phrase, "Are you lonely and depressed?/ Are you tired of being stressed?" "Let's Party" was the title tune of the album of the same name a few years ago, and "Hot Loving" is another oft-recorded track, first appearing on the KEEPING IT REAL album.

But Big G still has his muse, writer/producer Cynthia Vaughn, and Sitting On The Sidelines isn't just a compilation. "Going Crazy" is a new project, as is the title tune, "Sitting On The Sidelines". A guest artist named Ms. Mickenzie delivers an interesting solo cut ("Won't You Rock Me Baby?") and "Can't Wait To Be With You" has some verve.

And there you have it. No surprises. No gaffes. Staten (Big G) and Vaughn have all the tools to record a hit single, and they've come close to recording a career-changing single with songs like "Last Paycheck," but the possibility of bringing in millions of fans like King George and these new-generation young guns appears more distant than ever. Not only for Big G., but many other veteran artists who've watched the genre explode in popularity and---at least to an extent---leave them behind.

---Daddy B. Nice

Buy Big G's SITTING ON THE SIDELINES album at Apple

See Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Big G.

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UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNDER CONSTANT REVISION...

April 15, 2025:

VOLTON WRIGHT: Love Games
Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Buy Volton Wright's new LOVE GAMES album at Apple.

LOVE GAMES Track List:

1. Love Games Intro
2. Love Games
3. Real Thang (feat. B. Pureese)
4. Lost And Found (feat. Sir Charles Jones)
5. She's A Good Woman
6. Take Care Of Home
7. Southern Soul Southside (feat. Bigg Sacc)
8. Don't Get Down Like That
9. Just A Man
10. Maneater
11. Pick It Up (feat. P2K & Slack)

Love Games (Volton Wright's third and newest LP) finds a deep and authoritatively-voiced announcer intoning, "JBE presents the smooth vocals of Volton Wright." It's an interesting opening and one which I think is more apropos than the artist and his team may realize. First, it's an accurate observation. Volton's vocals are "smooth," and in southern soul music, at least, smooth implies a tendency towards mainstream (I'm tempted to use the adjective "polite") R&B as opposed to the wilder, rougher, more humorous or raucous tendencies to be found in southern soul vocals.

Second, "smooth vocals" focuses on what I believe to be the major issue when assessing Volton's music. Does the audience readily recognize Volton Wright's vocals in the way, for instance, it knows the vocals of Theodis or Jeter or Latimore or Sir Charles? Another way of putting it: Has Volton recorded a song (like "Stand Up In It," like "Black Horse," like "Let's Straighten It Out," like "It's Friday") which the audience immediately relates to as a Volton Wright vocal? I don't think so. Naturally, this is the quandary of every aspiring performer, but I believe Volton to be one of the most talented aspirants in southern soul. So I was most interested to see if LOVE GAMES contained that magical, hot-button tune that will define and endear Volton to the fans for posterity (aka "make him a star").

In Volton's case the process is complicated even more by his natural humility and propensity to share the spotlight with guest artists. Who can forget "Southern Soul Girl" feat. T.K. Soul, arguably his most popular song, with over one million YouTube views? Or how he defers the lead vocal in "Supa Woman," a deliriously catchy tune featuring J.D. and Jeter Jones (also from his impressive debut disc), to the youthful J.D. who despite his anonymity and amateurism has an instantly recognizable vocal identity and steals the show? A process, I might add, that is repeated in Love Games when Volton cedes the lead vocal to P2K in the estimable "Pick It Up"

Love Games the album is a mixture of previously recorded material (for example, the superb, cradle-rocking melody of "Lost And Found" with a cameo remix by Sir Charles Jones) and surprising new projects like "Southern Soul Southside," possibly Wright's most southern-soulish undertaking yet, with the assistance of rapper Bigg Sacc. "Love Games," the title tune, is especially impressive, a worthy composition with majestic choruses and a fine Wright vocal. Another previously-released single, "Just A Man," comes closest to what I believe is Volton Wright's best vocal identity---a charismatic mix of personality, texture and timbre pleasantly recreated (for much different purposes) in the new tune "Maneater". Other worthy tracks include and "Real Thang" (featuring B. Pureese) and "She's A Good Woman".

I dwell on Volton's vocal identity because every singer can sing in a multitude of ways and/or styles. Although variety is to be desired, vocal recognition---usually accomplished via a hit single---takes precedence. Even in the absence of a hit single, vocal personality is what we associate with the singer and why we love the artist. Wright's vocal style in "Take Care Of Home" represents Volton's yellow brick road to acceptance and stardom. The more generic R&B style Volton adopts in Don't Get Down Like That" is a dead end path. And indiscriminate sampling of vocal styles is something to be avoided. There is plenty of evidence in LOVE GAMES that with the right character, intensity and self-awareness Volton Wright can become a southern soul star. Until he scores that elusive hit single, however, the focus needs to be on forging and marketing a more coherent and consistent creative sound.

---Daddy B. Nice.

Listen to all the tracks on Volton Wright's new LOVE GAMES album on YouTube.

Buy Volton Wright's new Love Games album at Apple.

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