It's 1995. Songwriter John Ward unsuccessfully shops around some new tunes resulting in the decision to start his own label. He brings in veteran  music man Larry Chambers as the Promotions Manager. Ecko Records is founded in Memphis with an initial release from former Stax recording artist Ollie Nightengale. After positive results, albums soon follow by Charles Wilson and Bill Coday. More veteran artists come on board leading to releases from by Chuck Roberson, Barbara Carr, Lee Shot Williams and Quinn Golden. Ecko would prove to be monumental as a future building block for Southern Soul.

Ace Records down in Mississippi went further out on the limb in the mid to late '90's, starting a subsidiary label called Avanti. The combined labels released albums by Soul vets Cicero Blake and Bobby Jonz as well as relative newcomers Pat Brown, Rue Davis, Big Cynthia Walker (daughter of Motown superstar Junior Walker) and Billy 'Soul' Bonds.

Soul great Tyrone Davis, who had 2 number one R&B charting hits in the late '60s, kept recording through the years even when the mainstream Soul market had all but dried up. By the time he signed on with Malaco in 1996, he had over 25 albums to his credit. It was also about this point in time that we were introduced to two dynamic voices who would have a huge impact down the road in Southern Soul – Mel Waiters and Wilson Meadows.

Southern Soul's regional neighbor, Beach music, began to heartily embrace this groove beginning in the early '90's and continuing throughout the decade. The club deejays discovered that many of the soulful tunes had just the right beat to be compatible to the shag dancers. The radio programmers soon followed suit – many of the radio stations focusing on Beach music were very similar to the demographic that evolved for Southern Soul – either AM or low wattage FM broadcasters in smaller locales. 

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras Records, traditionally a Gospel, Zydeco, Jazz and Swamp Pop branding, formed a new label, Miss Butch, to capture the creative offerings of long time songwriter Jimmy Lewis. As well as recording his own material, he was writing new songs for Peggy Scott-Adams and Billy Ray Charles. Much of the arranging and recording was actually done at Lewis' California based studio. The labels would prove to be quite a springboard for aspiring new artists in the genre over the next several years.

Major record companies were still not interested as the popularity of this genre of music grew in the Deep South. Veteran names recording on independent labels that became more familiar in the '90's as emerging stars in Southern Soul included Marvin Sease, Jesse James, Lynn White, J. Blackfoot and Eddie Holloway.  A group of artists being heard for the first time in the latter part of the decade included David Brinston, Vickie Baker,  Kenne Wayne, Stan Mosley, Toni Green,  Maurice Davis, Frank Mendenhall and Jesse Graham. Many more aspiring artists were on the horizon as the genre continued to expand.

Several artists wrote much of their own material as well as songs for others in the business. We can't forget about all the other talented behind the scenes  songwriters, individuals like Paul Richmond, Bob Johnson, Sam Mosley, George Jackson, Homer Banks, Lester Snell, Raymond Moore and Richard Cason, just to name a few, who created the great lyrics of the decade.

As 1999 came to a close, many changes lay ahead for Southern Soul as well as the music industry in general. The '90's, however, laid a ton of bricks on the foundation base that was built to be known as Southern Soul. Opportunities to further expand in the new millennium were eagerly waiting.