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Corner
Talk: We mentioned
it here at Corner Talk last July, Lomax Spaulding's late November 2012 release
of Life's Lessons may very well turn out to be one of the best Southern Soul albums of this decade.
Swing It, Baby It's Over and Let Me Work It have all been big hits so far
on our Top 45 chart. Put It All Up There was an advance single from the CD that also made several
genre charts and Second Hand Man is a definite club slow groove floor filler. Swing It
also crossed over this month to come in at #33 on the Beach Smokin' Top 45 as voted on by the DJs, where the industry professionals
are just now discovering the incredible talent of Lomax.........Gotta give ongoing props to Tony Gideon at Sound Mindz Records
in Birmingham for all the fine artists he tirelessly promotes – Mr. X, Willie White, Jesi Terrell, James Morgan, Jessie
Clay, T. Honey Brown, Roscoe Robinson and more, some great music that we in the genre would not otherwise get to hear without
the efforts of Tony........
I keep forgetting each month to talk about Terry
Wright's latest single
I Done Lost My Good Thing, a slow jam that has gone to the top
of the charts. Terry is a ten year veteran who had his debut album Anytime Man released on the Hep'
Me label in 2004............ Just heard a new remix of a song entitled I'll
Never Let You Go by R&B diva Shele'a that is already getting some burn on the Southern Soul airwaves and
projects to be on the charts very soon............You go Cupid, We Steppin' Out Tonight, your duet
with Wendell B is smokin' hot right now!.....A new artist from IFGAM Records, Larry Griffith, check out his tune I
Want A Big Legged Woman With Good Credit!!........Rue Davis has a new CD on a label he recorded on several years
ago, Kon-Kord Records, entitled Shake It Loose. Have not had the chance to listen end to end yet,
we'll do a full review on it next month.........Karen Wolfe may have a hit on her hands with the bad to the bone Ain't
Nobody Got Time For That, a duet with Nelson Curry from Klass Band......................
Soul songstress Keri has drifted in
and out of the genre for several years. She is featured on John Cummings' new CD (see below) on the tune Serious
Love. Daddy B. Nice had her on his April 2007 chart with a song entitled Borrowed Time.
She also had a couple of nice jams, Gonna Get Paid and In The Mood, on the
Southern Soul Blues Hot Spot Vol 1 compilation from CDS Records in 2010..............J. Red, who is
Theodis Ealey's nephew, hails from Greenville, N.C. He has been part of the recent
successful duet with Theodis on Keep On Dancing. Also serving notice are his recent singles My
Good Thang and Give It To Me, AND, he is featured on a new slammin' groove If
He Won't I Will with Black Diamond........... Another Carolina connection belongs to Jerry Adams, originally
from Shelby, NC but now residing in Spartanburg, SC. My Girl (2013) is his February album release
– several nice cuts on it, but for me, Send A Letter definitely stands up long and strong!
Veteran performer Billy 'Soul' Bonds
broke into Southern Soul in the mid to late '90's on the Ace/Avanti labels, following his debut up with hot tracks such as
Reverend Joe, Going Public With My Love, I Just Came Out To Party and Tell It To The Judge.
He has been consistently popular on the show circuit for many years. Billy has more recently been a part of the slow but sure
resurgence of Malaco Records, with a big hit over the past year on Get Her With My Twitter. He is
back with a new one called Cat Daddy and reportedly a new album is the works for Billy........A couple
of brand new jams from two divas that are gonna ignite a fire are Dancin' With My Baby by Miss Rebekah
and I Can Be Your Dream Girl from Lady Audrey....... I missed one in 2010! Ms. Silky Sol, with her
scintillating album, Grown A$$ Woman, should have gotten my attention. Some raucous tracks on it including I Got You, Grown Woman Talkin' and Been
There Done That.
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We mentioned a month or two ago here at SSC about a new CD received
from a former member of Archie Bell & The Drells. Lucious Larkins, a singer with a special voice, is originally from Jacksonville,
Florida. Lucious went on the road with Archie and the group for an extended period of time back in the day, initially as an
opening act and later on as a member of the band. Retiring from the road, Lucious focused on writing songs for others for
several years. With a background in Gospel, R&B and Soul, Larkins has channeled his vocal skills into releasing an exciting
album entitled Back In The Game. A strong dose of sultry soulfulness excellent
for late night listening, I am partial to several of the cuts including It's Got To Be Love, Baby I Like It and Special Love.
Larkins sings with a passion that you don't always hear these days. Give it a listen - the album is available at http://wincomusicgroup.com/store/ as well as on iTunes.
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Big John
Cummings has been a celebrated songwriter in the Southern Soul arena for several years, penning songs for such stars as Ms.
Jody, OB Buchana, David Brinston, Lee “Shot” Williams, Barbara Carr, Donnie Ray, Carl Sims and more. He also occasionally
steps out to record as well – his latest is entitled Back On The Grind on the QT Records label. It is
a combination of down home Blues and raw Soul with an old school flavor.
Being a
big fan of upbeat jams, I really like the groove of Mr. Do Right, Crazy Bout My Baby, Go Head, Let's Go Dancing and
the mid-tempo shuffle of My Baby Right Here With Me. We are already
seeing some airwave action on the lascivious Arkansas Caramel. The aforementioned heartfelt duet with Keri (Serious
Love) has hit potential as well. Big John does a solid tribute to one of the most underrated singers ever in Southern
Soul, Mr. Marvin Sease. I dig the back of the house licks on Real Good Woman – sounds like a juke box
selection at the hole in the wall!!
Thirteen
tracks in the package, solid Soul for all music lovers!
Louisiana native Tucka is certainly
not new on the Southern Soul scene. His rhythmic lyrical phrasing has produced four albums since 2011 with some killer tracks
such as Sweet Shop, Work It Out, Book Of Love, Forever Swing, Candy Land and Don't Make Me Beg.
Tucka is also currently on the charts with the duet Move Something that features Lacee'. This young gun is way
underrated as a performer when it comes to creativity and fresh delivery. The Allmusic.com guide lists him as a Rap artist
– not so much, this guy is smooth Soul all the way!
Tucka's new release
Groove City is fourteen tracks of some outstanding R&B and Soul. Although he wasn't yet born when they came
to prominence, many of his stylings sound like the smooth Soul/Doo-Wop harmony groups
from many years ago.
He goes Back To The Sweet Shop here, rides the Love Train, practices as the Love Doctor
in a Slow & Easy mode, asks What's Your Flavor and ends up Dancing With Fire
while Blowing In The Wind! LOL....all great tracks, his tunes have a rhythmic precision with excellent production
work behind the music! Gotta think stronger recognition is in the cards for this talented young artist!
The first edition of Ricky White's Combination
was released a year ago on CDS Records with tunes from Ricky, Betty Padgett, Bobbye 'Doll' Johnson, Jerry L, Kimberly Adams and Gwen White.
Ricky's talents were recognized by being awarded the 2013 Blues Critic Best Record Producer as well as Southern Soul Artist
of the Year. His latest effort, Ricky White Presents: Combination 2 just out on CDS, is a righteous compilation
of tunes, many of which jump off in fine style. Gotta give it up for the divas here, I absolutely love Gwen White's rockin'
Ladies Got To Get That Money, Stephanie Pickett's rollickin' What One Man Won't Do and Betty Padgett's
suitable for steppin' Can You Handle It? Definite Smokin' Top 45 chart material for next month here. Nathaniel
Kimble's blazing new single Bad Mama Jamma is already a bonafide hit and on our chart! The Love Doctor continues
his long awaited return to Southern Soul with Pop That Cootchie.
What else is here? William Calhoun's Room 229 is just down the hall from the late Little Milton's
Room 244!. Kenne' Wayne came along and borrowed that room from Milton many years later. TK Soul's Looking
For A Lady is a smooth slow and low groove that is also on his latest album. Ricky also slows it way down on Live
My Life Again as does Jerry L with She's Got Paper's On Me. There are intro tracks here from some new
names to me, Tonya Youngblood, Larry Milton and Henry Rhoades. Twelve tracks
in all, certainly a compilation worth the time to give it a shot!
It's Memphis baby! Ecko Records has
been a model of consistency in Southern Soul for almost twenty years now. The recording artists have come and gone and come again to their recording
studios, but the compilations keep right on coming. Blues Mix 13, Grown Folks Soul is twelve cuts focusing on
the current headliners on the label. Leading off is OB Buchana's upbeat Turn It Up, a new single with certain
hit potential that will be on his upcoming May album release. Another preview tune from OB is the even keeled mid to up tempo
That's My Song. Donnie Ray's slammin' Same Woman is also on his latest album – it is a duet featuring Jaye Hammer that reminds me of a slower tune of the same title and certainly
the same subject from several years ago from the late J. Blackfoot and Archie Love. That Black Magic is a previously
unreleased Donnie groove.
Two Ms. Jody tracks come from previous albums – Energizer Bunny is a mid range shuffle
from 2008 and Weekend Lovin', which has the right stuff to be a charter this time around, is from her 2010 Back
In The Streets Again release. Carl Sims 2007 original tune If You Can't Help Me is back here as a remix.
It is one of his best singles on the Ecko label. Sheba Potts-Wright comes out of left field on a new one with a different
message – Stay With Your Wife is not the norm in those three way relationships! Both Sonny Mack (What
Goes Around Comes Around) and John Cummings (Bobby's Gone) debut new tracks as well. Good stuff throughout
from John Ward and Company on North Hollywood Street!
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