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Corner Talk: Among the hot tunes in Southern Soul right
now: In
The Mood from Uvee Hayes, Bootleg
Whiskey by Grady Champion, Cold
Feet from Nellie 'Tiger' Travis, Doing
The Watusi by Mr. X, My
Baby's Phone from Vick Allen (wow, that album just won't go away), Good
Good from Big Robb, Independent Ladies
from Sir Charles
Jones, I Gotta Get My Groove On from
Willie Hill, I Didn't Come To Sit Down by
Sheba Potts-Wright, Please Let Me Hold You
from Lomax, Next Time by Li'l Jimmie, I
Lost My Baby On Facebook by Jesse James and In This Club Tonight from
Ms. Adrena..............Jams still working for us here at SSC include Love
On Me from Nelson Curry, Loveline
by Alex, I'm Gonna Tighten Up by
Wilson Meadows, U Got Me Walking by
Nathaniel Kimble and We Do We from
Ves featuring Kenne'
Wayne....Roll It Roll It by Gentry
Jones featuring Mr. Sam was on our
Top 45 from July until October last year. It still has quite a bit on momentum
in the genre right now. Wouldn't surprise me to see it as a re-entry on our
chart next month..........
Some
of the newer tunes making noise on the charts: Daddy B. Nice's number one song
for February is Memphis belle Miz. B's You
Got To Be A Freaker, from Ecko's
recent Blues Mix 15.........Another
Memphis based artist has been
releasing singles over the last few years. The latest grouping from J Craig are
Take
Me Home, Calling and Shower
Sex. I received his music and awareness from Jerry 'Boogie' Mason, who
does a great job of distributing the
works of up and coming artists out to the DJ's...........Certified 'The
Boss' Slim hit #1 here at SSC in January
of 2013 with his killer jam Move Somethin'.
Slim is back with a
mellow new single entitled When It's Good
It's Good.........We
have a brand new diva, Mi'el The Southern Belle with a fresh and exciting
single entitled I Do............Guitar
man Fletch Deezie has a tune called Turnt
Up that is riding high on the Boogie Report's Top 20 Countdown, another
one making noise on the Top 20 is the mid-tempo What
If I by Katrenia Jefferson.........
A
new slow jam from Mississippi Blues veteran
Vasti Jackson entiled I'm
Still In Love With You is stronger than battery acid!!.......The
maestro keeps 'em coming - Willie Clayton's latest hit single from his 2014 Untamable
album is Girl I Want Your Body...........
Stephanie McDee has a new
album in the works. Advance single Annie
Mae's Cafe Swing Out Song is
already doing well. Another advance track is now also out there called Taking
Care Of Business, which is reportedly the name of the forthcoming album
as well..............Donnell Sullivan must have an album in mind, the strong
singles keep on rolling out like his latest, Backdoored
(By A Man Named Jody)..........This is interesting,
'Vivacious' Val McKnight's album Red Hot
Lover showed up at #10 on
this month's Top 30 Southern Soul/R&B Album chart. I do believe the album
was originally released in 2011 - Val has been bubbling under the radar for
quite some time, she has now arrived!! Who
Doo Woman from the album was
also just reprised on Blues Mix 15. Other
strong cuts from
Val are Freak In Me, Two Is Company and
Juke Joint Party..........
The
2014 results for the Blues Critic Awards Readers Poll were just recently
announced. The Best Southern Soul/R&B Album went to Sir Charles Jones for Portrait Of A Balladeer. The Best
New
Artist was awarded to Chicago's Theo Huff. For all the results from the past
year, please go to the following link: http://www.soulbluesmusic.com
The
new albums have begun to roll out for 2015 and we are reviewing several here
this month. Here are a few more (reviews will be forthcoming) either just
released in the new year or in the works to be out by next month:
Sir
Jonathan Burton - The New Swing Soul
Bigg
Robb - Showtime
Jr.
Blu - True Blue
Charles
Wilson - The Best Side Of Me
Carl
Marshall - Love Brings Me Back To You
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I
went back and looked through the almost seven years worth of this column
recently. That is how long we have been writing it - I was amazed that we had
never written more than a paragraph or two regarding Billy 'Soul' Bonds,
particularly since I have always really liked his music. Billy has been hard
at it for over thirty
years, releasing several independent label albums before signing on with Ace
Records' Avanti subsidiary in 1998. The resulting two albums contained hits
such as Going Public With My Love, Reverend
Joe and Let Me Prove It.
Billy's
2002 I
Just Came Out To Party album yielded charters from the title track as
well as Tell It To The Judge. Moving
over to Malaco's Waldoxy label in
2006, his Here Kitty Kitty album
gave us the Southern Soul Blues Song of
The Year as well as Best Slow Jam with Scat
Cat....Here Kitty Kitty. Also
on the album was the reprise of a previous Bonds classic I Failed and the
rollicking Movin' On Again. One of
my favorite Christmas tunes came from
Billy in late 2006, the ribald I Got Double
Crossed By Santa Claus.
Continuing
on with the feline theme, Billy's advance single from his latest album, Cat
Daddy on Waldoxy, is also the title track. It has been on the charts
for several months. Get Her With My Twitter was
also previously released and did well on the DJ charts and radio shows. More
new feline (LOL) -Every Time My Neighbor
Walks His Dog ( My Wife Has To Walk Her Cat), I
believe this one was actually out as a single a few years ago. The track from
the album that gets me going is Whose Foolin'
Who, which has the
classic 'Soul' Bonds flow and is very likely the next charting tune from this
artist here at SSC. I also like the upbeat grooves on Much Right Man and I Owe
You One. She's The Woman I Love (This Is It) is mid-tempo smooth with a
female refrain that has also been Billy trademark over the years. He
Went To Bed With A Woman But Woke Up With A Man is gonna definitely
garner some notice. Eleven tracks in
all, the album made it's debut at #1 on the February edition of the Top 30
Southern Soul/R&B Album chart. It is certainly a solid release from a guy
who has been an outstanding performer and a crowd favorite for many years!!
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Monroe,
North Carolina native Calvin Richardson has been known to go back to his
youthful influences in his music - a fine example was the 2009 release of the
tribute album entitled Facts of Life: The Soul of Bobby
Womack.
Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Donnie Hathaway were also among Calvin's favorites
while growing up. Although Richardson has popped up many times over the last
fifteen or so years in the Southern Soul arena (occasionally touring in the
genre as well), his primary recording focus has been more in the urban
contemporary neo-Soul vein with a touch of Gospel. He actually met longtime
friends K-Ci and Jo Jo (who were Charlotte, NC natives) when they were all
teenagers touring on the Carolina Gospel circuit. Calvin, however, has always
kept the
remembrances of listening to classic R&B/Soul of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s in
mind.
Richardson's
latest album release, I Am
Calvin, on the BMG label, has actually been out there since this past
fall and has been highly successful to date. Seven of the tracks were
co-written by Eric Benet, who also sang some background on the production. The
smooth balladry of We Gon' Love Tonite has
made it to several of the Southern Soul charts. Dark
Side Of Love has an
old school groove with some powerful lead and background singing that has
gotten my attention. The majority of the tracks have that urban contemporary
sound that could be construed as being more mainstream in nature. Which is
understandable, given that Calvin is also influenced by (and sometimes
collaborates with) fellow neo-Soul (and retro-Soul revivalists) like Anthony
Hamilton, Raphael Saadiq, Babyface and Charlie Wilson. You can hear it in
joints such as What Would I Do, Hearsay and
More Than A Picture. I really like Home
In A Minute, which
blends the up front vocals of Calvin with the background harmonies of female
vocalists Judith Hill, Lisa Jordan and Shoshana Bean. Most of the release does
deviate from what more purists would call Southern Soul, but it is refreshing
just the same from one of Soul/R&B's true young guns!
Texas
native Mel Waiters has been one of the major male artist influences in the
Southern Soul arena for going on twenty years. From his first albums in the
mid-'90's on Serious Sounds through his many releases on Waldoxy to more current
works on his own Brittney label,
Mel has had a continuous list of hit tunes. He specializes in self-composed
material, and has had charters with Got My
Whiskey, Hole In The Wall, Swing Out,
Ice Chest, Smaller The Club, Two Step,
Your Kitchen Was Closed, Throw Back Days
and Friday
Night Fish Fry. More recent Waiters produced hits Everything's Going Up, I Ain't
Gone Do It, Pouring Salt and Got
No Curfew have rocked the charts
for months at a time. Mel Waiters was voted as the 2011 Record Producer of the
Year and 2010 Best Southern Soul/R&B Album (I
Ain't Gone Do It) by
the readers of Blues Critic and 2010 Southern Soul Artist of the Year by the
Blues Critic staff.
Mel's
latest album release, True Love, was just released at the beginning of
February. Other than Let Me See You Cha Cha
Cha, which
came out over a year ago, no other singles were advance releases. Given that,
it may take a little time for the release to get it's due notice. Most of the
tracks, including the title cut, are
upbeat and classic signature Mel style grooves.
Disrespect leads off, coming
on as a lesson in life that is
woven into the subtle lyrics. Shake A Plenty
is a strong club
dance cut that hits the mark. Going Out Tonight
is about all about
an evening out with that special lady -
it is a long way and many years removed from heading to that Hole In The Wall!!
There are two versions of Stick To Your Drink,
including an
extended Mel's mix. I have to admit, I am having trouble identifying what will
be the big hit here BUT the entire album is definitely an enjoyable listen as
we have come to expect from one of Southern Soul's biggest stars!
Southern
Soul superstar, that is what comes to mind when you mention Ecko Records top
gun Donnie Ray! The Texas native has
certainly become a bonafide leader in both the Southern Soul and the Beach
music genres. From his earliest albums
on the Susie Q label right up through his latest Ecko release, Donnie has been
a model of consistency. And the songs!! - killer tunes over the years such as Hip
Slide, Let's Go Dancing, Straight Up In Your Love, I've Been Cheating, I'll Be
Good To You, Something 'Bout The Music, Don't Stop My Party, Back It Up And Try
It Again, Smooth Operator, If I Had My Way, It Was Just My Luck, Just My Woman
And Me, Whatever You Want I Got It, It's BYOB, Whose Rockin' You, I'm Goin'
Back, Looking For A Woman, Groove Party, Same Woman, Drowning In My Own Tears,
I'm Gonna Keep My Love At Home..........and on and on, just
unbelievable!
She's
My Honey Bee is
Donnie Ray's 10th album on the Ecko label since 2006, in addition to a Best
Of collection. According to Larry Chambers, PR Director at the label,
this one has been in the works for quite awhile. Certainly seems logical since
Donnie's last release was in September of 2013.
It
was well worth the wait! The title track is classic Donnie, but it appears the
first one out of the gate headed to the charts is Can We Start Our Love All Over? Slammin'
and jammin' party music abounds with Hold
It And Roll It, Mr. DJ Don't Slow This Party Down and Stone
Cold Party. Traditional with Ecko releases is a song or two targeted
for the Beach music market - this album is no exception with Carolina
Swing and I Got To Have It.
I'm
Gonna Try Again is
a new mix of a tune that was also on Donnie's Caught
By The Cat album. I
Can't Take Your Wife Back is a strong Blues groove (LOL) is he talking
to OB Buchana in the song? My favorite
- I Never Had Anybody Love Me Like
You, which is a reworked version of an older tune that is so consistent
with pure Donnie that it could have been a track on his first album back
fifteen years ago. Radio and club jocks have alot to choose from here on
another excellent release from this dynamic performer!
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