A look at the January 2013 Smokin' Top 45 indicates a continued strong presence of songs from artists that are considered part of the Southern Soul genre. The combination of Donnie Ray (3 tunes), Ms. Jody (2 tunes), LJ Echols and Johnnie Taylor represent 15% of the overall chart. Country music, with Little Big Town, Zac Brown Band, Josh Turner and Billy Currington make up another 9%. Traditional Beach artists, however, are certainly dominant (as they should be), representing a healthy 58% of the total. The remaining 18% comes from a variety of the current R&B, Blues and Pop markets. An interesting cross section that is an ongoing indicator of the broad diversity in what gets played in the world of Beach music.

One individual that we consider to be a Beach artist since he first came South from the Big Apple several years ago is Angel Rissoff. He has maintained a strong relationship with the Beach music world ever since his 2005 Angel Where Have You Been album took this market by storm. Angel has continued to roll out hit after hit over the last seven years while appearing at live venues in the region as much as his schedule has allowed.

He was actually involved in songs that became Beach hits earlier in his career while an integral part of Little Isidore & The Inquisitors as well as being Little Leopold. He also spent several years as a member of Kenny Vance & The Planotones.

Angel's latest album release, Nu Soul Stories is the third edition of what has become a trilogy, following up his 2006's Nu Soul Explosion and 2008's Nu Soul Stew. His deep, soulful resonating voice has never been better on the latest, thirteen tracks of hard driving R&B with a bluesy mix that is pure entertainment. One outstanding advance track that got quite a bit attention early on was I Thought I Knew Her, although it has not as yet, in my opinion, gotten the full chart recognition it deserves. The rollicking 29 Ways and smooth grooves on Fine Wine have both gotten significant play rotation. Angel turns out strong renditions of Open The Door To Your Heart (which has also seen some chart action) and  You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (featuring Darlene Love). Two of the legendary Rascals, Eddie Brigati and Gene Cornish, come on board with Angel to re-create the magic of one of their originals, You Better Run. Every Man is a definite lights down low belly rubber while Shag Time, written just for our genre, has also started to see some radio and club play. Angel continues to demonstrate the ability on this album to blend the Soul/R&B sounds of the '60's and '70's with what works in today's market. I for one am certainly glad that he has chosen to stay very involved in the world of Beach music!

The upcoming 22nd Annual DJ Throwdown at North Myrtle Beach promises to be one of the best ever. The national headliner will be famed Texas based Blues guitarist Anson Funderburgh. Growing up in Dallas, he learned his trade from the tutelage of such greats as Freddie King, Albert Collins, Jimmy Reed and Lightnin' Hopkins. Anson formed his own band, The Rockets, in 1978 and partnered with harmonica legend Sam Myers in 1982. Talk To You By Hand by Anson & The Rockets was the very first album released by the newly formed New Orleans based Black Top Records in 1981. Other notables that recorded on the label included Solomon Burke, W.C. Clark, Lynn August, Omar & The Howlers, Maria Muldaur, Nappy Brown, Mike Morgan and Robert Ward. Anson, Sam and The Rockets went on to release eight more albums on Black Top until the studio closed up shop in 1999. They later moved over to record on the Rounder Records subsidiary Bullseye Blues label. Some of their best work can be found on the seventeen track 2006 release of The Best Of Anson Funderburgh: Blast Off.  Thursday, February 28th, will be quite a night – Band of Oz will get things started followed by Anson Funderburgh with the Fantastic Shakers set to close out the evening. Be sure not to miss it!