I liked Grady Champion's soul songs (more than his bluesy ones)
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 1 January 2015 19:32 (nine years ago) link
Putting this here, for lack of a better place: RIP Popsy Dixon, drummer and astounding falsetto vocalist of The Holmes Brothers. I had the chance to chat with him at a few shows, and he was a really nice guy. RIP.
http://mailman.305spin.com/view/?cid=5&sid=6832&uid=130715&lid=5703
― Losing swag by the second (Dan Peterson), Friday, 9 January 2015 22:23 (nine years ago) link
Oh, that's terrible news. I've never chatted with him, but have seen them several times and he always impressed me.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 9 January 2015 23:02 (nine years ago) link
Saw Eddie Jones and the Young Bucks live last night in DC. While they covered ZZ Hill's "Downhome Blues", they're more oldtimers still into the soul that wowed them growing up -- songs like "Rainy Night in Georgia" and the Chi-lites "Oh Girl." Eddie can still climb octaves with his voice, and the band is tight and can harmonize. Eddie often adds unique lefthanded on a righty guitar turned upside rhythms, but he left it to the band last night.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 January 2015 14:41 (nine years ago) link
http://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2015.cfm
Big Daddy Nice's overview of 2014. He likes Grady Champion and Sir Charles Jones and more, and mourns those who passed away
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 13 January 2015 14:57 (nine years ago) link
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/2015/01/pazz_jop_2014_the_comments.php
For all of the ease in finding music on the internet, it still seems like if some music is not marketed to critics or the masses, it gets ignored. Southern soul, of the slightly-raunchy-lyric and synth-rhythm variety, continues to generate new songs by the likes of Nellie "Tiger" Travis and others, but since it's not pushed in a crossover manner, this line-dance-friendly sound for a largely older African American audience gets ignored. Similarly, Afrobeats (with an S), the African dance music style, is huge for the African diaspora, but with no major-label American releases and no PR marketing to critics, it's largely been neglected by the music critic media.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, January 14, 2015 5:12 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 12:32 (nine years ago) link
Daddy B. Nice voted in P&J though! (Was this his first time? I think so.)
http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/critics/2014/5123154/
― xhuxk, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 13:44 (nine years ago) link
Yes. Awhile back, I forward the P & J folks the link to his website and his email address.
I ended up bumping OB Buchana and Grady Champion from my album ballot at the last minute.
Isn't the below act (described by stat gure Glenn McDonald) NPR loved, blue-eyed retro soul:
The lowest enthusiasm score for any album with at least five votes is Half the City by St. Paul and the Broken Bones, whose 5.8 average means that all five voters went way out of their way to skew the point-distribution so that this album could get close to the minimum allowed by the rules.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 14:54 (nine years ago) link
"forwarded"
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 14:55 (nine years ago) link
guru...
Sharon Jones latest retro soul album got 13 mentions.
And as I once said here, I think some of those folks would like some southern soul if they ever heard it. "Some," while others would dislike the synths or the lyrics
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 14 January 2015 17:49 (nine years ago) link
x-post--I want to find that J-Wonn album that Big Daddy Nice put as his number 1 album. Not on Spotify US. I posted a youtube upthread
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 15 January 2015 16:35 (nine years ago) link
do you guys like those Tre Williams/Revelations records?
― virtuoso thigh slapper (Jordan), Thursday, 15 January 2015 17:27 (nine years ago) link
Never heard of him/them. When I quickly googled I saw references to attempts to sound like a combination of Stax and Motown. If that's the case here, like with Sharon Jones (whose musical approach may differ and be more single-mindedly deep soul), I respect the skill involved and like songs here and there, but I doubt I will be wowed.
I prefer the southern soul approach that draws from the Bobby Bland on through 80s era ZZ Hill/Denise Lasalle to 2014 Mel Waiters and Ms Jody song structure and that is unafraid to use current tech, and is less deliberately retro.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 15 January 2015 18:13 (nine years ago) link
i only became aware of them through the Ghostface album with the same backing band, checking this out now though and it sounds good without overly reverential:
https://therevelations.bandcamp.com/album/concrete-blues
― virtuoso thigh slapper (Jordan), Thursday, 15 January 2015 19:10 (nine years ago) link
Thanks. Oh, haven't heard latest Ghostface. Intended too
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 15 January 2015 20:28 (nine years ago) link
So I realize Southern soul can be formulaic, and changing the subject and pointing out other genres can be as well is just dodging the question, but I'm gonna do it anyway and say that new Bettye Lavette kinda follows its own standard formula. She takes baby-boomer rock songs (Stones, Beatles & Dylan this time) and slooooooows them down. She has got a great gritty soul voice, but I wish she'd vary the tempos. I need to hear that ep she did where she covered Sam Cooke and Billie Holiday. I wonder if the arrangements are any better.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 23 January 2015 16:18 (nine years ago) link
I thought Concrete Blues, from 2011, was really good. That's the only one I've heard, though.
― xhuxk, Friday, 23 January 2015 16:29 (nine years ago) link
I am so behind in catching up on certain 2014 albums in this genre.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 6 February 2015 19:33 (nine years ago) link
Now Mr.Sam's 2009 "Picking Up Pieces" is my kind of ballad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpOKOa8xqNY
― curmudgeon, Friday, 13 February 2015 01:51 (nine years ago) link
Not as wowed by some of the catalogue of Baton Rouge or New Orleans based Stephanie McDee as Daddy B. Nice is, but she's got a decent voice and maybe I just haven't heard all the right songs. It is kinda fascinating to me that her zydeco cut "Call the Police" has been covered by both Quintron & Miss Pussycat and by Neneh Cherry when she recently worked with jazz group That Thing (I think that's what they are called. Saw it on Youtube).
― curmudgeon, Monday, 16 March 2015 14:17 (nine years ago) link
Aww man, the DC leg of the Blues is Alright southern soul tour got cancelled. Knucklehead promoter was overcharging $60 to $160 for the gig. It would have been great though to see Mel Waiters again, plus Clarence Carter, Shirley Brown, and this thread's namesake Theodis Ealey.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 20 March 2015 14:40 (nine years ago) link
The Mighty Sam McClain Fan Page on Facebook reported that he had a stroke and is still hospitalized. The left side of his body has been affected but his voice has not been. He can be contacted:Mighty Sam McClainRoom 407Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital105 Corporate RdPortsmouth, NH 03801-6825
old-school soul more than Southern, but wasn't sure where else to put this. He also did an awesome one-off album and tour with an Iranian singer Mahsa Vahdat
― curmudgeon, Monday, 13 April 2015 15:12 (nine years ago) link
He covers "Members Only" the song Bobby Bland didhttp://shorefire.com/releases/entry/at-71-jerry-lawson-original-lead-singer-of-the-persuasions-releases-his-deb
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 22 April 2015 16:41 (nine years ago) link
It's not as good as Bobby's by the way. The Lawson album is nice, and he's not singing a cappella, but in a retro lets recreate soul music manner with Nashville alt-country folks and others. Even though he is no new guy trying to embrace an old style, it just feels a bit stiff at times. Maybe it will grow on me, or I should be more tolerant as he has a wonderful voice still
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 April 2015 15:34 (nine years ago) link
http://www.stwnewspress.com/opinion/kathleen-mcelroy-country-in-your-soul-one-at-a-time/article_52fad7d8-d5c8-11e4-87da-c3d8854f9f55.html
Interview with Professor Charles Hughes re his new book Country Soul
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 April 2015 20:26 (nine years ago) link
3 pm, Sunday, May 10, 2015. The Fairgrounds, 1457 Ellisville Boulevard, Laurel, Mississippi. Mother's Day Blues Festival. T.K. Soul, Kenne Wayne, Ms. Jody, Vick Allen, Pokey, Mr. Sam, Sir Charles Jones, Storm, Robert Evans. 601-649-9010. Gates open at 12 Noon
Wish this kind of gig could come up my way
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 7 May 2015 17:53 (nine years ago) link
Oh no...
Mel Waiters Is Currently Being Treated In A Texas Hospital For Cardio Pulmonary Complications...
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 14 May 2015 19:54 (nine years ago) link
Not current Southern soul, but still of interest.
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-two-guys-saved-soul-singers-from-obscurity
― curmudgeon, Friday, 22 May 2015 02:55 (nine years ago) link
How did I never hear till recently Frank Lucas "The Man with the Singing Ding-a-Ling"...It was uh released in the 2000s
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 23 May 2015 20:05 (nine years ago) link
And how did I miss Donnie Ray's 2011 "Who's Rockin' You (when you ain't rockin' me)"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Bald7M4-s
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 May 2015 02:24 (nine years ago) link
What a great voice he has, and that's a catchy tune too
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 May 2015 12:30 (nine years ago) link
I wrote about that Donnie Ray album in this roundup, actually.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-03-09/music/southern-soul-guide-sweet-angel-mel-waiters-and-luther-lackey/2/
― xhuxk, Tuesday, 26 May 2015 13:15 (nine years ago) link
Ah, so you did -- Ray's most sugar-sweet beach-soul hooks
Yep
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 28 May 2015 15:40 (nine years ago) link
http://www.nola.com/music/index.ssf/2015/05/mel_waiters_southern_soul_blue.html
Oh no, RIP Mel Waiters dead at 58 from cancer.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 28 May 2015 18:02 (nine years ago) link
I interviewed him back in 2009 and enjoyed his live act too. A shame he never reached the broader audience that some of his music could have impressed.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 28 May 2015 18:47 (nine years ago) link
Still bumming me out that he is gone. Plus, that xhuxk and I are the only ones here on ilx who knew any of his music.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 29 May 2015 19:24 (nine years ago) link
My local Pacifica public radio station paid tribute to Mel Saturday. Also some stuff on twitter (including postings by young African-Americans who heard Waiters via their parents playing him)
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 31 May 2015 14:04 (nine years ago) link
Been listening to Mel's Poor Side of Town album. That track and "Pouring salt" are first-rate
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 2 June 2015 13:13 (nine years ago) link
RIP Mighty Sam Mcclain, 72. He had a stroke
http://www.wmur.com/entertainment/mighty-sam-mcclain-grammynominated-blues-singer-from-nh-dies/33610568
I liked him live with Iranian singer Mahsa vahdat, but he also toured and recorded with Hubert Sumlin I think. Was raised in Louisiana
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 17 June 2015 02:54 (nine years ago) link
Awww, another death to report:
Not seeing an obit yet, but Alligator Records is reporting that Wendell Holmes, soulful singer/guitarist of the the Holmes Brothers band has passed on at age 72.
http://touch.dailypress.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-83793598/
Earlier this year, the group's drummer Popsy Dixon died.
Sherman Holmes, 75, said it has been a tough year for him emotionally. "It has taken a toll on me," he said. "I miss them so much. I miss Popsy, and I miss being with my brother. It's not the same, even though I'll carry it on. It’s just that I feel lonely. When I go on the road without them there, it's very lonely."
― curmudgeon, Friday, 19 June 2015 20:42 (eight years ago) link
I think only a couple of us here on ilx know of the greatness of the Holmes Brothers. RIP. Sherman's gonna keep going I think with a new group
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 20 June 2015 04:18 (eight years ago) link
Nellie Tiger Travis "Hey Mr Sexy Man" is lodged in my head and I keep repeating it
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 July 2015 01:21 (eight years ago) link
That solo Jerry Lawson with alt-country band album is growing on me. Lawson was also on that tv show Sing-Off after he left the Persuasions
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 July 2015 01:23 (eight years ago) link
Denise Lasalle turns 76 today.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 July 2015 17:00 (eight years ago) link
I gotta catch up with Big Daddy Nice's fave songs
plus this Louisiana southern soul comp he likes:
VARIOUS ARTISTS: BEAT FLIPPA, I Got the Blues, Vol.1 (Music Access/Ross Music)
Five Stars ***** Can't Miss. Pure Southern Soul Heaven.
Lotsa cuts by Pokey, but Cupid (whose music I have heard) is on it too.
― curmudgeon, Friday, 17 July 2015 17:08 (eight years ago) link
Read on FB that great southern soul singer Roy C. had a heart attack. Hope he's gonna be ok
― curmudgeon, Monday, 20 July 2015 14:08 (eight years ago) link
He's doing better!
― curmudgeon, Friday, 31 July 2015 01:58 (eight years ago) link
Saved by the bell!
― Archaic Buster Poindexter, Live At The Apollo (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 31 July 2015 02:01 (eight years ago) link
Big southern soul shows near me at arenas always seem to get cancelled at the last minute, but it looks like the Millie Jackson, Clarence Carter, Latimore, Nellie Tiger Travis one is gonna happen at Showplace Arena Saturday night
― curmudgeon, Friday, 31 July 2015 02:02 (eight years ago) link
Been digging some Carl Sims
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YITNOFZleo
― Heez, Tuesday, 4 August 2015 16:21 (eight years ago) link