Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

I picked up the recent Mel Waiters cd. Not bad.

Listening to a pile of Southern soul discovered via CD-baby channels. The album by a jowly guy named Jimmy Taylor leans toward the blues end of things (with lady backup vocals not far from the ones on last year's Bobby Bare album); the EP by the lady named Candis Palmer ("All Men Ain't Dawgs,* since some are electric boogie dawgs apparently) leans toward the disco end; the single by Harold, "Chill Step Party," is steppin' music. He mentions Milwaukee, Chitown, Harlem, and Atlanta in it. More fun than R. Kelly, as far as I'm concerned, but mainly all this stuff obviously has a connection to county music too. (and though candis palmer is happy to have found a man who is not a dawg, jimmy taylor insists that when women say they're looking for a good man, they're lying. really, he says, they're looking for a fool.) (apparently the kinda fool who will let her spend all his money.) (he also directly quotes zz hill's "cheating in the next room in one of his songs.) (he's from alabama; I don't know where candis or harold are from. they're not actually on cdbaby.com per se, but i was sent their cds in the same package that the jimmy taylor CD came in.) jimmy taylor on his album is totally paranoid, and in just about every song he's either cheating or being cheated on or both, and as i said, he seems fully convinced that his woman is going to put him in the poor house (where, in real life, for all i know, he may already be.) in "you're busted" he hires a private detective to follow her around, and gets a photo of her cheating. "love catcher" has a pretty good sax solo. and though some songs sound more blues to me than soul, a couple (like "all i want is you") still veer more toward disco than anybody in country music has, i think, even shannon brown on her new album.
candis palmer, as i said, gets even more disco, but her disco is maybe 1975 where taylor's is 1973. (i think i wrote on the '05 thread that shannon brown's disco sounded 1979, but maybe that was hyperbole; i'm not sure. these two soul singers FEEL more disco.) but even at her most disco, in a song called "don't let someone else come and jingle my bell" or something, palmer gets backed by HARD blues guitar riffs, so the music really rocks. if i had to compare her vocal style to anybody, it'd be the staple singers in "i'll take you there."

-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 28th, 2006

glamorous bertha payne, *bedroom offer* EP: southern country soul millie jackson style (i.e., as many parts talked as sung, many of 'em bawdy), from memphis, via cdbaby.com. starts with a good riddance song where glamorous bertha (who on the cd cover is a big girl in her red dress with a red glass of wine) tells you "i don't need your face in my face" so "go away like a bad day" and "you might as well pack your rags." then the title track, which is not about her bedroom offer to him but the other way around, which offer she says isn't enough and the two backup singers (favorite artists: denise lasalle, mary j blige) chorus "bang! bang!" but by song's end glamorous bertha is saying "i need a man who will love me all night long. are you qualified? if not, get off the pot!" then one where she promises to shake it and break it (and maybe hang it on the wall) and she tells "all you womens with big elephant ears" that with her man every day is pay day. then supposedly "part two" of the same song, which means same slinky rhythm track as part one but now with sexy breathy pillow talk all over the top where bertha tells you to lift up her skirt. then finally another good riddance song, this one a tough and funky blues, where he leaves her with a sink full of dishes in a "one-room [some word i can't make out]", hence the best dishwashing song since ray parker jr's "bad boy" if not anita ward's "ring my bell." also she brings him food in bed, which means this might also be a breakfast breakup song in the tradition of the 5th dimension's "one less bell to answer" and karyn white's "superwoman." five songs total, but two around 4:00, three around 4:25, which means glamorous bertha takes her time and surely deserves a lover with a slow hand.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 23rd, 2006.

the legendary moody scott, *simply moody: we gotta bust outta the ghetto*: more cdbaby southern soul, from louisiana. cover has moody, a dapper old guy seemingly in his 60s, in front of a rundown rural shack; interesting, since "ghettos" are usually assumed to be urban, right? first track "bustin out of the ghetto" is a sort of james brown rip, five minutes long, where moody as i recall reels off some towns in the south train conducter style (am i imagining this? i THINK he did that, anyway) and ends singing "america america god grant his grace on thee." then he covers tyrone davis's great "can i change my mind," my favorite track. and from there the more soul oriented stuff ("last two dollars," the misspelled cheated-on song "one man's hppiness" which for some reason makes me think of billy stewart sitting in the park even though billy had a high voice and moody really doesn't, "something you got baby") is more likeable, to me, than the more blatantly blues stuff, but then again i always think that. both the soul and blues are generic, i suppose; with the soul i don't mind. best song title: "annie mae cafe." and the closer "son of a southern man" starts with moody telling his guitarist "tattoo" suarez ("my man from argentina") about his grandpa drinking corn liquor and singing "downhome blues". so yeah, country for sure.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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He does get urban and/or urbane once, though -- a nice slinky silk-shirt early '80s style quiet storm soul croon called "The Best of Me." (Not sure if any songs other than the Tyrone Davis are covers. "Last Two Dollars" and "Annie Mae Cafe" are writing-credited to one George Jackson; wasn't there a soul singer of that name once? But if so, I never heard him, though.)
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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"something you got baby" wouldn't be chris kenner's "something you got" would it? since moody's from louisiana...and yeah, george jackson (I'm assuming it's the same guy--I don't know "annie mae cafe") wrote z.z. hill's "down home blues" and a lot of stuff for candi staton, clarence carter, pickett, james carr; a memphis guy who later worked for malaco and wrote for all them: johnnie taylor, latimore, shirley brown, bobby bland...
enjoying jace everett, so far. it's quite a collection of somewhat off-the-wall guitar effects, interesting guitar chromatics (as in the first song), definitely a '70s pop thing happening; and in my mode of concurrent listening (lately it's been dusty springfield/the latest numero group comp of obscure '70s female singers/the new, beautiful nara leão bossa "nara '67"; and jace/radney foster/jessi colter, partly because they all have cool first names, I guess) I notice that both radney and jace hark back to stiff records, which I find interesting.

xps

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 11th, 2006.

George Jackson was an occasional great old soul singer on Goldwax then Hi, and kind of a house writer at both. I'll try to remember tomorrow (just in from a party, and why I'm doing this rather than going straight to bet I've no idea) to YSI his absolutely magnificent Aretha, Sing One For Me. He was among the greatest writers in southern soul - he wrote for Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, Otis Clay, James Carr, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Denise LaSalle, Wilson Pickett, Candi Staton and even wrote the Osmonds' first hit!
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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if I'm not mistaken, Alvin Robinson recorded for AFO (All for One), a New Orleans label of the '60s that Harold Battiste started; house band included Toussaint and Red Tyler. And he had a hit with Kenner's "Something You Got" (which was later covered by lots of folks, including Bobby Womack, who did a reggae remake on his "Safety Zone" LP in the mid-'70s. Alvin Robinson also recorded for Leiber and Stoller at Red Bird in New York, and did a real classic called "Down Home Girl."
I gotta get that Moody Scott record.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

That YSI:
George Jackson - Aretha, Sing One For Me
It'd be in my top 100 favourite singles ever, I think.

-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I gotta get that Moody Scott record.<
I have an extra copy, Edd! I'll send it to you.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

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great! thanks Chuck!

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I don't know anything much about Moody Scott, just a handful of tracks, <
So Martin, did Moody have regional hits or something? I never heard of him before I saw his cdbaby page, and haven't really taken time to research him. I'm surprised you even heard of him!

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

I don't know, Chuck, but bear in mind that I've been a huge fan of soul for a long time, and do know quite a lot about it (though not as much as Eddie, I'm pretty sure). The odd track does get on compilations of one sort or another, which suggests that Moody isn't incredibly obscure - but I don't even know exactly where he worked or anything, so he isn't famous either, clearly.
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

also really liking irma thomas's *after the rain* on rounder, the "rain" obviously being katrina, though i kind of hate the mooshy shelter-from-storm piano ballad the album ends with though i do hope it provides solace to new orleans. what i love so far is "flowers" (soul about flowers on roadsides after car crashes, with a sound that i swear reminds me of "uncle tom's cabin" by warrant), "make me a pallet on the floor" (cheating with a painter, wow), "till i can't take it anymore" (country music in a soul voice, about how "you work your thing so well/I dream of heaven and live here in hell"), "these honey dos" (vampy bawdy boogie woogie where the honey dos are at first temptations but wind up also being about manners like please and thank you), and "stone survivor" (which is just plain funky).

-- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

And Irma also does an extremely gorgeous version of "I Count the Tears" (the "na-na-na-na-na-na late at night" song) by the Drifters..
-- xhxuk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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And she also does "Another Man Done Gone," a trad blues tune I swear I've heard hundreds of times by some huge classic rock group (Creem? Zep? the Allmans? somebody...), though no classic rock groups seem to be listed on AMG as doing it, so maybe whoever did it (which will probably hit me as really obvious once I found out) did it under a different title or something, or maybe with different words? (Also, I'm thinking now that maybe "These Honey Dos" and "Stone Survivor" and the palette one aren't quite at the level of the Warrant one and the country one and the Drifters one, but they're close.) -- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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also liking (speaking of southern soul) *candy licker: the sex & soul of marvin sease* (jive/legacy) not all of which concerns muff diving, and at least "hoochie mama" of which has zapp-style robot-funk freakazoids reciting the names of several of the united states.

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 12th, 2006.

*Most of the Marvin Sease album is gloppy ballads which aren't all that good, but some of it is kinda fun. (The first track is awful though.)

-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 13th, 2006.

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Marvin Sease CD is way less gloppy and ballady than Matt suggests (or maybe I just have a higher glop tolerance than he does; see also the Alan Bros!); most of it gets a good '70s smooth-jazzy funk disco groove going. And lots of the songs have pre-old-school "raps" (i.e., talking as singing, sometimes like a preacher's sermon) in them, which are really fun. And sure, the opening track "Do You Want a Licker?" is awful if you want it to be, but it's just too silly to complain about; ditto the other bookend, a five-minute live "Candy Licker 2005." Also, the ballads are pretty good, for the most part. "Don't Forget to Tell On You" sounds kind of like "Tell it Like It Is." But my favorite cuts are probably "I'm Mr Jody," the backdoor man song that starts with an ominous phone call, and the 12-step fix-your-life number "I Gotta Clean Up." (Has anybody ever written a good essay about Jody? He's the guy back on the block who's having sex to your girl while you're in the Army, and I get the idea he shows up in lots of Southern soul songs: Doesn't Johnnie Taylor have one about him, too*? As do, I would assume, other folks.)

* - yep, I just checked Whitburn: "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone," went to number 28 in 1971. (Hey, sounds like a good EMP proposal!)

-- xhuxk (xhux...), June 14th, 2006.

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having sex WITH (or) making love TO.
and courtesy of HIS new truck.
).

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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Johnnie Taylor was the king of Jody songs. "Standing In for Jody" and "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" are just two; I mean every song he does is kind of about Jody-ism in some way or another. I am a nut for Johnnie Taylor (I like Johnny Taylor a lot, too, and Ted Taylor, the Louisiana soul singer, is also excellent--so I think an EMP paper on the Sooper Taylors would be good!!), and Taylor is also the king of fucking-around songs. There are these nifty new Stax reissues that includes stuff by Frederick Knight, the Dramatics, etc., and if you ask me one of the very best Stax albums-as-albums is Johnnie's "Who's Making Love," which is the typical collection of singles but which really has variety and which totally hangs together. "Hold On This Time" has a great Cropper riff, cubist guitar, and "Woman Across the River" is one of the best Stax blues ever.
I only know the older, cunnilingual and happy to oblige, ma'am, Marvin Sease stuff--he's really good. "Marvin Sease" on London from late '80s is a good 'un. One of those artists who've been working the I-55 corridor from Memphis to the Louisiana border, forever.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), June 14th, 2006.

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Well, a Taylors EMP report would probably be really interesting, but I was thinking (theoretically, not volunteering!) more in terms of one about Jody himself. Who was he? And how far back do Jody songs go? Did Johnnie Taylor invent them? Or does Jody show up in blue songs during World War II or something? Was he a real person, like maybe Stagger Lee? (Was Shine who swam the Titanic a real person? I forget.) Seems like real *Mystery Train* mythology stuff, and I'm surprised nobody has tackled the research (unless they have and I just didn't notice, which is very possible. I haven't even done a google search.) (Also, do I only associate Jody with making cuckolds of military guys stationed overseas because I was *in* the military, and he was always showing up in cadences used while marching and/or running? Or is that his main deal? And otherwise, to what extent if any does he exist outside of the culture of Southern blacks--who, when I was in, seemed to make up a sizable portion of the Army?)
-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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This could really be hella interesting, absolutely. Is "Trapped in the Closet" the Ulysses of Jody songs?
-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 14th, 2006.

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Here's some info I found while googling Jody songs:
http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/10238/9918.html?1079610632

-- Sang Freud (jstrell...), June 14th, 2006.

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x-post. Taylor didn't invent the Jody song. Jody / Jodie / Joe the Grinder are pretty common figures in blues tunes.There's Louis Armstrong's "Jodie Man" which makes the "GI Joe de man" connection explicit. I wouldn't be surprised if that military connection is at the origin, though it's obviously gone through lots of transformations.
-- Roy Kasten (rfkaste...), June 14th, 2006.

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Yeah, I'd forgotten Joe The Grinder. I used to own a copy of that *Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me* prison-rap comp (on Smithsonian or Rounder or something?), and I think there might even be a Joe the Grinder rhyme on there (I *may* even have mentioned it in the pre-rap rap chapter of my second book). Anyway, this link from the link above has great stuff about Jody Army cadences; also says Johnnie Taylor himself learned about Jody while in the military:
http://p211.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm4.showMessage?topicID=153.topic

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

Listening to a pile of Southern soul discovered via CD-baby channels. The album by a jowly guy named Jimmy Taylor leans toward the blues end of things (with lady backup vocals not far from the ones on last year's Bobby Bare album); the EP by the lady named Candis Palmer ("All Men Ain't Dawgs,* since some are electric boogie dawgs apparently) leans toward the disco end; the single by Harold, "Chill Step Party," is steppin' music. He mentions Milwaukee, Chitown, Harlem, and Atlanta in it. More fun than R. Kelly, as far as I'm concerned, but mainly all this stuff obviously has a connection to county music too. (and though candis palmer is happy to have found a man who is not a dawg, jimmy taylor insists that when women say they're looking for a good man, they're lying. really, he says, they're looking for a fool.) (apparently the kinda fool who will let her spend all his money.) (he also directly quotes zz hill's "cheating in the next room in one of his songs.) (he's from alabama; I don't know where candis or harold are from. they're not actually on cdbaby.com per se, but i was sent their cds in the same package that the jimmy taylor CD came in.) jimmy taylor on his album is totally paranoid, and in just about every song he's either cheating or being cheated on or both, and as i said, he seems fully convinced that his woman is going to put him in the poor house (where, in real life, for all i know, he may already be.) in "you're busted" he hires a private detective to follow her around, and gets a photo of her cheating. "love catcher" has a pretty good sax solo. and though some songs sound more blues to me than soul, a couple (like "all i want is you") still veer more toward disco than anybody in country music has, i think, even shannon brown on her new album.
candis palmer, as i said, gets even more disco, but her disco is maybe 1975 where taylor's is 1973. (i think i wrote on the '05 thread that shannon brown's disco sounded 1979, but maybe that was hyperbole; i'm not sure. these two soul singers FEEL more disco.) but even at her most disco, in a song called "don't let someone else come and jingle my bell" or something, palmer gets backed by HARD blues guitar riffs, so the music really rocks. if i had to compare her vocal style to anybody, it'd be the staple singers in "i'll take you there."

-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 28th, 2006

glamorous bertha payne, *bedroom offer* EP: southern country soul millie jackson style (i.e., as many parts talked as sung, many of 'em bawdy), from memphis, via cdbaby.com. starts with a good riddance song where glamorous bertha (who on the cd cover is a big girl in her red dress with a red glass of wine) tells you "i don't need your face in my face" so "go away like a bad day" and "you might as well pack your rags." then the title track, which is not about her bedroom offer to him but the other way around, which offer she says isn't enough and the two backup singers (favorite artists: denise lasalle, mary j blige) chorus "bang! bang!" but by song's end glamorous bertha is saying "i need a man who will love me all night long. are you qualified? if not, get off the pot!" then one where she promises to shake it and break it (and maybe hang it on the wall) and she tells "all you womens with big elephant ears" that with her man every day is pay day. then supposedly "part two" of the same song, which means same slinky rhythm track as part one but now with sexy breathy pillow talk all over the top where bertha tells you to lift up her skirt. then finally another good riddance song, this one a tough and funky blues, where he leaves her with a sink full of dishes in a "one-room [some word i can't make out]", hence the best dishwashing song since ray parker jr's "bad boy" if not anita ward's "ring my bell." also she brings him food in bed, which means this might also be a breakfast breakup song in the tradition of the 5th dimension's "one less bell to answer" and karyn white's "superwoman." five songs total, but two around 4:00, three around 4:25, which means glamorous bertha takes her time and surely deserves a lover with a slow hand.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 23rd, 2006.

the legendary moody scott, *simply moody: we gotta bust outta the ghetto*: more cdbaby southern soul, from louisiana. cover has moody, a dapper old guy seemingly in his 60s, in front of a rundown rural shack; interesting, since "ghettos" are usually assumed to be urban, right? first track "bustin out of the ghetto" is a sort of james brown rip, five minutes long, where moody as i recall reels off some towns in the south train conducter style (am i imagining this? i THINK he did that, anyway) and ends singing "america america god grant his grace on thee." then he covers tyrone davis's great "can i change my mind," my favorite track. and from there the more soul oriented stuff ("last two dollars," the misspelled cheated-on song "one man's hppiness" which for some reason makes me think of billy stewart sitting in the park even though billy had a high voice and moody really doesn't, "something you got baby") is more likeable, to me, than the more blatantly blues stuff, but then again i always think that. both the soul and blues are generic, i suppose; with the soul i don't mind. best song title: "annie mae cafe." and the closer "son of a southern man" starts with moody telling his guitarist "tattoo" suarez ("my man from argentina") about his grandpa drinking corn liquor and singing "downhome blues". so yeah, country for sure.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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He does get urban and/or urbane once, though -- a nice slinky silk-shirt early '80s style quiet storm soul croon called "The Best of Me." (Not sure if any songs other than the Tyrone Davis are covers. "Last Two Dollars" and "Annie Mae Cafe" are writing-credited to one George Jackson; wasn't there a soul singer of that name once? But if so, I never heard him, though.)
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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"something you got baby" wouldn't be chris kenner's "something you got" would it? since moody's from louisiana...and yeah, george jackson (I'm assuming it's the same guy--I don't know "annie mae cafe") wrote z.z. hill's "down home blues" and a lot of stuff for candi staton, clarence carter, pickett, james carr; a memphis guy who later worked for malaco and wrote for all them: johnnie taylor, latimore, shirley brown, bobby bland...
enjoying jace everett, so far. it's quite a collection of somewhat off-the-wall guitar effects, interesting guitar chromatics (as in the first song), definitely a '70s pop thing happening; and in my mode of concurrent listening (lately it's been dusty springfield/the latest numero group comp of obscure '70s female singers/the new, beautiful nara leão bossa "nara '67"; and jace/radney foster/jessi colter, partly because they all have cool first names, I guess) I notice that both radney and jace hark back to stiff records, which I find interesting.

xps

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 11th, 2006.

George Jackson was an occasional great old soul singer on Goldwax then Hi, and kind of a house writer at both. I'll try to remember tomorrow (just in from a party, and why I'm doing this rather than going straight to bet I've no idea) to YSI his absolutely magnificent Aretha, Sing One For Me. He was among the greatest writers in southern soul - he wrote for Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, Otis Clay, James Carr, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Denise LaSalle, Wilson Pickett, Candi Staton and even wrote the Osmonds' first hit!
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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if I'm not mistaken, Alvin Robinson recorded for AFO (All for One), a New Orleans label of the '60s that Harold Battiste started; house band included Toussaint and Red Tyler. And he had a hit with Kenner's "Something You Got" (which was later covered by lots of folks, including Bobby Womack, who did a reggae remake on his "Safety Zone" LP in the mid-'70s. Alvin Robinson also recorded for Leiber and Stoller at Red Bird in New York, and did a real classic called "Down Home Girl."
I gotta get that Moody Scott record.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

That YSI:
George Jackson - Aretha, Sing One For Me
It'd be in my top 100 favourite singles ever, I think.

-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I gotta get that Moody Scott record.<
I have an extra copy, Edd! I'll send it to you.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

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great! thanks Chuck!

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I don't know anything much about Moody Scott, just a handful of tracks, <
So Martin, did Moody have regional hits or something? I never heard of him before I saw his cdbaby page, and haven't really taken time to research him. I'm surprised you even heard of him!

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

I don't know, Chuck, but bear in mind that I've been a huge fan of soul for a long time, and do know quite a lot about it (though not as much as Eddie, I'm pretty sure). The odd track does get on compilations of one sort or another, which suggests that Moody isn't incredibly obscure - but I don't even know exactly where he worked or anything, so he isn't famous either, clearly.
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

also really liking irma thomas's *after the rain* on rounder, the "rain" obviously being katrina, though i kind of hate the mooshy shelter-from-storm piano ballad the album ends with though i do hope it provides solace to new orleans. what i love so far is "flowers" (soul about flowers on roadsides after car crashes, with a sound that i swear reminds me of "uncle tom's cabin" by warrant), "make me a pallet on the floor" (cheating with a painter, wow), "till i can't take it anymore" (country music in a soul voice, about how "you work your thing so well/I dream of heaven and live here in hell"), "these honey dos" (vampy bawdy boogie woogie where the honey dos are at first temptations but wind up also being about manners like please and thank you), and "stone survivor" (which is just plain funky).

-- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

And Irma also does an extremely gorgeous version of "I Count the Tears" (the "na-na-na-na-na-na late at night" song) by the Drifters..
-- xhxuk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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And she also does "Another Man Done Gone," a trad blues tune I swear I've heard hundreds of times by some huge classic rock group (Creem? Zep? the Allmans? somebody...), though no classic rock groups seem to be listed on AMG as doing it, so maybe whoever did it (which will probably hit me as really obvious once I found out) did it under a different title or something, or maybe with different words? (Also, I'm thinking now that maybe "These Honey Dos" and "Stone Survivor" and the palette one aren't quite at the level of the Warrant one and the country one and the Drifters one, but they're close.) -- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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also liking (speaking of southern soul) *candy licker: the sex & soul of marvin sease* (jive/legacy) not all of which concerns muff diving, and at least "hoochie mama" of which has zapp-style robot-funk freakazoids reciting the names of several of the united states.

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 12th, 2006.

*Most of the Marvin Sease album is gloppy ballads which aren't all that good, but some of it is kinda fun. (The first track is awful though.)

-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 13th, 2006.

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Marvin Sease CD is way less gloppy and ballady than Matt suggests (or maybe I just have a higher glop tolerance than he does; see also the Alan Bros!); most of it gets a good '70s smooth-jazzy funk disco groove going. And lots of the songs have pre-old-school "raps" (i.e., talking as singing, sometimes like a preacher's sermon) in them, which are really fun. And sure, the opening track "Do You Want a Licker?" is awful if you want it to be, but it's just too silly to complain about; ditto the other bookend, a five-minute live "Candy Licker 2005." Also, the ballads are pretty good, for the most part. "Don't Forget to Tell On You" sounds kind of like "Tell it Like It Is." But my favorite cuts are probably "I'm Mr Jody," the backdoor man song that starts with an ominous phone call, and the 12-step fix-your-life number "I Gotta Clean Up." (Has anybody ever written a good essay about Jody? He's the guy back on the block who's having sex to your girl while you're in the Army, and I get the idea he shows up in lots of Southern soul songs: Doesn't Johnnie Taylor have one about him, too*? As do, I would assume, other folks.)

* - yep, I just checked Whitburn: "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone," went to number 28 in 1971. (Hey, sounds like a good EMP proposal!)

-- xhuxk (xhux...), June 14th, 2006.

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having sex WITH (or) making love TO.
and courtesy of HIS new truck.
).

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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Johnnie Taylor was the king of Jody songs. "Standing In for Jody" and "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" are just two; I mean every song he does is kind of about Jody-ism in some way or another. I am a nut for Johnnie Taylor (I like Johnny Taylor a lot, too, and Ted Taylor, the Louisiana soul singer, is also excellent--so I think an EMP paper on the Sooper Taylors would be good!!), and Taylor is also the king of fucking-around songs. There are these nifty new Stax reissues that includes stuff by Frederick Knight, the Dramatics, etc., and if you ask me one of the very best Stax albums-as-albums is Johnnie's "Who's Making Love," which is the typical collection of singles but which really has variety and which totally hangs together. "Hold On This Time" has a great Cropper riff, cubist guitar, and "Woman Across the River" is one of the best Stax blues ever.
I only know the older, cunnilingual and happy to oblige, ma'am, Marvin Sease stuff--he's really good. "Marvin Sease" on London from late '80s is a good 'un. One of those artists who've been working the I-55 corridor from Memphis to the Louisiana border, forever.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), June 14th, 2006.

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Well, a Taylors EMP report would probably be really interesting, but I was thinking (theoretically, not volunteering!) more in terms of one about Jody himself. Who was he? And how far back do Jody songs go? Did Johnnie Taylor invent them? Or does Jody show up in blue songs during World War II or something? Was he a real person, like maybe Stagger Lee? (Was Shine who swam the Titanic a real person? I forget.) Seems like real *Mystery Train* mythology stuff, and I'm surprised nobody has tackled the research (unless they have and I just didn't notice, which is very possible. I haven't even done a google search.) (Also, do I only associate Jody with making cuckolds of military guys stationed overseas because I was *in* the military, and he was always showing up in cadences used while marching and/or running? Or is that his main deal? And otherwise, to what extent if any does he exist outside of the culture of Southern blacks--who, when I was in, seemed to make up a sizable portion of the Army?)
-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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This could really be hella interesting, absolutely. Is "Trapped in the Closet" the Ulysses of Jody songs?
-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 14th, 2006.

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Here's some info I found while googling Jody songs:
http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/10238/9918.html?1079610632

-- Sang Freud (jstrell...), June 14th, 2006.

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x-post. Taylor didn't invent the Jody song. Jody / Jodie / Joe the Grinder are pretty common figures in blues tunes.There's Louis Armstrong's "Jodie Man" which makes the "GI Joe de man" connection explicit. I wouldn't be surprised if that military connection is at the origin, though it's obviously gone through lots of transformations.
-- Roy Kasten (rfkaste...), June 14th, 2006.

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Yeah, I'd forgotten Joe The Grinder. I used to own a copy of that *Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me* prison-rap comp (on Smithsonian or Rounder or something?), and I think there might even be a Joe the Grinder rhyme on there (I *may* even have mentioned it in the pre-rap rap chapter of my second book). Anyway, this link from the link above has great stuff about Jody Army cadences; also says Johnnie Taylor himself learned about Jody while in the military:
http://p211.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm4.showMessage?topicID=153.topic

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

another source of info on current soul

Best Southern Soul/R & B Album Of 2006

I'M THE MAN YOU NEED by Theodis Ealey (Ifgam)
THROWBACK DAYS by Mel Waiters (Waldoxy)
DON'T STOP MY PARTY by Donnie Ray (Ecko)
GIFTED by Willie Clayton (Malaco)
GWEN MCCRAE SINGS TK by Gwen McCrae (Henry Stone)
HERE KITTY KITTY by Billy Soul Bonds (Waldoxy)
THE ROAD OF LOVE by Renea Mitchell (Jomar)
NEVER COMING HOME by Betty Padgett (Meia)
NEW LEASE ON LIFE by William Bell (Wilbe)
THANK YOU FOR HOLDING ON by Sir Charles Jones (Jumpin')
IT AIN'T OVER TIL IT'S OVER by J. Blackfoot (JEA Music)
DOWN LOW BROTHER by Barbara Carr (Ecko)
WORTH THE WAIT by Omar Cunningham (EndZone)
TIME TO GET LOOSE by Kenne' Wayne (Goodtime)

Best Southern Soul/Blues Album Of 2006

GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI by Joey Gilmore (Bluzpik)
SICILY MOON by Roy Roberts (Rock House)
MASTER OF THE GAME by Jackie Payne-Steve Edmonson Band (Delta G
PIONEERS & LEGENDS by Bobby Warren (KonKord)
JUST ME by Walter Waiters (self)
BACKSTABBERS by Maurice Davis (Touring)
BE WITH ME TONIGHT by Preston Shannon (Title Tunes)
OUT OF THE SHADOWS by Little Phil (Coffeehouse)
I'M STILL HERE by Trudy Lynn (Sawdust Alley)
ONE MORE HIT by Clarence Carter (Cee Gee Ent.)
STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS by Frankie Lee (Blues Express)
STARTS WITH A P by Lee Shot Williams (Ecko)
LIFE WITH WOMEN by Bob Steele (Sound Mindz)

Southern Soul/Soul Blues Song Of 2006

THE BLACKER THE BERRY by Chairmen Of The Board (Xcel)
GOING CRAZY by Willie Clayton (Malaco)
SCAT CAT...HERE KITTY KITTY by Billy Soul Bonds (Waldoxy)
NEW LEASE ON LIFE by William Bell (Wilbe)
SEVENTEEN DAYS (Of LOVING) by Renea Mitchell (Jomar)
MR. DO RIGHT by Ms. Monique (Soul Ent.)
YO' DRESS IS TOO SHORT by Bob Steele (Sound Mindz)
DON'T STOP MY PARTY by Donnie Ray (Ecko)
HAS IT COME TO THIS by Gregg A. Smith (G Man)
U CAN'T RAISE HER by Steve Perry (Bluesland)
FRANCINE by Theodis Ealey (Make Cents)
MY NAME IS $$$ by Miz B (Hep Me)
ARE YOU READY FOR THE BLUES by Clarence Carter (Cee Gee Ent.)
NEVER COMING HOME by Betty Padgett (Meia)
DROP THAT THANG by Sir Charles Jones (Jumpin')
THROWBACK DAYS by Mel Waiters (Waldoxy)

Best Slow Jam Of 2006

IF THE SHOE WAS ON THE OTHER FOOT by Kenne' Wayne (Goodtime)
GOOD LOVIN' WILL MAKE YOU CRY by Carl Marshall (Unleashed)
HEAVEN SENT ME AN ANGEL by Wendell B (Cuzzo)
DEDICATED TO THE ONE by Wilson Meadows (BGR)
I'M JUST A FOOL FOR YOU by J. Blackfoot & Lenny Williams (JEA)
U CAN'T RAISE HER by Steve Perry (Bluesland)
CREEPIN' AIN'T EASY by Vick Allen (Waldoxy)
JODY'S CREEPIN' by Mr. David (Tony Mercedes)
BOOM BOOM BOOM by Willie Clayton (Malaco)
SCAT CAT...HERE KITTY KITTY by Billy Soul Bonds (Waldoxy)
NEVER MISS A GOOD THANG by Sir Charles Jones (Jumpin')

Best Dance Song Of 2006

MS JODY by Ms. Jody (Ecko)
DON'T STOP MY PARTY by Donnie Ray (Ecko)
SHAKE & SHIMMY by Larome Powers (Waldoxy)
FRANCINE by Theodis Ealey (Make Cents)
DROP THAT THANG by Sir Charles Jones (Jumpin')
I'M READY TO PARTY by Bigg Robb (Over 25)
BIG HAND MAN by Sheba Potts-Wright (Ecko)
MISSISSIPPI BOY by Charles Wilson (HMU)
THROWBACK DAYS by Mel Waiters (Waldoxy)
WORK ME 'TIL I SWEAT by Lady Audrey (Studio Showtime)
MISSISSIPPI CHA CHA SLIDE by Mixx Master Lee (Team Airplay)
SHO NUFF by The Bar Kays (JEA)
I AIN'T GOING WHERE YOU GO by Pat Cooley (L & L)

"Think you can learn all you need to know about music from blogs and chatboards. I don't think so. Mel Waiters' brand of rhythm 'n' blues was ignored by Ne-yo fans on myspace, hipster bloggers, aging bluesrockers, and NPR devotees. Waiters, via some key Southern American radio stations and clubs, however found a largely 45 and up African-American audience that embraced his soulful tales of looking for love that he sung over contemporary keyboard lines that were more vibrant than the cheesy synthwork associated since the '80s with chitlin circuit soul."

Right now I am listening to a cheapo Tower Records bankruptcy sale purchase--The Best of Barbara Carr--on Ecko. ALright, her version of the electric slide, "Hoochie Dance" is kinda cheesy, but "Bone Me Like You Own Me," "Cut the Mustard," "I've Been Partying at the Hole in the Wall," and others are earthy, fun and catchy. Yea, there's nothing that clever or innovative in the arrangements or the lyrics, but there's also an art to simple, clever hooks and there are plenty of those here. Barbara's gospel-rooted vocals are pretty special too.

I love this phrase.

I love double-entendre chitlin-circuit soul-blues, but Ecko Records always seems to put out the worst records in the genre. (And they should invest in a real photographer - those blurred Kodak photos on their covers ain't gonna get it!) So when an artist as good Carr or Potts comes along on the Ecko imprint, that's a thing to come by! Not that they're doing anything drastically different from the rest of the stable, they just go one step further and do it better?? Can't pinpoint it - just better material, I reckon.

The Gator on WPFW 89.3 and online just played "Junk in the Trunk (I Like that)" and "Slap That Booty."

Have you ever heard Joe Poonanny, the Weird Al of this genre?

I had not but I see he's from Alabama and put out some cds with plenty of suggestive song titles on Waldoxy, a Malaco subsidiary.

So many performers to discover...but somehow must find the time. R. Kelly's beginning to sound like these guys

I just finally listened to samples of the 2004 Bobby Wayne cd Chuck mentioned back in March. Some impressive moments. I love that ache in his voice feel Wayne has on "This Heart is Haunted," and the women backing vocalists provide luscious help on the chorus and some great harmonies. "Homestead Greys" is a bit forced lyrically--"They hit a ball 500 feet, past a place they couldn't eat," but I like it anyway.

Bobby Rush appearing at the Basement in Nashv on Wednesday, I think it is.

revisionist funk, and pretty good if inevitably mannered (frantic in spots but good horn arrangements and great guitar): the Dynamites' Kaboom!, also from Nashville and featuring Charles Walker on vocals.

x-post

I just missed Bobby Rush here in DC (actually out at Lamont's in Pomonkey, MD). Sadly he got no media attention as the owner doesn't push his events through the mainstream media.

Missed Lee Fields at Lamonts also. My blue-eyed soul badge is definately gonna be revoked. Maybe seeing DC's Skip Mahoney opening for the Chi-lites and the Spinners will be enough to save me.

Top 25 Southern Soul/R & B Tracks

TW
LW
Song
Artist
Label

1 2 "1 800"- Big G on Stone River
2 1 Scat Cat...Here Kitty Kitty- Barbara Carr Ecko
3 3 It's Okay Steve Perry- Bluesland
4 5 Mississippi Woman Denise LaSalle- Ecko
5 6 I Must Be Crazy Sweet Angel- Mac
6 9 My Miss America Willie Clayton -Malaco
7 8 Don't Say No Tonight Sir Charles Jones -Jumpin'
8 10 Baby Come Back Home Vick Allen- Waldoxy
9 7 Crazy Sexy Smooth Walter Waiters -WW
10 14 Moan Patrick Harris- Lyn Rome
11 4 Brand New You, Same Old Me Bigg Joe -Baby Boy
12 16 Let's Get It On Theodis Ealey- Ifgam
13 17 Oops That's My Bad Jerry L -Mi-Jay
14 15 Boom Bam (Thank You Ma'am) Michael Rainey- Rainey
15 18 Get Low Simeo- Jomar
16 11 Playez Only Love You When They're Playing William Bell -Wilbe
17 12 Knockin' My Boot Allen O -Laryan
18 13 Love Don't Live Her No More Vince Hutchinson -VH
19 20 Can We Work It Out Stan Mosley- Double Duo
20 22 Thank You Mama L.J. Echols- Baby Boy
http://bluescritic.com/southernsoulradio.htm

Pretty good EP from a lady from Tennessee, though the best part of it might be the Bohannon/DJ Hollywood style proto-raps done by some guy at the start and end of her "Southern Soul Picnic," which is my favorite of the three songs even if "bring your own BYOB" is a redundant line (sort of like "ATM machine"). "Telling It Like It Is" has a decent proto-disco groove to it under Miz B saying the other woman might get his honey but Miz B will still get his money. Actually found the warning song "Jody's 1st Cousin" somewhat disappointing, but that may just be because Jody songs get my hopes up:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/mizbtunes

Tried hard with this guy's album, too; he's sort of doing R Kelly (i.e., he does a song called "12 Steps For Cheaters" and one called "Dirty South Steppin") trying to be Gregory Abbot trying to be Al Green or something (with a "tribute to Luther" and another song that quotes "Never Too Much"), but either his voice or the production is too thin for the songs to stick to the ribs, somehow. (Actually, my wife says his singing reminds her of Boy George. Sadly, he doesn't have Boy George's personality, or hooks.) I played the album a lot, but nothing really sank in:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/mrsam

Also, it's about to somebody linked to this on this thread, seems to me. An r&b hit. From Lafeyette, LA:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=h24_zoqu4_Q

Yea, "Cupid Shuffle's" great. I do not think it is getting r'n'b radio play around my area (DC) unfortunately.

it's about TIME, i meant.

Aargh. Mel Waiters coming to Leesburg, Virginia (1 1/2 hours from me I think) and Upper Marlboro (outside of DC)next weekend and I cannot make either gig. Waiters is with a bunch of other great folks at the Upper Marlboro show: Bobby Womack, Millie Jackson, Clarence Carter and Roy C.

I just now played a comp on Trikont called Motel Lovers: Southern Soul From the Chitlin' Circuit, all recent stuff, sounds GREAT on first listen; Trikont is distributed through Light in the Attic. (Chuck, if yr still in touch with Tony Green, he should know about this for sure.)

I think that comp has that 2001 Sir Charles Jones song "Friday" where Charles smoothly recites, "Mel Waiters on the radio singing about the whiskey."

Wow, I need to get that. (If Light in the Attic aren't upset about Michaelangelo not liking the Betty Davis reissues much, they can't be upset about me, right?)

Anyway, second to last song (and only recent song) played at Lalena's high school reunion in Houston last night (right before the closing "Rio" by Duran Duran): "Cupid Shuffle." Interesting. I had no idea that it was a line dance; shows what I know. Turns out it's the new "Electric Boogie," judging from all the people who got up there for it. Is that happening nationwide?

I think that comp has that 2001 Sir Charles Jones song "Friday" where Charles smoothly recites, "Mel Waiters on the radio singing about the whiskey."

It does indeed; track two.

also, where oh where is Rickey/Timi Yuro on this thread anyway? I know he digs this type of stuff.

and MAJOR thanks for the Southern Soul Radio link, Curmudgeon; the charts and CD store look like great resources.

Chuck, I do not think "Cupid Shuffle" became a big line dance nationwide (probably just the South and I'll count Texas as part of the South).

Grrrrrr, have to go in and work today and miss another soul show down at Lamont's in Pomonkey, Maryland. At least I think there's one--Lamont's website hasn't worked in years (and was only briefly working at all). I heard a brief mention on the local Pacifica public radio station WPFW that there is a show there today. At the beginning of the summer I called down and Lamont answered and he mailed me (snail mail he has no e-mail) flyers for his July and August shows. But he never returned my last voicemail asking more up to date info. Is this any way to run a club?

I see on the country thread someone touting a new Bettye Lavette cd.

I just now played a comp on Trikont called Motel Lovers: Southern Soul From the Chitlin' Circuit, all recent stuff, sounds GREAT on first listen; Trikont is distributed through Light in the Attic

This may well be my album of the year, if it counts as being an album from this year (which right now I'm leaning toward thinking it does, since it compiles relatively recent rather than really old stuff.) Anyway, Matos, thanks of the tip! It's great!

I guess 2001 counts as relatively recent

soulandbluesreport.com August 24th 2007

W Q I D SOUL 105

Hattiesburg, MS

Friday Night Fish Fry Mel Waiters

Good Loving Carl Marshall

You Dog’s About To Ms. Jody

I’m Just A Fool For Pt.2 J Blackfoot / Jones

Mississippi Woman Denise LaSalle

Never Coming Home Betty Padgett

Party Like Back In The T. K. Soul

I Like Big Girls Big Joe

My Miss America Willie Clayton

She Thought I Was Bigg Robb

Baby Come Back Home Vick Allen

Willie Clayton's "Three People(sleeping in my bed)" from that comp on Trikont called "Motel Lovers: Southern Soul From the Chitlin' Circuit" first came out in 1998. Not denying this looks like a great comp, just wanted to make clear that it covers material that goes back almost 10 years. This comp also proves the point that if music is released within the past 2 decades and not promoted/marketed to alt-weekly (or major newspaper or magazine) music critics (and is not on the national top 40 charts) it can be ignored or missed for years by many (despite the internet blah blah blah)

Don't disagree with you, but "within the last ten years" is "relatively recent," as reissues go. In other words, it's closer to a best-of album by a late '90s/early '00s act than an archival revival of material from decades ago. I've certainly voted for older stuff on top-ten ballots. And right, it's the sort of stuff that could fall through the cracks -- but there's tons of music out there, and a finite amount of time to keep up with it all; it's inevitable that something will fall through. (If I lived in a part of the country that where this sort of music is actually still popular -- or if I had more time to listen to explore Internet radio -- I may well have heard some of it sooner, of course.)

Lady C played some great songs on WPFW southern soul Party yesterday Saturday afternoon 12 to 2 eastern time. Archived on WPFW site for 2 weeks

Those 2 songs are great

The Cupid song is from like 2021 but whatevs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jK2xztdnfu4

Ms. Jody's "Burger King" is from 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKpr6CtTbww

Just finished seeing Johnny Rawls. Pickup band performed admirably. A classic old school soul revue.

Yeah I like him too. He's coming to the East Coast in May

DMV?

JVs in Falls Church May 30

https://johnnyrawlsblues.com/tour-dates-1