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"Casanova" Keith Frank
Your Daddy B. Nice is married to Southern Soul, but if you're talking "outside women," zydeco music comes to mind, and no one epitomizes contemporary cajun-style music more than Keith Frank.
I won't pretend to know much about this acclaimed bayou performer, so I'll just stick to the two songs that I've heard on Southern Soul Radio: "Casanova" and "Haterz."
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Casanova" on YouTube while you read.
Based on upfront rhythm sections and sweeping, strumming-style guitar licks upon which the marvelous genre-seeped, accordion licks build in perfect, centrifugal force, both these songs defy growing old and overly familiar. For a Southern Soul genre increasingly drawn to the southern-Louisiana sound, they're indispensable templates.
I've long been known for trashing songs about "haters" by Southern Soul artists. (Frank has a line in "Haterz" that goes "If I were you/I'd hate me too.") But here is a "haters" song that doesn't just have good lyrics: it's great music.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Haterz" on YouTube.
"Casanova" and "Haters" are the two songs, as a matter of fact, that made me much less appreciative of T.K. Soul's "Zydeco Bounce" than I might otherwise have been. T.K.'s otherwise admirable hybrid suffered by comparison with Frank's zydeco anthems.
I've only heard samples, but Frank's new album, Follow The Leader, with 29 tracks, sounds terrific.
For fans of Black Zack's "Sho' Wasn't Me" (featuring the late vocalist Fred Bolton and various rappers), I recommend:
Keith Frank's version of "Haterz" featuring rapper Lil' Boosie.
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Keith Frank Discography:
What's His Name? (1994) (Maison de Soul)
Movin' On Up (1995) (Maison de Soul)
Only the Strong Survive (1996) (Maison de Soul)
You'd Be Surprised (1997) (Maison de Soul)
On A Mission (1998) (Maison de Soul)
Ready or Not (2000) (Shanachie)
The Masked Band (2001)
Keith Frank EP (2002) (Maison de Soul)
The Zydeco Icon (2003) (Soulwood Records)
Going to See Keith Frank (2005) (Soulwood Records)
Undisputed (2007) (Soulwood Records)
To Be Perfectly Frank (2007) (Soulwood Records)
Loved.Feared.Respected (2008) (Soulwood Records)
Follow The Leader (2012) (Soulwood Records)
--Daddy B. Nice
Tidbits
1.
May 7, 2013:
Young Southern Soul artist Tucka got his start with Keith Frank and his band. DBN.
2.
May 7, 2013:Keith Frank on YouTube
Listen to Keith Frank singing "337 Caramel Cutie" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Who's Going To Love You Now" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Still Zydeco For Me" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "We Gonna Hold It Down" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Still Zydeco For Me" Live Onstage on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Don't Start No Shit" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "The Bull" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Loved And Lost" on YouTube.
Listen to Keith Frank singing "Playa For Life" on YouTube.
Honorary "B" Side
"Haterz "
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Casanova
CD: Loved. Feared. Respected.
Label: Soulwood
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Haterz
CD: Loved. Feared. Respected.
Label: Soulwood
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Follow The Leader
CD: Follow The Leader
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