Tyree Neal (New CD Review!)
Daddy B. Nice's #97 ranked Southern Soul Artist
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Tyree Neal (New CD Review!)Daddy B. Nice's #97 ranked Southern Soul Artist |
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"I'll Be The Other Man" Tyree Neal (New CD Review!) March 25, 2024: New CD Review!Buy Tyree Neal's new LIQUOR TALK album at Apple.LIQUOR TALK TRACK LIST:1 Liquor Talk2 What He Don't Know Won't Hurt 3 It's Going Down Tonight 4 Can't Make Her Stay 5 Take My Time In It 6 Use To Love Me (feat. Kim McCoy) 7 She Don't Wanna Be Loved 8 It Ain't Good For You 9 Bad Risk 10 Don't Miss Your Water 11 Please Don't Leave Me 12 Can't Nobody Do It Like I Do (feat. Hot Boy Ronald) 13 Crying On The Voice-Mail (feat. Adrian Bagher) 14 More Than A Woman 15 Coming To Get It (feat. Clutch) 16 Goin' Jackie Neal (feat. Pokey Bear, C-Loc, Adrian Bagher, Johnny James, Bro Bro) Originally posted in Daddy B. Nice's New CD Reviews.  March 24, 2024:TYREE NEAL: Liquor Talk (Jazzy Records) Three Stars *** Solid. The artist's fans will enjoy.In Louisiana Tyree Neal fills big shoes. Tyree comes from a storied musical family---Raful, Kenny, Larry and of course cousin Jackie, Jackie Neal, the departed, forever-young queen of Louisiana southern soul. When the prestigious Blues Is Alright Tour comes annually through Louisiana, Tyree sometimes appears on the bill with the "big boys"---King George, Pokey, Tucka, Sir Charles. And yet it is safe to say that with that recognition has come a complacency, a contentment with his regional status not shared by his more high-profile, former Louisiana Blues Brothas bandmates Pokey and Bagher.Liquor Talk, Neal's new album, is very much in the mode of the last, Young Goat of the Blues, quantity (twice the number of tracks of usual southern soul collections) over quality. It's not that the songs aren't adequately produced---they are---but therein lies the problem. They're just adequate. With a dearth of fresh melodies, interesting chord progressions or additional elements of production to distinguish one track from another, major portions of the album accomplish little beyond testifying to Tyree's well-known reputation for being a studio rat.  So it's more of the same in Liquor Talk, meaning Tyree's agenda is to prove his worth as a singer and songwriter. You'd never know from listening to the set that Neal is one of the pre-eminent lead guitarists in southern soul music. Tyree played guitar on Pokey's "My Sidepiece". Would I still like to occasionally hear Tyree's guitar up front in the mix, like his dope riff in Stephanie McDee's "When I Step In The Club"---to this day still the finest "bumper" music in the southern soul catalog? Yes I would.
If, on the other hand, you think "When I Step In The Club" sports a fairly pedestrian guitar line (even though it carries the entire song), sample Tyree's surgically-precise work with Highway Heavy (on keyboard organ) in backing up Johnny James on "Sweet Dick Johnny", a blues cauldron of tasteful picking and deep-soul organ straight from the Devil's crossroads. In spite of Tyree's insistence on downplaying his studio session work, as a Neal he's steeped in the music and its history, and that alone will please avid fans who'll enjoy songs like "What He Don't Know Won't Hurt," which plays on the old Maurice Wynn classic "What She Don't Know (Won't Hurt Her)" and incidentally showcases Neal's vocal acuity at an all-time high. The title tune "Liquor Talk" is the first officially-released single. "Bad Risk" is the most popular track on YouTube at 52K and rising. Solid guitar work and a reggae-based rhythm track also lift "Take My Time In It". However, the most encouraging new sound on Liquor Talk is the dance-friendly "Can't Nobody Do It Like She Do It," featuring Hot Boy Ronald. It surprises us with a locomoting instrumental track with lots of special effects. It may even surprise Tyree. Even he seems energized.  References to Jackie Neal abound, and in the end that seems to be the point of any Tyree Neal solo effort. "It's Going Down Tonight" starts with a scratchy copy of Jackie Neal's classic, "Down In The Club," and if for nothing else than its up-tempo zydeco pace, "Goin' Jackie Neal," (feat. Pokey Bear, C-Loc, Adrian Bagher, Johnny James and Bro Bro) may be the most enjoyable and dramatically distinctive tune on the album. Everyone takes an entertaining verse, Pokey giving obeisance to Jackie more vehemently than anyone. Adrian Bagher sings that when he first heard Raful Neal, Tyree's uncle, at ten years old, he knew he wanted to be a blues man. As Jackie herself once said: With the Neals, it's all about the family.
Listen to "That's The Way We Roll," written by Tyree and Jackie Neal. ---Daddy B. Nice Buy Tyree Neal's new LIQUOR TALK CD at Apple. Listen to all the songs from LIQUOR TALK on YouTube.
April 24, 2022: New Album Alert!Buy Tyree Neal's new YOUNG GOAT OF THE BLUES album at Apple.Young Goat Of The Blues TRACK LIST:1 Shorty Wanna Hear A Blues Song2 We Gettin' It In 3 That Same Woman (feat. Omar Cunningham) 4 Teasing Me 5 Got Me Drinking (feat. Dave Mack) 6 Shake That Booty 7 Lying Again 8 Can't Leave This Club 9 Can't Help Myself (feat. Dee Dee Simon) 10 Run Me My Money 11 Closer I Get To You 12 Just Like Marvin (feat. O. B. Buchana) 13 Should Of Been At Home 14 Tell Me Who's Been Loving You 15 She Said She Got A Man 16 You Gone Get Me In Trouble 17 Dont Leave (feat. Bro Bro) 18 Call On My Jesus Daddy B. Nice notes: Where's the guitar? Where's the precocious picking? Tyree appears determined to make this album succeed on the melodies and vocals alone, not on his unique guitar skills. Yet if Tyree is the GOAT (greatest of all time) in any southern soul category, it's his guitar-picking. And if any single element is conspicuously absent from his new YOUNG GOAT OF THE BLUES album, it's his tasty guitar fills. Omar Cunningham started this whole greatest-of-all-time schtick a couple of years ago, and my unspoken reaction was the same. No way. Now if it was Sir Charles Jones, there'd be a case to be made (in the southern soul genre). But for Omar (who guests on this album) and Tyree to annoint themselves GOAT seems like pointless pontificating. What's the point of it? Although not unversed as a singer, Tyree lacks the the three great ingredients---power, contrast and vision---of the major talents, two of whom are on this album: Omar Cunningham and O.B. Buchana (and three if you count the young Dee Dee Simon). Meanwhile, his true forte'---concise and inspired guitar-picking---is nowhere to be seen, with what may be Beat Flippa or Highway Heavy contributing modest keyboards in the instrumental spaces where we'd expect to hear Tyree. From his early Louisiana studio work to the Louisiana Blues Brothas (with Pokey and Adrian Bagher) through his suprisingly prolific solo career, Tyree Neal has never been a front-and-center guy. He's by nature and character a sidekick, a background fella, an easy-going comrade. And his solo work, some of it quite good, shines most brightly when he accepts his musical gifts and works within them, as he does in "Shorty Wanna Hear A Blues Song" or "Shake That Booty" from the new album. But when he thumbs his nose at his own attributes and tries to be something he's not, the songs all sound the same. In that respect he is no different than respected mainstream singer/guitarists like J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton.
Listen to all the tracks from Tyree Neal's YOUNG GOAT OF THE BLUES album on YouTube. Buy Tyree Neal's YOUNG GOAT OF THE BLUES album at Apple. 
Originally posted in Daddy B Nice's Top 10 Singles for June 2020. 5. "Can Somebody Take Me?"----Tyree Neal feat. Omar Cunningham This is a sweet southern soul tribute with an intoxicating rhythm track and possibly Tyree's best vocal ever. Regular readers know your Daddy B Nice touts Tyree as one of the best (I'd probably say the best right now) guitarists in southern soul but gives short shrift to his laid-back solo efforts. I felt the same way about Eric Clapton. It's the difference between Tyree and Pokey Bear, enough said? But "Can Somebody Take Me" takes Tyree to another level. Mostly invisible on the recording, lending a huge and obviously inspiring hand, is Omar Cunningham. From Tyree's new album, I'm Missing My Baby. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "Can Somebody Take Me?" on YouTube. 
May 1, 2020: Tyree Neal New Album Alert!Buy Tyree Neal's new I'M MISSING MY BABY album at Apple.I'm Missing My Baby TRACK LIST:1Can Somebody Take Me (feat. Omar Cunningham) 2 She Likes It When I Give It to Her (feat. Adlib) 3 Meeting in the Bedroom 4 Clock on the Wall 5 Something Is Wrong and She Knows It 6 Drop It Low 7 Would You Still Stay 8 Blame It All on Me (feat. Dime) 9 Her Man Been Cheating on Her 10 She Love Them Trail Rides and Blues Shows 11 I'm Missing My Baby, Pt. 2 12 Building a Case 13 When I Found You Daddy B. Nice notes: Tyree Neal has been missing his baby for many years now, and longtime fans can be excused for being confused. The new album does recycle the 2013 single "I'm Missing My Babe" as a remix titled "I'm Missing My Baby Part 2," but the showcase song from 2020'S I'M MISSING MY BABY album is actually the lead-off track titled "Can Somebody Take Me," featuring Omar Cunningham. This song may be the finest single of Tyree's career. As a solo recording artist Tyree has always labored under a self-imposed ceiling dictated by his easy-going personality, which has translated into songs with a "light touch". "Can Somebody Take Me" has that trademark, Tyree Neal pleasantness--gentle and winsome--but with a tempo and melody that takes it to another level. With southern soul-oriented lyrics, a catchy chorus and a fleshed-out instrumental track aided by Omar Cunningham, it's a potential hit single.
Buy Tyree Neal's new I'M MISSING MY BABY album at Amazon. Listen to all the tracks from Tyree Neal's I'M MISSING MY BABY album on YouTube. Buy Tyree Neal's I'M MISSING MY BABY album at Apple.
 February 16, 2019:News & Notes:2018 is in the rear view mirror, the singles charts for last year are a wrap and the awards have been presented (see Best of 2018). What else is there to say before we turn from 2018 and begin the new year? Let's give a special mention to the (Best Mid-Tempo Song of 2018) and to Daniel Ross of Ross Music Group--aka Beat Flippa--for the most elemental and easily enjoyable organ/keyboard instrumental since Booker T.'s work on "Green Onions".Listen to Beat Flippa's organ on Jeter Jones' "Black Horse." And in the same vein, let's give a nod of appreciation for the unremarked-upon blues collaboration of Tyree Neal (lead guitar) and Charles Lewis aka Highway Heavy (keyboard organ) in backing up Johnny James on "Sweet Dick Johnny," which secured the award for (Best Out-Of-Left-Field Song of 2018). This, as only southern soul fans know, is the real, cutting-edge, up-to-the minute "living blues," a cauldron of tasteful picking and deep-soul organ straight from the Devil's crossroads.
Listen to Tyree Neal's guitar and Highway Heavy's keyboards on Johnny James' "Sweet Dick Johnny".
June 1, 2017: New Album Alert!Sample/Buy Tyree Neal's new STILL CALLED THE BLUES CD at CD Baby. Sample/Buy Tyree Neal's new STILL CALLED THE BLUES CD at iTunes. "STILL CALLED THE BLUES" TRACK LIST:1 Still Called the Blues 2 Something 'Bout That Thang 3 Using Me 4 Knocking at My Door Ringing My Bell 5 Full Time Lover 6 She Don't Love Me 7 Testify 8 Sex Me Baby 9 I'll Pay for It 10 Leave It All Behind 11 Why She Whipped That Thang on Me 12 I Know I Cheated 13 Preacher Man 14 Hard Times 15 Late Night Love 16 She Didn't Bat An Eye 17 Bring It On Home (Remix) 18 How I'm Supposed to Tell Her 19 Like a Dog in the Streets 20 Don't Do It Like That 21 I Had a Love Then I Lost Her Daddy B. Nice notes: Cousin of the late Jackie Neal, Louisiana Blues Brotha (with Pokey Bear & Adrian Bagher), studio guitarist for Beat Flippa (Ross Music Group), Stephanie McDee and others, and respected independent recording artist with six CD's already published, the prolific Tyree Neal returns with a CD featuring lots of new material. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "Knocking at My Door Ringing My Bell" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "Something 'Bout That Thang" on YouTube.
Scroll down to "Tidbits" for the latest updates on Tyree Neal. To automatically link to Tyree Neal's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other citations on the website, go to "Neal, Tyree" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.
September 1, 2015: Daddy B. Nice's Profile
Tyree Neal is one of the Louisiana-based performers--Stephanie McDee, Tucka, Cupid, Rude, Simone De, Pokey and more--exerting a powerful new creative force in Southern Soul. Their forerunners include the late Jackie Neal (Tyree's cousin), T.K. Soul, Kenne' Wayne, Lebrado and Big Cynthia. Tyree's reputation has been built as a guitarist and producer more so than a vocalist. His looping guitar riff on Stephanie McDee's "When I Step In The Club" was the key element in McDee's triumphant return to recording after a decade away. Taken as an instrumental track in its own right, "When I Step In The Club" constitutes the finest piece of "bumper music" available to deejays in the contemporary southern soul catalog. The song is basically an acapella tour de force by McDee highlighted against Tyree Neal's equally illuminating yet lunch-bucket--almost monotonous--well, let's settle on mesmerizing--lead guitar. Listen to Tyree Neal playing guitar and Stephanie McDee singing "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube. Meanwhile, Tyree kept working on his vocals, fashioning a low-key, casual style that fit his modest pipes, relying on his "nose" for rhythms, melodies and traditional themes in such early songs as "Whiskey And Beer," "I Heard It In The Neighborhood," "I Want My Boo Back" and "She Gone Make Me Fall In Love," as well as working with his frequent Louisiana zydeco influence in songs like "Dat Girl." The most momentous break in Tyree Neal's careeer, however, came about through another collaboration, this time with a powerful and brash new vocalist called Pokey, who debuted in 2013 with the folksy-titled album, JOSEPHINE SON POKEY. The album featured one of the biggest hit singles of the last couple of years, "My Sidepiece," and--along with another emerging Louisiana star, Tucka--Tyree Neal was a featured vocalist on the "My Sidepiece (Remix)." The single's popularity (and the rapport among the principles) resulted in a southern soul super-group, The Louisiana Blues Brothers, composed of Neal, Pokey and Adrian Bagher, who released their album LOVE ON THE BAYOU in 2014. Since then, Tyree has been on a roll, culminating with a two-record CD set (2015) featuring "I Heard It In The Neighborhood" (for the first time) and a brand new title song, "I'll Be The Other Man," which coincidentally is Neal's best lead vocal to date. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "I Heard It In The Neighborhood" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "I'll Be The Other Man" on YouTube. --Daddy B. Nice About Tyree Neal (New CD Review!) Tyree Neal is a member of the Raful Neal clan, Louisiana's famed blues & southern soul family. Often confused as the son of Raful and the sibling of well-known bluesman Kenny Neal and the late southern soul singer Jackie Neal, Tyree is actually the latters' cousin and Raful's nephew.
Tyree Neal Discography:2006 All Grown Up (Tyree Neal/Jazzy Records) 2010 Youngest In The Game (Tyree Neal/Jazzy Records) 2011 Workaholic (Tyree Neal/Jazzy Records) 2013 Love And Hate (Tyree Neal/Jazzy Records) 2014 Love On The Bayou/Louisiana Blues Brothas (Ross Music Group) 2015 I'll Be The Other Man (Tyree Neal/Jazzy Records/Music Access) 2017 Still Called The Blues (Tyree Neal) 2018 Still Got The Blues (Tyree Neal) 2020 I'm Missing My Baby" (Tyree Neal) 2022 Young Goat Of Southern Soul (Tyree Neal) Tidbits 1.September 1, 2015: Tyree Neal Enters Daddy B. Nice's Top 100 Countdown: 21st Century Southern Soul Artists at #97!See the chart, which encompasses a fifteen-year period in southern soul music.2.September 1, 2015: NEW ALBUM ALERT! Sample/Buy Tyree Neal's I'LL BE THE OTHER MAN CD at Blues Critic. 3.Tyree Neal on YouTube: Listen to Tyree Neal singing "I'll Be The Other Man" on YouTube. Listen to Sir Charles Jones and Tyree Neal singing "Love" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal playing guitar on Stephanie McDee's hit, "When I Step In The Club" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "I Heard It Through The Neighborhood" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal singing "I Want My Boo Back" on YouTube. Listen to Pokey, Tyree & Adrian (the Louisiana Blues Brothas) singing the Tyree Neal-written "Who You With" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal, Big Pokey Bear and Tucka singing "They Call Me Pokey (Remix)" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal, Tucka and Pokey Bear singing the Heavy-produced "My Sidepiece (Remix)" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal and Sir Charles singing "Whiskey And Beer" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal and Vince Hutchinson singing "I Thought She Was My Girl" on YouTube. Listen to Tyree Neal, Big Cynthia and Big Bro singing "Ain't Nothing Like A Big Woman (Remix)" on YouTube. 4.Honorary "B" Side "I Heard It Through The Neighborhood" |
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