Artie "Blues Boy" White (Retrospective)
Daddy B. Nice's #16 ranked Southern Soul Artist
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Artie "Blues Boy" White (Retrospective)Daddy B. Nice's #16 ranked Southern Soul Artist |
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"I Can't Afford To Be Broke" Artie "Blues Boy" White (Retrospective) Composed by Floyd Hamberlin, Jr. June 16, 2019: Artie "Blues Boy" White Retropsective Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "I Can't Afford To Be Broke" on YouTube while you read. Beyond the great material and lyrics and great White vocal, pay attention to the drums, the bass, the brass section, the female background chorus. This is as good as it gets. (Click here.)
Artie "Blues Boy" White Obituary:ARTIE "BLUES BOY" WHITE: April 16, 1937-April 20, 2013.Southern Soul star Artie "Blues Boy" White died April 20, 2013, in a Harvey (south Chicago) hospice after a long illness. Along with Tyrone Davis, Lee "Shot" Williams, Otis Clay, Cicero Blake, The Love Doctor and Stan Mosley, White was one of the foremost Chicago practitioners of Southern Soul music. Artie White was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1937. At the age of 11, White was already a member of a spiritual group called Harps of David, and in 1956 he moved to Chicago and joined another church group called the Full Gospel Wonders. According to the legend, a well-heeled Mephistopheles in a shiny Cadillac came up to White on a Chicago street one day and offered him $10,000 to record some blues, and White switched to the "Devil's music" for good. White began recording secular music in the sixties and had a minor hit with "Leanin' Tree" in 1977, but his first full-length set wasn't published until 1984 on the Ronn label. Using live instruments, including full horn sections, despite the disco-influenced programming of the day, White went on to release a steady stream of albums on the Atlanta-based Ichiban label, which at the time (from 1987 to 1992) was second only to Jackson, Mississippi's Malaco Records as a purveyor of the new Southern Soul sound. In 1994 White signed with Waldoxy Records (a subsidiary of Malaco) and released three acclaimed CD's in a five-year span, often mixing old songs with new, and subsequently finishing his recording career on his own label--A Chill Town--from 2002 to 2005. Throughout his life his work also appeared on many Blues and Southern Soul compilations. His most beloved songs include "I Can't Afford To Be Broke" (written by fellow Chicagoan Floyd Hamberlin), "Your Man Is Home Tonight" (written by Tony Troutman), "Love To See You Smile" (written by Bobby "Blue" Bland), "Hattie May" (written by Little Milton Campbell), "Leaning Tree" (written by Bob Jones) and "Hot Wired My Heart (written by George Jackson and Curry Culp). "Possessed with a clear, brilliant vocal style," Daddy B. Nice wrote in his 2005 Artist Guide to Artie "Blues Boy" White, White nevertheless played against his talent, utilizing an array of expressive vocal tricks--strategic pauses, shrugs, laughs, double entendres and sly inflections. Artie White's goal was to disarm with charm, and he succeeded." White was preceded in death by his wife Emma Lee. He is survived by his wife Betty, who had been his loving caregiver, and several children from his first marriage. --Daddy B. Nice 
*********** For the latest updates on Artie White, scroll down this page to the "Tidbits" section. To automatically link to Artie White's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other citations on the website, go to "White, Artie" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index. *********** Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique:Everything on this record ("I Can't Afford To Be Broke")--the drums, the infectious bass riff, Artie White's vocal, the soulful chorus and horns (maybe the greatest horn chorus ever) bubbles and percolates and brings out the smiles. Often, while I'm listening to it, your Daddy B. Nice visualizes a scene of unrestrained gaiety like the very old cartoons, an animated world of dancing and instrument-playing barnyard animals and Mickey Mouse-type mice running over rooftops ahead of a rosy dawn.
Artie is a blues man any blues purist would recognize as one of his own, and yet he's never been content to walk the same old "mojo" path blazed by B.B. King, Albert King and their legions of imitators. With Artie it's got to be fun, and if it's a serious subject, at least wry. Possessed with a clear, brilliant vocal style, White nevertheless plays against his talent, utilizing an array of expressive vocal tricks--strategic pauses, shrugs, laughs, double entendres and sly inflections. Artie White's goal is to disarm with charm, and he succeeds. As its title suggests, "I Can't Afford To Be Broke (If I Want To Keep Her)" (from the CD Can We Get Together, Waldoxy, 1999) reprises the "Sugar Daddy" theme from the point of view of the beleaguered "daddy," putting the wittiest spin ever on the subject of moneyed older men and sexy young women. "She can have all my money," White says with a big laugh--a sugar daddy's giggle--in a seemingly tossed-off intro. "I don't care if she don't love me. There ain't nothin' wrong with being a fool in love." Wisely keeping the rhythm section up front in the mix, with those insistent drums and that hooky bass in your face, the band grabs you around the throat and throws you on board its "little-locomotive-that-could" beat, so that by the time the chorus kicks in, sending up traces of gospel like so much confetti, you're already on the "blues boy" bandwagon, pumping your fists and waving your arms to the "I Can't Afford To Be Broke" banner. "As long as I don't run out of money, I know I'll always be with her." Artie White has more than two decades of material to his credit, almost evenly divided between straight blues--songs such as "Man Of The House," "Willie May Don't Play," and "First Thing Tuesday Morning"--and his special oeuvre: the wry, light-hearted, melodic blues epitomized by "I Can't Afford To Be Broke." "Hot Wired My Heart" Different Shades Of Blue Waldoxy, 1994), written by Southern Soul songwriter George Jackson (who wrote many of Little Milton's greatest hits) and Curry Culp, is an early example of this special niche. "She hot wired my heart/ And drove me straight to the poor house," White laments with a comedic shrug. "I didn't have no millions/ But she took what I had." White continues to press ahead with more good-time material, as evidenced by 2004's "Love To See You Smile" (from the CD First Thing Tuesday Morning ), a rollicking version of a Bobby "Blue" Bland song included on Bland's Greatest Hits Vol. II (MCA, 1998). White transforms "Love To See You Smile" from a slow, gospel-tinged ballad (in Bland's treatment) to a dance floor ditty as hard to resist as "I Can't Afford To Be Broke." "Love To See You Smile" registers in the mind as an "instant oldie"--an "oldie" you never tire of hearing. The same can be said for White's anthemic "Your Man Is Home Tonight" from the Home Tonight album. This is music that makes you feel good. That makes you feel human. "Yeah, baby, I'm on my way. Won't take long, one whole day. Can you hold yourself together? Just remember that I'm your fella. Tonight when we make love, baby, We won't be dreaming. We'll be together." Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "Your Man Is Home Tonight" on YouTube. --Daddy B. Nice About Artie "Blues Boy" White (Retrospective) Artie White was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1937. At the age of 11, White was already a member of a spiritual group called Harps of David, and in 1956 he moved to Chicago and joined another church group called the Full Gospel Wonders. According to the legend, a well-heeled Mephistopheles in a shiny Cadillac came up to White on a Chicago street one day and offered him $10,000 to record some blues, and White switched to the "Devil's music" for good.
Song's Transcendent Moment "I know she don't really love me.
Tidbits 1.December 7, 2006. Chilltown Records published Artie "Blues Boy" White's Package Deal in October of '06. The songs from the disc your Daddy B. Nice is hearing on the radio stations of the Deep South are "Package Deal," "Third Party," and "When You Took Your Love From Me." (All titles approximate.) On the first few listenings, at any rate, the title cut has disappointed. The song seems to aim for light-heartedness but is undermined by a puzzlingly weak and dispirited vocal.The track that impresses me is the slow, bluesy, Little Milton-like "When You Took Your Love From Me." Indeed, listening to it brought back all the reasons why I like Artie White so much. He brings something pure, authentic and unashamedly country to Southern Soul. It's the blues, but when Artie's at his best, it's the blues with swing. "When You Took Your Love From Me" may be a ballad, but it's a ballad that swings. Musically, it's an original. DBN. 2.April 22, 2013:ARTIE "BLUES BOY" WHITE FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS On Friday, April 26, there will be a celebration of Artie's life at Gatlins Funeral Home, 10133 S Halsted St Chicago, IL 60628, (773) 881-4111 from 5 to 9 pm. (I've included ZIP code and phone number in case anyone from out of town might want to send cards, flowers, etc.) -- It will be a secular celebration. The funeral will be on Saturday, the 27th, at New Faith Missionary Baptist Church 8400 S. Halsted 60620, 773-783-4800. Viewing at 10:00, service at 11:00. April 20, 2013: From Daddy B. Nice's Mailbag: ARTIE "BLUES BOY" HAS PASSED AWAY Daddy B. Nice, I know there have been unfortunate rumors about this in recent weeks, but this time it can be confirmed. I talked with Artie's wife, Bettie, yesterday -- she told me he'd been put into hospice care. This morning I called again; I didn't talk to Bettie, but the person I spoke with confirmed that Artie had passed. Bettie has been absolutely heroic, tending and taking care of Artie during his long convalescence over the past few years. She's been at his side almost literally 24/7, even when he's been in the hospital. She deserves our blessings and our praise -- from now on, whenever I hear the phrase "Angel of Mercy," I'm going to think of her. No info on arrangements yet. When/if I hear more, I'll try to pass it on. David Whiteis ************* 3.September 1, 2010: Author's ForwardThe word is Artie "Blues Boy" White has slowed down. It would be nice if the blues and Southern Soul community would shower some love on this integral member of the scene over the last quarter-century, and do it before it's too late, as is so often the case with our most beloved performers. Sadly, Package Deal--Artie's excellent and latest album (2006)--is already out of print and available only through used-record outlets. In the meantime, new material added to the Artie White Artist Guide includes American Roots: Blues, a look at Artie White's vintage blues, recorded at the P&S Studios in Chicago in 2002. Artie "Blues Boy" White also appears (performing "Your Man Is Home Tonight") on the historically significant six-box set from Malaco Records, The Last Soul Company, now available in Daddy B. Nice's CD Store, under Artists, Various, Malaco. ********** 4.June 16, 2019:Artie "Blues Boy" White on YouTube.Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "Love To See You Smile" on YouTube.Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "I Can't Afford To Be Broke" on YouTube. Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "Your Man Is Home Tonight" on YouTube. Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "I Need Someone" on YouTube. Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "Man Of The House" on YouTube. Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "Somebody's Fool" on YouTube. Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "When You Took Your Love Away" on YouTube. Listen to Artie "Blues Boy" White singing "Can We Get Together" on YouTube.
If You Liked. . . You'll Love If you can imagine the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" transported back to Mississippi and done in an up-tempo, delta blues style, you're going to love Artie "Blues Boy" White's "I Can't Afford To Be Broke." Honorary "B" Side "Your Man Is Home Tonight" |
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