Dr. "Feelgood" Potts
Daddy B. Nice's #72 ranked Southern Soul Artist
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Dr. "Feelgood" PottsDaddy B. Nice's #72 ranked Southern Soul Artist |
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"My In-Laws (Ain't Nothin' But Outlaws)" Dr. "Feelgood" Potts Composed by Robert Potts Listen to Dr. "Feelgood" Potts singing "My In-Laws Ain't Nothing But Outlaws" on YouTube. February 1, 2015: "Memphis Stars" Featured Artist NEW GIG ALERT! The Dr. "Feel Good" Potts Band performs weekly, on Mondays, 8 p.m.-12 a.m., at Rum Boogie Cafe's Blues Hall, on historic (182) Beale Street in Memphis. Phone: 901-528-0150. ********* June 1, 2010: "My In-Laws (Ain't Nothing But Outlaws)" has taken over the number-one spot on Daddy' B. Nice's Recommended Singles for Dr. "Feelgood" Potts. From 2007's Going Down To Memphis, where, incidentally, Dr. Potts still performs locally, the blues number has solidified "Dr. Feelgood's" reputation as an authentic blues master who successfully crosses over to the chitlin' circuit-Southern Soul market. Scroll down to "Tidbits #1 for an analysis of the song and its impact. --Daddy B. Nice ********************** See "Tidbits" below for the latest updates on Dr. "Feelgood" Potts. To automatically link to Dr. "Feelgood" Potts' charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other references, go to "Potts, Dr. 'Feelgood'" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index. ********************** Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique:
Dr. "Feelgood" Potts is the father of famed chitlin' circuit singer Sheba Potts-Wright, whose career has eclipsed her daddy's with the success of such hits as "Slow Roll It" and "Lipstick On His Pants." But through it all Sheba has remained loyal to her father, singing stellar back-up on his best recordings. That extra dimension has enriched Dr. "Feelgood's" music but by no means been the governing factor in its success. Potts is a seasoned musician and performer, and an engrossing character for Southern Soul fans because of his relative obscurity (even within the chitlin' circuit) until signing with Memphis' Ecko Records in the early years of the new century. It's then that his artistic identity began to emerge. Dr. "Feelgood" Potts plies the bluesman-as-jokester tradition of Bobby Rush, Clarence Carter (the "Strokin'" phase) and chitlin' circuit legend Poonanny, and the song most responsible for Potts' growing notoriety is undoubtedly 2004's "Make It Talk," a well-executed and hilarious rip-off of Theodis Ealey's monster hit, "Stand Up In It." "Rip-off" is not a derogatory word in this instance, but an aesthetic description of the ferocity with which Potts rewrites Ealey's contemporary classic. "Now I've been hearing a whole lot of talk going around lately," he begins, "about what a woman wants in the bedroom." "Clarence Carter said he be 'strokin,' Bobby Rush said he 'be wearing it out,' Now there's another guy going around Talking about how a woman wants a man to 'stand up in it.' But let me tell you what a woman told me. . . 'You can lick it, and you can stick it, Oh, you can stand up in it all night long, But if you really want to please a woman, You've got to make that monkey talk.'" Stephanie McDee had a minor chitlin' circuit hit a few years ago with a song called "Monkey Talk." The funniest exchange from that track came when Stephanie reported to her "gal" friend: "This man came up to me the other night, Told me, 'I see you dancing on the dance floor, Shaking your thing, popping your coochie.' He had the nerve to ask me, 'Can I make my monkey talk?' I told him, 'Yeah, girl, I can make my monkey talk, But you will never know it, Joe Brodie.'" Dr. "Feelgood's" "Dance Your Rump Off" is a dance-jam vehicle in the same vein as "Make It Talk," and although it's less well-known, it's actually even more entertaining. Potts' vocal is full of nuance rare in an up-tempo rocker. He blusters yet he's intimate. The rhythm lurches like a ferry in a bad storm, and daughter Sheba contributes a great back-up vocal. Potts' "You Can't Keep Your Pants Up (And Your Zipper Shut)" is another "feel-good" number, with lyrics to rival Poonanny or the late Jimmy Lewis: "She told me, 'You won't pay no bills. You won't pay no rent. You go down to the casino, And gamble off every cent. 'You've been with Big Booty Judy, And Bad Betty, too. Well, I've done got tired Of you giving me the blues.'" But it's on the slow-tempo number, "Just What The Doctor Ordered," that Dr. "Feelgood" proves he's more than just a novelty act. The honey-thick timbre of his voice fits the sexual attraction at the heart of this relaxed love parable to perfection. "You're just what the doctor ordered. One dose of your love, and I got well. You're just what the doctor ordered, I know all of my friends, they can tell." Potts is best doing what he does here, mimicking speech. It's as if he begins each phrase as a monologue and then delivers a singing "spin" to it. The result is a pleasant and soulful authenticity. "Just What The Doctor Ordered" stays in the mind long after you've heard it, and you're left wondering if Dr. "Feelgood" Potts, in the tradition of The Love Doctor, might become the next middle-aged performer to leave a big mark on Southern Soul. --Daddy B. Nice About Dr. "Feelgood" Potts Born in Greenwood, Mississippi, Robert ("Dr. Feelgood") Potts was a musical prodigy from a young age, and in 1967, while attending Mississippi Valley State University, he decided to move to Memphis and pursue a musical career. He performed, recorded, composed, and worked in local television in the Memphis region for many years, and in 1995 he started his own record label.
Song's Transcendent Moment "They'll come over to your house
Tidbits 1. January 31, 2008:
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