Corner 2025

SOUTHERN SOUL AWARDS FINALISTS! CLICK HERE!!.

January 7, 2025:

TOP 40 SOUTHERN SOUL SINGLES: JANUARY

An expanded list of the songs vying for "Top Ten Singles" in JANUARY 2025.

1. "Feels So Good"---O.B. Buchana
2. "Nail In The Middle"---Jeter Jones
3. "Thin Line (Remix)"---Marcellus The Singer
4. "Changed Man"---Calvin Richardson
5. "Stay At Home"---Jay Morris Group
6. "Keep My Man"---Ashley Ave
7. "Another Round"---Jeter Jones
8. "Hell On My Hands"---J'Cenae
9. "Shake Your Rump"---Jumpin' Joe
10. "Shoot My Shot"---J-Wonn


11. "Cougar On The Prowl"---Ms. Jody
12. "There She Go"---T.K. Soul
13. "Part On A Dually"---Ashley Ave
14. "This One Is For You"---Erica Henderson
15. "Take Me To The Trailride"---V. SunShyn
16. "Mississippi"---Ace4K
17. "Rooster"---Sir Charles Jones
18. "Can't Run From Love"---Jeter Jones feat. Myia B.
19. "Country Love"---West Love
20. "I Came To Party"---Troy Henry

21. "Hey Diddle Diddle"---LaMorris Williams
22. "Cornbread"---Married Couple of Southern Soul
23. "Don't Waste My Time"---DJ Trans feat. Cheff Da Entertainer & Zee Man
24. "I Feel Good"---Mister Cotton
25. "Kind Of Woman"---Sampson Boyz
26. "Two Steps"---Mr. Don't Leave
27. "Good Cookin'"---Jake Carter
28. "Pop That Fan"---Cupid feat. M.C. World
29. "What You Gone Do"---Miss Lady Soul feat. J-Wonn
30. "Party On"---Keneisha

31. "Good Vibes Only"---Fat Daddy
32. "Try Loving Me The Southern Soul Way"---Anthony Q. feat. Cecily Wilborn
33. "Girl I Like Your Booty"---O.C. Soul
34. "A Change Gonna Come"---West Love feat. Boosie
35. "Good Wood"---K.D. Dawson
36. "Can't Walk Over Me"---Keith Brougham
37. "What You See Is What You Get"---Stephanie McDee feat. Shaun Allen
38. "Good Lovin'"---Adaeze O.
39. "Watch Auntie Ride"---Cheff Da Entertainer feat. Zman & DJ Trans
40. "Just One Night"---Carl Sims

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SouthernSoulRnB.com
P.O. Box 19574
Boulder, Colorado 80308
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daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com
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December 28, 2024:

Southern Soul 2024: The Year In Review

It was a year of parity.

At last, after two years of unforeseen takeover and absolute domination of the southern soul music scene, the mighty King George came down to earth, recording songs ("It's Over," "Can't Judge Nobody") that seemed almost ordinary in comparison with his incandescent hits of 2022 through 2023. In a distinct but little-noticed mutation, the new tunes arrived not so differently in artistic stature than the new work of his distinguished peers. One of those eminent rivals, Big Pokey Bear, didn't even bother to record anything, which---at least in the short term---did nothing to hinder his popularity, as Pokey's acclaimed stage show made him a virtual lock on southern soul's most acclaimed national circuit, the Blues Is Alright Tour. Another esteemed member of southern soul's elite and another mainstay of the tour, Tucka recorded steadily throughout the year but favored more introspective, low-key ballads ("Take It Slow," "Night On That Tequila," "Give It Up") that fell well short of his multi-million-viewed classic singles.

The careers of other members of southern soul's top echelon of artists---Sir Charles Jones, Nellie "Tiger" Travis, J-Wonn---maintained a holding pattern based as much on their storied histories as their current recording output, as well could be said of the still-living, baby-boomer legends---Theodis Ealey, Bobby Rush, Lenny Williams & Latimore.

J-Wonn was the most prolific but also the most monochromatic, his post-Big Yayo work being consistently romantic, slick and more suggestive of the mainstream R&B of Calvin Richardson than the rougher, bass-heavy and gospel-grounded sound of southern soul and the blues. Sir Charles bulled his way through the year, sometimes singly and successfully ("Pour Me A Drank") and sometimes (and less successfully) duetting, while Nellie Travis's declining studio work (with no Floyd Hamberlin material or production) was indicative of a troubling trend in which trips to the creative well by southern soul's top female performers---including Ms. Jody, Lacee and Karen Wolfe---were less frequent and productive.

Headlined by Jeter Jones, Avail Hollywood, L.J. Echols, The Jay Morris Group, T.K. Soul, Bigg Robb & Big Yayo, the tier of southern soul artists just below these nationally-famous luminaries could best be defined by their abilities to sell out stadiums and outdoor festivals across the black Deep South---the traditional "chitlin' circuit"---and that they did in record numbers (at least until the intolerably hot weather of late July and August). In addition, they were the major engines of the southern soul recording industry. Wendell B's passing (2023) continued to be as huge a loss as Bishop Bullwinkle's a few years prior, but despite hinting he would be otherwise, Jeter Jones was jaw-droppingly prolific, and in spite of the doubters L.J. Echols continued to prove his durability, while the Jay Morris Group persisted in confounding their critics by maintaining and enlarging their fan base. It was the hard-working productivity of this second-highest tier of top southern soul artists who primarily generated the most common lament of southern soul deejays in 2024: the "gap" between the haves and have-nots.

It was a year of changing of the guard.

But wait.... If there was a breach between the haves and have-nots in 2024, why the talk of parity? Well...While the "blue-bloods" dominated the big-money venues, it was the emerging younger generation who captured the hearts of the fans as memorialized on the monthly charts and YouTube streams. And if you consider the history of popular music, this has always been the case: the wheel turning with new artists and new sounds replacing the old and familiar. The most prominent "new-blood" was West Love, who---propelled by her recent hit singles---surpassed Ms. Travis, Ms. Jody et.al. to claim the southern soul diva's throne. She even became the female fixture on the perennially male-dominated Blues Is Alright Tour, a major indicator of strong national interest.

The dominant new male performer was arguably balladeer Marcellus The Singer, whose every single and live performance drew interest and even top billing above stars with historically more cachet. Marcellus was seemingly everywhere, bolstering other young talents like Curt The Country Man with guest-artist stints. Moreover, other young artists like F.P.J., Young Guy & Mike Clark Jr. catapulted to southern soul stardom, performing songs that collected millions of YouTube views and leaving day jobs for their own headlining tours. Notched close behind were other up-and coming stars: Arthur Young, Ciddy Boi P, M. Cally, Coldrank, Lady Redtopp, Stacii Adams, J'Cenae, Derek "The Change Man" Smith, Summer Wolfe, P2K DaDiddy, Stan Butler, Magic One, Big Mel, Tonio Armani & B.J. Moodswing, among others.

And yet there was one other artist who went from no-name to the glittering glare of fame. Her name was Cecily Wilborn and her ground-breaking rise was synonymous with the most momentous and noteworthy change in the southern soul genre in 2024: the merger and incorporation of country music into the southern soul genre, including unabashedly country-style vocalizing, pedal-steel guitar and all the county-western tropes.

It was the year "country" integrated into southern soul.

Southern soul singers---which is to say African-American singers---had historically dabbled, gone back-and-forth, and even migrated like the great Ray Charles to world-wide fame via country music. But in spite of their roots in rural America, the two genres' stylistic differences had remained seemingly incompatible. Either you heard it on a country station or a rhythm & blues station, and if you were a black singer singing country, you had to make it in the (white) country market. That all changed in 2024, albeit not without the confusion and outcry that accompanies any tectonic musical shift, and the main reason was a young black singer named Cecily Wilborn.

Wilborn had crashed the southern soul scene in 2023 with her hit song, "Southern Man," reprised later that year in a duet with West Love that further burnished its reputation. In 2024 Cecily took the country vibes that worked to perfection in "Southern Man" to a level never before seen in southern soul in the take-no-prisoners, country-styled, quasi-acapella anthem "Red Cup Blues," in effect daring southern soul deejays to either accept or reject it. Later in the year, she returned with yet another country/southern soul hybrid hit single, "Living For The Weekend," blending country instrumental motifs with lyrical references that only avid southern soul music fans could truly appreciate:

"Play me some Johnnie Taylor
Or some Marvin Sease...
If I play that Tina Turner
He know I'm about to fight,
If I play that Barry White
He know he get lucky tonight."

Meanwhile, a much lesser-known, less industry-sophisticated singer named Curt The Country Man came to the attention of Daddy B. Nice via a YouTube video from late 2023. The song was "Back Roads," originally published under the name GMB Li Curt with assistance from the rapper ShawtyMac. Although infused with the soul and spirit of a southern soul singer, the vocal was stylistically pure, unadulterated country. The video, replete with horses and the kind of country scene that characterized dozens of popular, Jeter Jones, trailride-influenced song videos throughout the year, featured the cowboy-hatted Curt doing a perfect back flip out of the bed of a pickup truck onto a Mississippi-green pasture.

Marcellus The Singer, the wunderkind of southern soul mentioned above, recognized the song's worth and partnered with Curt (now called Curt The Country Man) on a remix called "Back Road" (deleting the "s"), inserting a southern soul verse in place of the rap stanza. Due to Curt's lack of marketing savvy, the tune never achieved the success of Wilborn's material, but "Back Roads" struck like lightning amongst southern soul insiders, with Daddy B. Nice comparing it favorably in historical significance to J-Wonn's "I Got This Record". And Ciddy Boi P ("This Is Texas: Beyonce Reply," "One More Day"), Tucka ("Take It Slow") and other artists paid it subtle homage by imitation.

It Was The Year Southern Soul "Came Out"

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't report 2024 was the year southern soul expanded its sexual boundaries for the first time since Peggy Scott-Adams' nationally-acclaimed, nineties' hit single "Bill" and its brief spate of imitators. As in "Bill," there was no political motive, no progressive theme, no "woke" agenda. And once again like the Jimmy Lewis-written "Bill," it came about purely organically---real life colliding with love.

Gifted with a rich, gospel-influenced vocal timbre, the recording artist was Myia B. The beautifully-melodic, mid-tempo gem was "Stand On Business," a phrase, coincidentally, that had replaced "Keep It 100" in hip black culture. The tune recounted Myia's pursuit of a "pretty young thing" who just happened to also be a woman, had two young kids, and was listening "to that Johnnie Taylor" (to come full circle) "before she put that snapper on my face". The late, beloved and always ornery Jimmy Lewis would have loved it!

Reporting from the headquarters of southern soul...

Daddy B. Nice

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Send product to:
SouthernSoulRnB.com
P.O. Box 19574
Boulder, Colorado 80308
Or e-Mail:
daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com
*************

December 15, 2024:

Daddy B. Nice's News & Notes
Holiday Edition

Pictured: Donnie Ray

Website Changes

Hopefully, most of you never even noticed we revamped the Daddy B. Nice website this month. This website is OLD. Gracing this month's "News & Notes" is Donnie Ray Aldredge, just one of the many artists whose careers I've been promoting for close to a quarter-century. It's a span of years that's seen the advent of YouTube, cell phones and social media, a time that's seen my archives (older pages) riddled with busted hyperlinks to record-sellers who no longer exist, but what's a person to do?

Don't look for any changes there. There's only so much time in the day. But around a decade ago I started a second website (southernsoulrnbnew.com) to more readily accommodate cell phone users. Oh, what a money pit that has been. With my time being finite, I've had to pay someone to essentially copy and paste everything I write from this, the original website, to the new phone-friendly website. And the irony is the great majority of you, my readers, have remained partial to the original website.

At last, I've found a sophisticated "coder" who has been able to make this, the original website, dynamic. That is, the screen expands or shrinks according to the device you're using: laptop, tablet, phone or whatever they come up with next. For example, when you access Daddy B. Nice's southern soul by phone, the side columns vanish and move to the bottom of the center column, making just one column easily read on the cell.

So the only readers who may be confused are those souls who did regularly use southernsoulrnbnew.com, which is now inactive. Please spread the word to those people. Daddy B. Nice isn't gone. I'm still here, doing my thing.

An Abundance Of New Southern Soul

Just in time for the holidays, southern soul fans can rejoice in an eruption of new music such as we haven't seen all year. Just as he did during the year-end holidays in 2023, Sir Charles Jones has dropped a new LP of twelve new songs called The Elite King.

And Calvin Richardson, who has come in for his fair share of criticism from your Daddy B. Nice, has a new album of eleven songs out. And, surprise, the aptly-named Five Years Later does contain more of a southern soul influence.

Summer Wolfe, who scored her first #1 single on Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 for December 2024, has a new EP, Get It Right, containing the decorated single, "Step By Step" and four other tunes.

J'Cenae, who came to prominence at the late and beloved Wendell B's label, is scheduled to release a new LP, The Evolution Of J'Cenae, tomorrow, December 16th.

Lady Redtopp, whose "Trail Ride" and other tunes catapulted her to wins in multiple categories of Daddy B. Nice's Best of 2023 awards, is working up an album tentatively titled "Lady Redtopp Sings The Blues".

M.Cally, another decorated debut recording artist in 2023, has a new EP named 40 & UP for sale. The set garnered a 5-star review from Daddy B. Nice last month.

Kandy Janai, who crashed the southern soul gates with Das My Kitty in 2022, not to forget "Too Soon" earlier this year, has a new set of songs in the works with the projected title, Sex In The City.

And last but certainly not least, watch for the new album from the man himself, T.K. Soul. The working title is "Timeless".

Best Wishes For The Holidays

First, a....

Shout-Out To All The DJ-Dominated Southern Soul Festivals & Club Scenes

And that includes our beloved dancing performers...Pokey? Jeter?....Are you listening?

Yeah, live music is great, but true southern soul paradise is a dance floor with an ace deejay. As a one-time club dancer, the kind of dancing nut who waded out solo (but not for long) onto the dance floors in thick wool socks and Chinese sandals, dancing with strangers, there's no feeling more glorious than dancing to dj-spun tracks, different artists every time, just as there's no spectator activity more mesmerizing than watching cool dancers doing their thing. The only thing better? Dancing with them!

Second, a grateful nod to....

Best Live Performance of The Month Memorialized on YouTube

And that would be....

Watch Shae Nycole Performing “Do Right” Live in Zebulon NC on YouTube.

And, finally....

A Big Holiday Thank You to Coach Prime, Shedeur Sanders, and Travis Hunter, Who Just Won The Heisman Last Night, For Bringing Southern Black Culture To Boulder, Colorado!!

You made my year. You made me watch as many Colorado podcasts as Southern Soul music videos. I love you guys! And if anyone in Jackson, Mississippi knows Uncle Neely, the big, bearded bear of a man who follows Deion around the football field, send me his email (daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com), because I want to shower Neely with southern soul mp3's in gratitude. He doesn't know Daddy B. Nice lives in Boulder.

They play a lot of rap up there in the CU football facilities, but I know their moms and pops must play that southern soul at home in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. And as much as Uncle Neely loves Jackson, Mississippi, he must know DJ Ragman, DJ Handyman, WMPR and southern soul music.

With my vision loss I can't get out anymore, but Coach Prime and the boys have brought the culture to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

And to all my readers...

Have a happy and trail-ride-blazing new year!

Watch a laughter-filled interview with Coach Prime on YouTube.

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Questions?
Comments?
Or Information for Daddy B. Nice?
e-Mail:
daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com
*************

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Questions?
Comments?
Or Information for Daddy B. Nice?
e-Mail:
daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com
*************