Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

So I failed to mention above that at that 70s Soul Jam event at Constitution Hall in DC, me and the gf were like 2 of the 5 white people there in a crowd of 3,000 age 45 and up black people. I figured that 30 years after their prime the Stylistics would appeal to oh, non-music fanatic regular joe white folks who listen to Motown, but I guess not. It was a pretty pricey ticket. Who cares, I guess. Ted Mills and the current version of the Stylistics sounded great(beautiful falsettos), and I love that in unison choreographed footwork and hand motion dancing.

Original Release Date: March 30, 2004

Label: Ifgam Records

I can't seem to get the Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings supporters(M. Matos, D. Wolk, others) to bite at any of this stuff.

I guess I need to get hish-speed internet and start posting mp3s and yousendit stuff.

The Dells have been around a long, long time. While many acts on the oldies circuit are lucky to have one original member, the Dells have four and haven't had a membership change since 1960. Friday night at the Showplace Arena in Upper Marlboro, this soul harmony quintet, formed in 1953, exhibited the chemistry that comes from being together for decades.

Emphasizing their R&B hits from the late '60s and early '70s, baritone Marvin Junior and falsetto/tenor Johnny Carter exchanged leads, supported by the shared notes of the three other members and the sweet tones of their horns- and piano-led big band. Like veteran basketball stars, these inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame no longer dazzle at will, but their skills remain at a high level and they can turn on that special magic periodically.

On "The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind)," Junior shifted on a dime from breathy whisper to powerhouse gospel-rooted cry in a manner that was stunning both technically and emotionally. "Stay in My Corner" showcased Carter's still-amazing ability in the high range. These hits also demonstrated Carter and Junior's gymnastic abilities to stretch out notes, and the rest of the combo's exquisite tunefulness.

Opener Bobby Womack has had quite a musical life -- teenage gospel singer, guitarist with Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Sly Stone, pal of the Rolling Stones and successful solo artist off and on from the '60s through the '80s. Unfortunately, he left the strumming to a band mate, and either rushed through his hits or languidly lagged behind the beat. His voice retains a distinctive bittersweet feel, but his renditions of "Across 110th Street," "Harry Hippie" and "If You Think You're Lonely Now" lacked the melancholy passion of his studio versions.

-- Steve Kiviat

Saturday afternoon the Gator on WPFW 89.3 in DC (and online when it is working) keeps playing great new double-entendre filled Souterhn soul.

Also, I finally got the new Bettye LaVette--I've Got My Own Hell to Raise, and am impressed. I was worried that the Joe Henry production and the choice of songs (non-soul women country and folkies plus Fiona Apple & Sinead O'Connor) would be too 'tasteful', but it is not.

3. Big G Stomp, Big G
CD: Love on the Run, Bigsounds.com

4. Same Girl, Hardway Connection
CD: Hot Ticket, WILBE Records

5. Come On and Dance With Me, Hardway Connection
CD: Hot Ticket, WILBE Records

6. Brand New Dance, Jesse Yawn
CD: Forever More, Houseday Music

7. Hootchie Dance, Barbara Carr
CD: Stroke It, ECKO Records

8. I Came to Party, Monique Ford
CD: Get a Maid, Total Smash Music

9. The After Party, Gridloc Band
CD: Gridloc Band, (301)808-7272

10. Sweet Man of Mine, E.C. Scott
CD: Hard Act to Follow, Blind Pig Records

11.Was It Me, Big G
CD: Love on the Run, BigSounds.com, (804)615-2196

12. Touching Me, Lynn White
CD: Touching Me, (901)398-4948

13. Live in Freak, Jim Bennett & Lady Mary & the Unique Creation Band
CD: One More Go Round, (301)753-4335

14. A Woman Needs Money, Denise LaSalle
CD: Wanted, ECKO Records

15. I Don’t Come Cheap, Jim Bennett & Lady Mary & the Unique Creation Band
CD: One More Go Round, (301)753-4335

http://freighttrainsblockparty.com/index.html

Also I see that it was Carl Marshall, not the Problem Solvas, who did "Ain't No Party(Like a Grown Folks Party)" It came out in Nov. '04 on his Takin it to a higher level cd

pic & bill
lv johnson
yvonne jackson
clarence carter
travis haddix
legendary blues band
john mooney
backtrack blues band
raful neil
bob margolin
troy turner
johnny sansone
the dells
artie "blues boy" white
roshell anderson
chick willis
charles wilson
nappy brown
trudy lynn
jerry mccain
dicky williams
joe beard
tommy tate
ruby andrews
prince philip mitchell
tom principato
smokehouse
drink small
noble "thin man" watts
gary b.b.coleman
david dee
sonny rhodes

Also, I think the below is the link for an online station that streams current Southern double-entendre filled soul

http://alldownsouth.tripod.com/

The 4th Annual Best Southern Soul

Please Vote For Your Favorite Southern Soul Performers Of The Year

Vote On Our Special Page ... The Funky's 2005 ... Results Announced Jan 16, 2006,

Vote Often

I like the "vote often"

She gets virtually no airplay on the soul radio show in DC.

The SOULANDBLUESREPORT TOP 25
May 19, 2006 http://www.soulandbluesreport.com/top%2025.html

Mel Waiters
Willie Clayton
Bobby Rush
Vick Allen
J Blackfoot
Renea Mitchell
Sir Charles Jones
Lenny Williams
Donnie Ray
Ms. Monique
Carl Simms
Floyd Taylor
Team Airplay All Stars
Chairmen Of The Board
Lorraine Turner
Miz B
Wendell B.
Ms. Jody
Sheba Potts-Wright
Lacee'
Lorraine Turner
William Bell
Theodis Ealey
Bob Steele
Chairmen Of The Board
NEW SOUTHERN SOUL THIS WEEK
SBR's Top 25 Is Calculated On Reports From Our Panel Of Radio Stations,Clubs, & Syndicated Shows

So on Saturday July 15th Denise Lasalle is at Lamonts, and Captain Fly has a revue that night at Fort Dupont Park:
WPFW Night "D.C. Juke Box Review" featuring Al Johnson, William
DeVaughn, Sir Joe Quarterman, Mark Green & Captain Fly & Friends.
Opening: Hardway Connection

I need to try to make one of these events, or surely, I will be kicked out of the blue-eyed soul club.

I picked up the recent Mel Waiters cd. Not bad.

Listening to a pile of Southern soul discovered via CD-baby channels. The album by a jowly guy named Jimmy Taylor leans toward the blues end of things (with lady backup vocals not far from the ones on last year's Bobby Bare album); the EP by the lady named Candis Palmer ("All Men Ain't Dawgs,* since some are electric boogie dawgs apparently) leans toward the disco end; the single by Harold, "Chill Step Party," is steppin' music. He mentions Milwaukee, Chitown, Harlem, and Atlanta in it. More fun than R. Kelly, as far as I'm concerned, but mainly all this stuff obviously has a connection to county music too. (and though candis palmer is happy to have found a man who is not a dawg, jimmy taylor insists that when women say they're looking for a good man, they're lying. really, he says, they're looking for a fool.) (apparently the kinda fool who will let her spend all his money.) (he also directly quotes zz hill's "cheating in the next room in one of his songs.) (he's from alabama; I don't know where candis or harold are from. they're not actually on cdbaby.com per se, but i was sent their cds in the same package that the jimmy taylor CD came in.) jimmy taylor on his album is totally paranoid, and in just about every song he's either cheating or being cheated on or both, and as i said, he seems fully convinced that his woman is going to put him in the poor house (where, in real life, for all i know, he may already be.) in "you're busted" he hires a private detective to follow her around, and gets a photo of her cheating. "love catcher" has a pretty good sax solo. and though some songs sound more blues to me than soul, a couple (like "all i want is you") still veer more toward disco than anybody in country music has, i think, even shannon brown on her new album.
candis palmer, as i said, gets even more disco, but her disco is maybe 1975 where taylor's is 1973. (i think i wrote on the '05 thread that shannon brown's disco sounded 1979, but maybe that was hyperbole; i'm not sure. these two soul singers FEEL more disco.) but even at her most disco, in a song called "don't let someone else come and jingle my bell" or something, palmer gets backed by HARD blues guitar riffs, so the music really rocks. if i had to compare her vocal style to anybody, it'd be the staple singers in "i'll take you there."

-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 28th, 2006

glamorous bertha payne, *bedroom offer* EP: southern country soul millie jackson style (i.e., as many parts talked as sung, many of 'em bawdy), from memphis, via cdbaby.com. starts with a good riddance song where glamorous bertha (who on the cd cover is a big girl in her red dress with a red glass of wine) tells you "i don't need your face in my face" so "go away like a bad day" and "you might as well pack your rags." then the title track, which is not about her bedroom offer to him but the other way around, which offer she says isn't enough and the two backup singers (favorite artists: denise lasalle, mary j blige) chorus "bang! bang!" but by song's end glamorous bertha is saying "i need a man who will love me all night long. are you qualified? if not, get off the pot!" then one where she promises to shake it and break it (and maybe hang it on the wall) and she tells "all you womens with big elephant ears" that with her man every day is pay day. then supposedly "part two" of the same song, which means same slinky rhythm track as part one but now with sexy breathy pillow talk all over the top where bertha tells you to lift up her skirt. then finally another good riddance song, this one a tough and funky blues, where he leaves her with a sink full of dishes in a "one-room [some word i can't make out]", hence the best dishwashing song since ray parker jr's "bad boy" if not anita ward's "ring my bell." also she brings him food in bed, which means this might also be a breakfast breakup song in the tradition of the 5th dimension's "one less bell to answer" and karyn white's "superwoman." five songs total, but two around 4:00, three around 4:25, which means glamorous bertha takes her time and surely deserves a lover with a slow hand.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 23rd, 2006.

the legendary moody scott, *simply moody: we gotta bust outta the ghetto*: more cdbaby southern soul, from louisiana. cover has moody, a dapper old guy seemingly in his 60s, in front of a rundown rural shack; interesting, since "ghettos" are usually assumed to be urban, right? first track "bustin out of the ghetto" is a sort of james brown rip, five minutes long, where moody as i recall reels off some towns in the south train conducter style (am i imagining this? i THINK he did that, anyway) and ends singing "america america god grant his grace on thee." then he covers tyrone davis's great "can i change my mind," my favorite track. and from there the more soul oriented stuff ("last two dollars," the misspelled cheated-on song "one man's hppiness" which for some reason makes me think of billy stewart sitting in the park even though billy had a high voice and moody really doesn't, "something you got baby") is more likeable, to me, than the more blatantly blues stuff, but then again i always think that. both the soul and blues are generic, i suppose; with the soul i don't mind. best song title: "annie mae cafe." and the closer "son of a southern man" starts with moody telling his guitarist "tattoo" suarez ("my man from argentina") about his grandpa drinking corn liquor and singing "downhome blues". so yeah, country for sure.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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He does get urban and/or urbane once, though -- a nice slinky silk-shirt early '80s style quiet storm soul croon called "The Best of Me." (Not sure if any songs other than the Tyrone Davis are covers. "Last Two Dollars" and "Annie Mae Cafe" are writing-credited to one George Jackson; wasn't there a soul singer of that name once? But if so, I never heard him, though.)
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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"something you got baby" wouldn't be chris kenner's "something you got" would it? since moody's from louisiana...and yeah, george jackson (I'm assuming it's the same guy--I don't know "annie mae cafe") wrote z.z. hill's "down home blues" and a lot of stuff for candi staton, clarence carter, pickett, james carr; a memphis guy who later worked for malaco and wrote for all them: johnnie taylor, latimore, shirley brown, bobby bland...
enjoying jace everett, so far. it's quite a collection of somewhat off-the-wall guitar effects, interesting guitar chromatics (as in the first song), definitely a '70s pop thing happening; and in my mode of concurrent listening (lately it's been dusty springfield/the latest numero group comp of obscure '70s female singers/the new, beautiful nara leão bossa "nara '67"; and jace/radney foster/jessi colter, partly because they all have cool first names, I guess) I notice that both radney and jace hark back to stiff records, which I find interesting.

xps

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 11th, 2006.

George Jackson was an occasional great old soul singer on Goldwax then Hi, and kind of a house writer at both. I'll try to remember tomorrow (just in from a party, and why I'm doing this rather than going straight to bet I've no idea) to YSI his absolutely magnificent Aretha, Sing One For Me. He was among the greatest writers in southern soul - he wrote for Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, Otis Clay, James Carr, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Denise LaSalle, Wilson Pickett, Candi Staton and even wrote the Osmonds' first hit!
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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if I'm not mistaken, Alvin Robinson recorded for AFO (All for One), a New Orleans label of the '60s that Harold Battiste started; house band included Toussaint and Red Tyler. And he had a hit with Kenner's "Something You Got" (which was later covered by lots of folks, including Bobby Womack, who did a reggae remake on his "Safety Zone" LP in the mid-'70s. Alvin Robinson also recorded for Leiber and Stoller at Red Bird in New York, and did a real classic called "Down Home Girl."
I gotta get that Moody Scott record.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

That YSI:
George Jackson - Aretha, Sing One For Me
It'd be in my top 100 favourite singles ever, I think.

-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I gotta get that Moody Scott record.<
I have an extra copy, Edd! I'll send it to you.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

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great! thanks Chuck!

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I don't know anything much about Moody Scott, just a handful of tracks, <
So Martin, did Moody have regional hits or something? I never heard of him before I saw his cdbaby page, and haven't really taken time to research him. I'm surprised you even heard of him!

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

I don't know, Chuck, but bear in mind that I've been a huge fan of soul for a long time, and do know quite a lot about it (though not as much as Eddie, I'm pretty sure). The odd track does get on compilations of one sort or another, which suggests that Moody isn't incredibly obscure - but I don't even know exactly where he worked or anything, so he isn't famous either, clearly.
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

also really liking irma thomas's *after the rain* on rounder, the "rain" obviously being katrina, though i kind of hate the mooshy shelter-from-storm piano ballad the album ends with though i do hope it provides solace to new orleans. what i love so far is "flowers" (soul about flowers on roadsides after car crashes, with a sound that i swear reminds me of "uncle tom's cabin" by warrant), "make me a pallet on the floor" (cheating with a painter, wow), "till i can't take it anymore" (country music in a soul voice, about how "you work your thing so well/I dream of heaven and live here in hell"), "these honey dos" (vampy bawdy boogie woogie where the honey dos are at first temptations but wind up also being about manners like please and thank you), and "stone survivor" (which is just plain funky).

-- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

And Irma also does an extremely gorgeous version of "I Count the Tears" (the "na-na-na-na-na-na late at night" song) by the Drifters..
-- xhxuk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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And she also does "Another Man Done Gone," a trad blues tune I swear I've heard hundreds of times by some huge classic rock group (Creem? Zep? the Allmans? somebody...), though no classic rock groups seem to be listed on AMG as doing it, so maybe whoever did it (which will probably hit me as really obvious once I found out) did it under a different title or something, or maybe with different words? (Also, I'm thinking now that maybe "These Honey Dos" and "Stone Survivor" and the palette one aren't quite at the level of the Warrant one and the country one and the Drifters one, but they're close.) -- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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also liking (speaking of southern soul) *candy licker: the sex & soul of marvin sease* (jive/legacy) not all of which concerns muff diving, and at least "hoochie mama" of which has zapp-style robot-funk freakazoids reciting the names of several of the united states.

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 12th, 2006.

*Most of the Marvin Sease album is gloppy ballads which aren't all that good, but some of it is kinda fun. (The first track is awful though.)

-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 13th, 2006.

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Marvin Sease CD is way less gloppy and ballady than Matt suggests (or maybe I just have a higher glop tolerance than he does; see also the Alan Bros!); most of it gets a good '70s smooth-jazzy funk disco groove going. And lots of the songs have pre-old-school "raps" (i.e., talking as singing, sometimes like a preacher's sermon) in them, which are really fun. And sure, the opening track "Do You Want a Licker?" is awful if you want it to be, but it's just too silly to complain about; ditto the other bookend, a five-minute live "Candy Licker 2005." Also, the ballads are pretty good, for the most part. "Don't Forget to Tell On You" sounds kind of like "Tell it Like It Is." But my favorite cuts are probably "I'm Mr Jody," the backdoor man song that starts with an ominous phone call, and the 12-step fix-your-life number "I Gotta Clean Up." (Has anybody ever written a good essay about Jody? He's the guy back on the block who's having sex to your girl while you're in the Army, and I get the idea he shows up in lots of Southern soul songs: Doesn't Johnnie Taylor have one about him, too*? As do, I would assume, other folks.)

* - yep, I just checked Whitburn: "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone," went to number 28 in 1971. (Hey, sounds like a good EMP proposal!)

-- xhuxk (xhux...), June 14th, 2006.

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having sex WITH (or) making love TO.
and courtesy of HIS new truck.
).

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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Johnnie Taylor was the king of Jody songs. "Standing In for Jody" and "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" are just two; I mean every song he does is kind of about Jody-ism in some way or another. I am a nut for Johnnie Taylor (I like Johnny Taylor a lot, too, and Ted Taylor, the Louisiana soul singer, is also excellent--so I think an EMP paper on the Sooper Taylors would be good!!), and Taylor is also the king of fucking-around songs. There are these nifty new Stax reissues that includes stuff by Frederick Knight, the Dramatics, etc., and if you ask me one of the very best Stax albums-as-albums is Johnnie's "Who's Making Love," which is the typical collection of singles but which really has variety and which totally hangs together. "Hold On This Time" has a great Cropper riff, cubist guitar, and "Woman Across the River" is one of the best Stax blues ever.
I only know the older, cunnilingual and happy to oblige, ma'am, Marvin Sease stuff--he's really good. "Marvin Sease" on London from late '80s is a good 'un. One of those artists who've been working the I-55 corridor from Memphis to the Louisiana border, forever.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), June 14th, 2006.

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Well, a Taylors EMP report would probably be really interesting, but I was thinking (theoretically, not volunteering!) more in terms of one about Jody himself. Who was he? And how far back do Jody songs go? Did Johnnie Taylor invent them? Or does Jody show up in blue songs during World War II or something? Was he a real person, like maybe Stagger Lee? (Was Shine who swam the Titanic a real person? I forget.) Seems like real *Mystery Train* mythology stuff, and I'm surprised nobody has tackled the research (unless they have and I just didn't notice, which is very possible. I haven't even done a google search.) (Also, do I only associate Jody with making cuckolds of military guys stationed overseas because I was *in* the military, and he was always showing up in cadences used while marching and/or running? Or is that his main deal? And otherwise, to what extent if any does he exist outside of the culture of Southern blacks--who, when I was in, seemed to make up a sizable portion of the Army?)
-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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This could really be hella interesting, absolutely. Is "Trapped in the Closet" the Ulysses of Jody songs?
-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 14th, 2006.

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Here's some info I found while googling Jody songs:
http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/10238/9918.html?1079610632

-- Sang Freud (jstrell...), June 14th, 2006.

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x-post. Taylor didn't invent the Jody song. Jody / Jodie / Joe the Grinder are pretty common figures in blues tunes.There's Louis Armstrong's "Jodie Man" which makes the "GI Joe de man" connection explicit. I wouldn't be surprised if that military connection is at the origin, though it's obviously gone through lots of transformations.
-- Roy Kasten (rfkaste...), June 14th, 2006.

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Yeah, I'd forgotten Joe The Grinder. I used to own a copy of that *Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me* prison-rap comp (on Smithsonian or Rounder or something?), and I think there might even be a Joe the Grinder rhyme on there (I *may* even have mentioned it in the pre-rap rap chapter of my second book). Anyway, this link from the link above has great stuff about Jody Army cadences; also says Johnnie Taylor himself learned about Jody while in the military:
http://p211.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm4.showMessage?topicID=153.topic

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

Listening to a pile of Southern soul discovered via CD-baby channels. The album by a jowly guy named Jimmy Taylor leans toward the blues end of things (with lady backup vocals not far from the ones on last year's Bobby Bare album); the EP by the lady named Candis Palmer ("All Men Ain't Dawgs,* since some are electric boogie dawgs apparently) leans toward the disco end; the single by Harold, "Chill Step Party," is steppin' music. He mentions Milwaukee, Chitown, Harlem, and Atlanta in it. More fun than R. Kelly, as far as I'm concerned, but mainly all this stuff obviously has a connection to county music too. (and though candis palmer is happy to have found a man who is not a dawg, jimmy taylor insists that when women say they're looking for a good man, they're lying. really, he says, they're looking for a fool.) (apparently the kinda fool who will let her spend all his money.) (he also directly quotes zz hill's "cheating in the next room in one of his songs.) (he's from alabama; I don't know where candis or harold are from. they're not actually on cdbaby.com per se, but i was sent their cds in the same package that the jimmy taylor CD came in.) jimmy taylor on his album is totally paranoid, and in just about every song he's either cheating or being cheated on or both, and as i said, he seems fully convinced that his woman is going to put him in the poor house (where, in real life, for all i know, he may already be.) in "you're busted" he hires a private detective to follow her around, and gets a photo of her cheating. "love catcher" has a pretty good sax solo. and though some songs sound more blues to me than soul, a couple (like "all i want is you") still veer more toward disco than anybody in country music has, i think, even shannon brown on her new album.
candis palmer, as i said, gets even more disco, but her disco is maybe 1975 where taylor's is 1973. (i think i wrote on the '05 thread that shannon brown's disco sounded 1979, but maybe that was hyperbole; i'm not sure. these two soul singers FEEL more disco.) but even at her most disco, in a song called "don't let someone else come and jingle my bell" or something, palmer gets backed by HARD blues guitar riffs, so the music really rocks. if i had to compare her vocal style to anybody, it'd be the staple singers in "i'll take you there."

-- xhuxk (xedd...), January 28th, 2006

glamorous bertha payne, *bedroom offer* EP: southern country soul millie jackson style (i.e., as many parts talked as sung, many of 'em bawdy), from memphis, via cdbaby.com. starts with a good riddance song where glamorous bertha (who on the cd cover is a big girl in her red dress with a red glass of wine) tells you "i don't need your face in my face" so "go away like a bad day" and "you might as well pack your rags." then the title track, which is not about her bedroom offer to him but the other way around, which offer she says isn't enough and the two backup singers (favorite artists: denise lasalle, mary j blige) chorus "bang! bang!" but by song's end glamorous bertha is saying "i need a man who will love me all night long. are you qualified? if not, get off the pot!" then one where she promises to shake it and break it (and maybe hang it on the wall) and she tells "all you womens with big elephant ears" that with her man every day is pay day. then supposedly "part two" of the same song, which means same slinky rhythm track as part one but now with sexy breathy pillow talk all over the top where bertha tells you to lift up her skirt. then finally another good riddance song, this one a tough and funky blues, where he leaves her with a sink full of dishes in a "one-room [some word i can't make out]", hence the best dishwashing song since ray parker jr's "bad boy" if not anita ward's "ring my bell." also she brings him food in bed, which means this might also be a breakfast breakup song in the tradition of the 5th dimension's "one less bell to answer" and karyn white's "superwoman." five songs total, but two around 4:00, three around 4:25, which means glamorous bertha takes her time and surely deserves a lover with a slow hand.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), February 23rd, 2006.

the legendary moody scott, *simply moody: we gotta bust outta the ghetto*: more cdbaby southern soul, from louisiana. cover has moody, a dapper old guy seemingly in his 60s, in front of a rundown rural shack; interesting, since "ghettos" are usually assumed to be urban, right? first track "bustin out of the ghetto" is a sort of james brown rip, five minutes long, where moody as i recall reels off some towns in the south train conducter style (am i imagining this? i THINK he did that, anyway) and ends singing "america america god grant his grace on thee." then he covers tyrone davis's great "can i change my mind," my favorite track. and from there the more soul oriented stuff ("last two dollars," the misspelled cheated-on song "one man's hppiness" which for some reason makes me think of billy stewart sitting in the park even though billy had a high voice and moody really doesn't, "something you got baby") is more likeable, to me, than the more blatantly blues stuff, but then again i always think that. both the soul and blues are generic, i suppose; with the soul i don't mind. best song title: "annie mae cafe." and the closer "son of a southern man" starts with moody telling his guitarist "tattoo" suarez ("my man from argentina") about his grandpa drinking corn liquor and singing "downhome blues". so yeah, country for sure.
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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He does get urban and/or urbane once, though -- a nice slinky silk-shirt early '80s style quiet storm soul croon called "The Best of Me." (Not sure if any songs other than the Tyrone Davis are covers. "Last Two Dollars" and "Annie Mae Cafe" are writing-credited to one George Jackson; wasn't there a soul singer of that name once? But if so, I never heard him, though.)
-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 11th, 2006.

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"something you got baby" wouldn't be chris kenner's "something you got" would it? since moody's from louisiana...and yeah, george jackson (I'm assuming it's the same guy--I don't know "annie mae cafe") wrote z.z. hill's "down home blues" and a lot of stuff for candi staton, clarence carter, pickett, james carr; a memphis guy who later worked for malaco and wrote for all them: johnnie taylor, latimore, shirley brown, bobby bland...
enjoying jace everett, so far. it's quite a collection of somewhat off-the-wall guitar effects, interesting guitar chromatics (as in the first song), definitely a '70s pop thing happening; and in my mode of concurrent listening (lately it's been dusty springfield/the latest numero group comp of obscure '70s female singers/the new, beautiful nara leão bossa "nara '67"; and jace/radney foster/jessi colter, partly because they all have cool first names, I guess) I notice that both radney and jace hark back to stiff records, which I find interesting.

xps

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 11th, 2006.

George Jackson was an occasional great old soul singer on Goldwax then Hi, and kind of a house writer at both. I'll try to remember tomorrow (just in from a party, and why I'm doing this rather than going straight to bet I've no idea) to YSI his absolutely magnificent Aretha, Sing One For Me. He was among the greatest writers in southern soul - he wrote for Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, Otis Clay, James Carr, Clarence Carter, Etta James, Denise LaSalle, Wilson Pickett, Candi Staton and even wrote the Osmonds' first hit!
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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if I'm not mistaken, Alvin Robinson recorded for AFO (All for One), a New Orleans label of the '60s that Harold Battiste started; house band included Toussaint and Red Tyler. And he had a hit with Kenner's "Something You Got" (which was later covered by lots of folks, including Bobby Womack, who did a reggae remake on his "Safety Zone" LP in the mid-'70s. Alvin Robinson also recorded for Leiber and Stoller at Red Bird in New York, and did a real classic called "Down Home Girl."
I gotta get that Moody Scott record.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

That YSI:
George Jackson - Aretha, Sing One For Me
It'd be in my top 100 favourite singles ever, I think.

-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I gotta get that Moody Scott record.<
I have an extra copy, Edd! I'll send it to you.

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

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great! thanks Chuck!

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), March 12th, 2006.

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>I don't know anything much about Moody Scott, just a handful of tracks, <
So Martin, did Moody have regional hits or something? I never heard of him before I saw his cdbaby page, and haven't really taken time to research him. I'm surprised you even heard of him!

-- xhuxk (xedd...), March 12th, 2006.

I don't know, Chuck, but bear in mind that I've been a huge fan of soul for a long time, and do know quite a lot about it (though not as much as Eddie, I'm pretty sure). The odd track does get on compilations of one sort or another, which suggests that Moody isn't incredibly obscure - but I don't even know exactly where he worked or anything, so he isn't famous either, clearly.
-- Martin Skidmore (lonewolf.cu...), March 12th, 2006.

also really liking irma thomas's *after the rain* on rounder, the "rain" obviously being katrina, though i kind of hate the mooshy shelter-from-storm piano ballad the album ends with though i do hope it provides solace to new orleans. what i love so far is "flowers" (soul about flowers on roadsides after car crashes, with a sound that i swear reminds me of "uncle tom's cabin" by warrant), "make me a pallet on the floor" (cheating with a painter, wow), "till i can't take it anymore" (country music in a soul voice, about how "you work your thing so well/I dream of heaven and live here in hell"), "these honey dos" (vampy bawdy boogie woogie where the honey dos are at first temptations but wind up also being about manners like please and thank you), and "stone survivor" (which is just plain funky).

-- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

And Irma also does an extremely gorgeous version of "I Count the Tears" (the "na-na-na-na-na-na late at night" song) by the Drifters..
-- xhxuk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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And she also does "Another Man Done Gone," a trad blues tune I swear I've heard hundreds of times by some huge classic rock group (Creem? Zep? the Allmans? somebody...), though no classic rock groups seem to be listed on AMG as doing it, so maybe whoever did it (which will probably hit me as really obvious once I found out) did it under a different title or something, or maybe with different words? (Also, I'm thinking now that maybe "These Honey Dos" and "Stone Survivor" and the palette one aren't quite at the level of the Warrant one and the country one and the Drifters one, but they're close.) -- xhuxk (xedd...), May 5th, 2006.

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also liking (speaking of southern soul) *candy licker: the sex & soul of marvin sease* (jive/legacy) not all of which concerns muff diving, and at least "hoochie mama" of which has zapp-style robot-funk freakazoids reciting the names of several of the united states.

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 12th, 2006.

*Most of the Marvin Sease album is gloppy ballads which aren't all that good, but some of it is kinda fun. (The first track is awful though.)

-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 13th, 2006.

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Marvin Sease CD is way less gloppy and ballady than Matt suggests (or maybe I just have a higher glop tolerance than he does; see also the Alan Bros!); most of it gets a good '70s smooth-jazzy funk disco groove going. And lots of the songs have pre-old-school "raps" (i.e., talking as singing, sometimes like a preacher's sermon) in them, which are really fun. And sure, the opening track "Do You Want a Licker?" is awful if you want it to be, but it's just too silly to complain about; ditto the other bookend, a five-minute live "Candy Licker 2005." Also, the ballads are pretty good, for the most part. "Don't Forget to Tell On You" sounds kind of like "Tell it Like It Is." But my favorite cuts are probably "I'm Mr Jody," the backdoor man song that starts with an ominous phone call, and the 12-step fix-your-life number "I Gotta Clean Up." (Has anybody ever written a good essay about Jody? He's the guy back on the block who's having sex to your girl while you're in the Army, and I get the idea he shows up in lots of Southern soul songs: Doesn't Johnnie Taylor have one about him, too*? As do, I would assume, other folks.)

* - yep, I just checked Whitburn: "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone," went to number 28 in 1971. (Hey, sounds like a good EMP proposal!)

-- xhuxk (xhux...), June 14th, 2006.

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having sex WITH (or) making love TO.
and courtesy of HIS new truck.
).

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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Johnnie Taylor was the king of Jody songs. "Standing In for Jody" and "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" are just two; I mean every song he does is kind of about Jody-ism in some way or another. I am a nut for Johnnie Taylor (I like Johnny Taylor a lot, too, and Ted Taylor, the Louisiana soul singer, is also excellent--so I think an EMP paper on the Sooper Taylors would be good!!), and Taylor is also the king of fucking-around songs. There are these nifty new Stax reissues that includes stuff by Frederick Knight, the Dramatics, etc., and if you ask me one of the very best Stax albums-as-albums is Johnnie's "Who's Making Love," which is the typical collection of singles but which really has variety and which totally hangs together. "Hold On This Time" has a great Cropper riff, cubist guitar, and "Woman Across the River" is one of the best Stax blues ever.
I only know the older, cunnilingual and happy to oblige, ma'am, Marvin Sease stuff--he's really good. "Marvin Sease" on London from late '80s is a good 'un. One of those artists who've been working the I-55 corridor from Memphis to the Louisiana border, forever.

-- edd s hurt (eddshur...), June 14th, 2006.

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Well, a Taylors EMP report would probably be really interesting, but I was thinking (theoretically, not volunteering!) more in terms of one about Jody himself. Who was he? And how far back do Jody songs go? Did Johnnie Taylor invent them? Or does Jody show up in blue songs during World War II or something? Was he a real person, like maybe Stagger Lee? (Was Shine who swam the Titanic a real person? I forget.) Seems like real *Mystery Train* mythology stuff, and I'm surprised nobody has tackled the research (unless they have and I just didn't notice, which is very possible. I haven't even done a google search.) (Also, do I only associate Jody with making cuckolds of military guys stationed overseas because I was *in* the military, and he was always showing up in cadences used while marching and/or running? Or is that his main deal? And otherwise, to what extent if any does he exist outside of the culture of Southern blacks--who, when I was in, seemed to make up a sizable portion of the Army?)
-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

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This could really be hella interesting, absolutely. Is "Trapped in the Closet" the Ulysses of Jody songs?
-- Haikunym (zinogu...), June 14th, 2006.

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Here's some info I found while googling Jody songs:
http://soulfuldetroit.com/archives/10238/9918.html?1079610632

-- Sang Freud (jstrell...), June 14th, 2006.

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x-post. Taylor didn't invent the Jody song. Jody / Jodie / Joe the Grinder are pretty common figures in blues tunes.There's Louis Armstrong's "Jodie Man" which makes the "GI Joe de man" connection explicit. I wouldn't be surprised if that military connection is at the origin, though it's obviously gone through lots of transformations.
-- Roy Kasten (rfkaste...), June 14th, 2006.

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Yeah, I'd forgotten Joe The Grinder. I used to own a copy of that *Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me* prison-rap comp (on Smithsonian or Rounder or something?), and I think there might even be a Joe the Grinder rhyme on there (I *may* even have mentioned it in the pre-rap rap chapter of my second book). Anyway, this link from the link above has great stuff about Jody Army cadences; also says Johnnie Taylor himself learned about Jody while in the military:
http://p211.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm4.showMessage?topicID=153.topic

-- xhuxk (fakemai...), June 14th, 2006.

Saw on Instagram James Funk & Proper Utensils do a nice go-go version of "Boots on the ground (where them fans at) " and a youth go-go group do a not so good version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJuzhvOEUSE

803 Fresh interviewed on the Breakfast Club show

Lady C opened with Boots on the Ground on WPFW today. Now she's playing Ms Jody "Cowboy Style"

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGZYd6dBYv1/?igsh=ZHBlYTBmanBsbzV0

The Boots on the Ground ( where my fans at ) reels keep coming

There's an Alvin Ailey Dance CO Instagram reel with the line dance now too. But still no mention of the song or line dance from big name rock/pop critics

Still nothing on southern soul or even Boots on the Ground ( where them fans at) from NY Times, Pitchfork, or NPR

Also, Beyonce added 803 Fresh's "Boots on the Ground (where them fans at)" to a gig. That's the southern soul song that via a line dance with people shaking paper fans has gone viral for mostly the Black American community . Lots of reels and tik-toks -There's a dc go-go version, birthday party and Easter line dances, a Toy Story one, and now Beyonce

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJCxvtezzRn/?igsh=M3dlMGEyb3l1bXBi

They're street-dancing to 803Fresh's "Boots On The Ground" in Times Square outside the discount Broadway tickets booth. Ubiquitous in NYC, these street buskers are taking the line dance moves to a whole 'nother level, attracting crowds who watch, stupefied, wondering what the hell they're witnessing. Very few will comprehend they're listening to a genre called southern soul, and even fewer will enter the nirvana where we southern soul fans pass our pleasurable days

Daddy B Nice on his website

https://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2025.cfm

Good to see the genre getting some love

HBCU band plays instrumental version of "Boots on the Ground (Where Them Fans At) " right after "Pomp and Circumstances"...

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJgyK-bOp3Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

"Boots on the Ground (where them fans at)" song & line dance w/ sign language interpreter at Virginia State U graduation

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ2I-f-x5oy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D

There are also trail ride songs like this "Boot Scoot" dance one by Willie Clayton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JPdi42wi9M

That's from a year ago. Clayton's new "Ride with Me" blends trail ride style with the shaking "fans" aspect of 803 Fresh's "Boots on the Ground"

https://vimeo.com/1085022563?share=copy

Hearing another southern soul cover of "Tennessee Whiskey" had me checking out the history of this tune that some know best from country singer Chris Stapleton's hit version.

Wiki says

"Tennessee Whiskey" is an American country song written by Dean Dillon and Linda Hargrove. It was originally recorded by country artist David Allan Coe for his album of the same name, peaking at number 77 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1981.

Elsewhere I read confirmation that it is based on the Etta James sung "I'd Rather Go Blind".

Blues critic mail order site also posted its own list of essential blues and southern soul and retro soul albums

https://soulbluesmusic.com/100essentialalbums.htm

Through 2022 they also used to do a list of southern soul awards that were voted on by people who saw the poll.

Dean Dillon is one of the finest country songwriters of all time

Saw DC soul cover singer Shirletta Settles do ""Boots on the Ground (Where Them Fans At) " last night at Westminster Church and last week saw a go-go band do it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/20/arts/music/boots-on-the-ground-line-dance.html?unlocked_article_code=1.QU8.CFll.zp-fxqwnOPP5&smid=url-share

Boots on the Ground makes the NY Times

Nice! Happy for them

Some good songs on the Southern Soul Party WPFW radio show today- West Love “Put it On Me”, Cecily Wilborn “In da Kuntry,” Willie Clayton “Shawty”

Andre Lee song “Cheating with that Man in the drawer” is about his woman using a vibrator!

Catching up on some southern soul I missed- Cecily Wilborn "Hoedown Showdown" ...goes for that country and southern soul linedance thang

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opn-5nJ0AvM

TK Soul's "Freak on Me" has a dash of accordion but it's more straightforward southern soul and not a zydeco hybrid or something

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=844Nz4AgcvQ

If only the Black Americana Fest which has happened for 2 years in a row would add southern soul to the lineup. The Nashville Americana Fest never has

https://www.blackamericanafest.com/2025-lineup

Lacee- "Cheat Code"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nbSho-wdtk

Tonio Armani can sing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN1nkR5flHc

I still have more catching up to do

https://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2025.cfm

Listening to WPFW Southern Soul Party now and WPFW is fundraising and DJ Lady C is playing the hits like Theotis Ealey's "Stand Up In it" which I mentioned in the title of this thread 20 years ago!

So grateful WPFW has an app now

Oh yes, just finally added it to my phone. Saw the now retired WPFW southern soul rompin show host Dr Nick at Westminster Church in SW DC last Monday. He was asked to emcee the Shirletta Settles show . Settles is more retro soul than southern soul. WPFW program director Katea Stitt was on the end of a panel discussion I caught at the MLK Library regarding DC DIY outlets

Heard a couple of good tracks by Big Yayo plus a 3 year old Carlin Taylor song "Keep it 100" today on WPFW Southern Soul Party

https://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2025.cfm

blogger Daddy B. Nice's top 25 southern soul songs

Here's a few of 'em-

1. "Boots On The Ground"---- 803Fresh

2. "Keep On Steppin'"---- Mike Clark Jr.

3. "Gas Station Love"---- E.J. Jones

4. "Cowgirl Trailride"---- Tonio Armani & S. Dott

5. "Intro"---- F.P.J.

Still catching up on those songs but also liking this 2024 one “Sweet Potato Pie” by Ms Sazzy that I missed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E6Rg2s3SdY

Oops that is Mz Sassy

Lady C on WPFW’s southern soul party show plays some good songs but she just randomly selects them from whatever year they came out

I can hear your macaroni, boy, but I don't see no cheese

She wants a guy with money. It's a Sheba Potts-Wright song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uY01iAu_EE

On Southern Soul Party on WPFW just heard the great "Cowgirl Trailride" song by S. Dott; & now Ms. Jody's "Burger King" ( this ain't burger king baby but you can sure have it your way). WPFW is fundraising also (via phone, website, cashapp, etc.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVU0eYeEM-Q

A buddy of mine has a nice article on singer Karen Wolfe in the new Living Blues magazine (digital only available to subscribers). Wolfe has a strong voice. Article touches on how djs control what people will hear and her concern that the djs might not like a slow song she did

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VfGBaSjMH8

Texas Fred (Cowboy Fred) is filling in as dj on WPFW Southern soul party and is playing this great 2012 LJ Echols' "Mississippi Throwback" song

In 1931 long before southern soul Bessie Smith was singing I need a little sugar in my bowl
I need a little hot dog on my roll

Lady C on WPFW playing some great southern soul today including MissVocals doing "Real Men" (Where the Real men at)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW9bizAbxkI

Oops I guess its' "Real Man". There are also Youtubes with line dance choreos to it

My Oct. 20, 2023 Bluesky post-

Seems like very few on Bluesky are listening to current southern soul by the likes of King George, Miss Jody, Vick Allen , Pokey Bear or Tucka . Probably never heard the late Mel Waiters or ZZ Hill either. Or Lattimore.

Often talking to myself here and on Bluesky but that’s ok I guess

Nah I have this thread bookmarked but don’t often have much to add

Glad you’re here !

I like Simply Wayne’s 2022 track “Juke Joint Love”

Big Robb - “Bring back that love” is another good one

Lady C just played this line dance song that’s been around for awhile but I have always liked it -

Gentry-Jones “Roll It, Roll It “ ( feat. Mr. Sam)

She also just played on her WPFW Saturday 12 to 2 et show Ollie Moore “Mr Pay Them Bills” . If I was booking the so-called “Big Ears” fest I would make room for southern soul as well as the genres they already have - Jazz, artsy postpunk , token international African old school acts