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

Maybe they didn't lose tapes:

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20110419/NEWS/110419001/Malaco-Records-rebuild-bigger-better-after-tornado?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CHome

And Malaco's thousands of precious master
tapes weathered the storm in a vault-type building made of concrete blocks and supported by reinforced steel. "A few of them got wet," Couch said, "but they're all OK."

The recording studio was dark and dank Monday. A grand piano and a Hammond B3 organ were barely visible, buried in debris. The sound of music was replaced by the flapping of a blue tarp, serving as a temporary roof. Pieces of the wood tile floor - upon which music legends have walked - were scattered about. Amplifiers and microphones looked soulless and lonely.

I have plenty of catching up to do in this genre

Pretty great Shaila Dewan article from the NY Times travel section a few days ago, about zydeco trail rides in Southern Louisiana -- obviously only tangentially related to Southern Soul, except that my favorite Southern Soul song so far this year (not a single I don't think) is "Trail Ride" by Carl Sims, and I'd been meaning for a couple weeks to google "trail ride" to find out what it meant. So now I wonder whether there are also Southern Soul trail rides, or Carl just likes zydeco too. (There's no zydeco I can detect in his new CD's music, though I would suspect that -- in Southern Louisiana at least -- Southern Soul and zydeco audiences might overlap a bit):

http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/travel/24zydeco.html

As a longtime Boozoo Chavis fan, follower of zydeco since the '80s, and listener to a W. DC radio show hosted by transplanted Afro-Creole Texan, Texas Fred the Zydeco Cowboy, I had a pretty good idea of what trail rides were about, but that article nicely spells it out in detail. Yep, there's a crossover between Southern soul and zydeco down in that region of the country.

I should post that article on the rarely used zydeco thread I started here.

A commenter at Amazon says the following about Carl Sims (who I know little about). "Trail Ride" is on his new album

Once upon a time Carl Sims was on the verge of mainstream stardom when his debut LP "House Of Love", (featuring "17 Days Of Loving" & "I'm Trapped") became a worldwide hit in Soul circles. An amazingly Soulful, smoky-voiced Soulman was born. Unfortunately, his sophomore LP didn't measure up in terms of sales and quality so Sims found himself stuck in the "chittlin circuit" and he's has been there ever since. But this new LP, "Hell On My Hands", is going to force everybody to take a second look (listen) to Carl Sims. The title track is a stone classic- a dramatic, midpaced ballad that will sound great on radio. Other top notch ballads like "Go On", "Just One Night" & "Still The One" are mixed with funky dancers ("Trail Ride", "Sugar Daddy) and a fgew choice covers, including a Willie Mitchell/Al Green/Hi Records-inspired take on Tony Toni Tone's "Thinkin' Of You" (renamed "Thinkin' About You" here

Mainstream stardom, huh. Interesting.

I'm liking another song from Richmond Virginia's Big G: "Two-step in the Name of Love"

Yeah, "mainstream stardom" sounds like a bit of a stretch. Anyway, I've been meaning to say that Sims's new one is a good album, but the only absolutely killer tracks I'm hearing are "Trail Ride" and the super paranoid cheating-husband single "Hell On My Hands" (the title/opening cut). Was not aware that "Thinkin' About You" was a Tony Toni Tone remake, but he also covers Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.'s "You Don't Have To Be A Star" (as a duet with one Debra Benson) -- probably my third favorite track on the CD, actually. (Technically, it's my favorite 2011 Southern Soul album so far, though I'm way more likely to list Carl Marshall's late 2010 Love Who You Wanna Love on a 2011 best-albums ballot, since I didn't actually hear it until this year.)

I wanna hear Donnie Ray's newest on Ecko. Although I gotta get on their mailing list--their cds are pretty pricey

http://www.basement-group.co.uk/

In the Basement UK old-school soul magazine (there's a Marvin Sease obit too)

I need to just buy some recent Southern soul releases, then review them and then try to get on mailing lists...

Theotis Ealey (who I mentioned in the subheading for this thread many years back) is touring with some blues-rockers on a bill entitled "The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue" . The Washington DC area gig includes:

The Tommy Castro Band, Deanna Bogart, Rick Estrin and Theodis Ealey

I thought the Wilbe* comment was right on.

x-post back to March 21st comments from Daddy Nice re Xchuck overview of southern soul -Maybe he does not mean Wilco and means William Bell, Stax soul singer who has a label and a website called "Wilbe"

Daddy B. Nice below talking about Sir Jonathan Burton's song. Burton was at Lamont's in Pomonkey, MD July 2nd, while I watching Swamp Dogg in nearby DC

A recent press release from CDS Records proclaims "Too Much Booty Shakin'"'s dominance of Southern Soul radio as follows:

#1 Soul And Blues Report
#1 Southern Soul Top 20
#1 Blues Critic Radio
#1 American Blues Network

while I was watching

I like the Jonathan Burton song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIUOzX6wP0g

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for the 2011 Jus` Blues Music Awards, August 3rd - 5th on Beale Street in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. The Jus` Blues Music Awards is a unique entertainment event that attracts Blues & Soul music artists, industry professionals and fans from across the globe. It is credited with being one of the most important Award Shows in Blues & Southern Soul music for African-American performers. Proceeds from the events benefit the “Blues Got A Soul” program.

Another chart

http://www.soulbluesmusic.com/southernsoulbluescharts.htm

There's a book review in yesterday's Washington Post of a book re the beginning of the Chitlin Circuit. The review says some wrongheaded things in the piece. Will link to it later.

Here it is: a mediocre, flawed review of Preston Lauterbach's "The Chitlin Circuit"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/the-chitlin-circuit-by-preston-lauterbach-about-pre-rock-black-music/2011/06/27/gIQAyjy73H_story.html

I still have lots of catch-up listening to do. Daddy Nice seems to find most of the 2011 releases flawed in some way.

I posted that Jonathan Burton song on the Summer Jams 2011 thread but noone commented on it. Oh well. It's better than most of that Euro club stuff on the list.

Also better is Sheba Potts-Wright's tribute to the late Marvin Sease entitled "Mr. Jody You Did Your Job". Can't find it on Youtube

Just heard Bobby Blue Bland's "Members Only" for the first time in ages. Wow, what a stirring number.

Curmudgeon! I love "Too Much Booty Shakin' Up In Here".

Great. I have long been convinced a proper mixtape of danceable southern soul could win over folks into contemporary funky stuff.

That Carl Sims album is a bit formulaic but he sure does that formula well.

Latimore's "Mr. Right Now" starts off slow but then the hook nicely kicks in. Curious about the album

I now have a new level of appreciation for "Too Much Booty Shakin":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NCfb_S4OMA&feature=related

Ah.

line dancing is most certainly a big thing with folks into this style

I missed the recent Washington DC appearance of soulful bluesman Johnny Rawls who also has a recent album out. He appeared at a tiny suburban Virginia club on a weeknight with no publicity. He's not exactly southern soul but close enough to deserve mention on this thread. I want to check out his album as I have heard good things about him from folks I respect.

I need to look at later the photos of the Rawls gig that I believe In a Blue Mood blogger Ron W posted on flickr.

Gonna be out of town this weekend and will miss (again!) Lee Fields at Lamont's in Pomonkey, MD. The gig has gotten little to no press attention

He's gonna be in Chicago September 30th at the Bottom Lounge

After his rediscovery in the mid 90s, his faithful have featured him on a slew on singles, a full-length on Desco Records entitled “Let’s Get It On’, a full-length on Soul Fire entitled “Problems”, and on Sharon Jones’s critically acclaimed album, “Naturally”. Most recently, he has featured on a number of tracks by French house producer, Martin Solveig. Suprisingly, many of of those songs have become top ten hits for Solveig and have turned Lee Fields into a bonafide celebrity in France and other parts of Europe. Yet, outside of a rabid cult following, his story remained untold in America.

http://bottomlounge.com/shows/lee-fields-and-expressions-windy-city-soul-club-djs

I am guessing there are no reviews or tweets or anything online re the Lee Fields gig that just happened. That upcoming Chicago gig has at least gotten some attention

« Mogwai postpone US shows again, NYC & ATP included | Jim Campilongo back in residency @ Living Room, the Little Willies scheduled shows too »

Posted in music | tour dates on September 25, 2011
Lee Fields playing a benefit @ Brooklyn Bowl, Budos Band & special guests playing NYE @ Music Hall (and other dates)
The Budos Band in Prospect Park (more by David Andrako)

Lee Fields & The Expressions are headlining a benefit show at Brooklyn Bowl on Monday night (9/26). Tickets can be had for as low as $15 and as much as $100. Proceeds support NYC's non-religious suicide hotline run by Samaritans of NY. Corey Glover (Living Colour), Danielia Cotton, and The Smyrk are also on the bill. It's one of only three upcoming shows right now for Lee. The other two are in Chicago and Michigan and are listed below.

oops. Well, it shows that Lee Fields is as relevant as those indie-rock cats

Newsflash: Latimore Plays Keyboard on the New Joss Stone Release

Woo Hoo!!! Southern soul going mainstream

So Lamont's in Pomonkey, MD does not have a website, but within the past year they added a Facebook page (and owner Lamont Savoy has one). But alas, they do not update it in advance so their October schedule is not up yet. Maybe tomorrow. Jeez, how do they stay open?

A dedicated older clientele that does not need the internets I guess.

Been doing my research on my longtime MD suburban DC fave the Hardway Connection (whom I wrote a feature about back in '99. They're now playing weekly on Thursdays in Upper Marlboro, every other Sunday at Lamont's in Pomonkey and on some Saturdays they're back at the Clinton Inn (where I saw them in '99--my City Paper article about them is still online)

Newsflash: Latimore Plays Keyboard on the New Joss Stone Release

Woo Hoo!!! Southern soul going mainstream

didn't joss use some of the old tk disco crew for her first album as well ? (timmie thomas for one .. )

Sounds right. I see that on her 2nd album, Mind, Body & Soul, she had an impressive lineup with her:

Personnel: Joss Stone (vocals); Nile Rodgers, A.J. Niilo (guitar); Tom "Bones" Malone (flugelhorn); Timmy Thomas, Benny Latimore (piano); Nir Zidkiyahu (Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizer); Angelo Morris, Angie Stone (Fender Rhodes piano); Raymond Angry (Clavinet, Hammond b-3 organ, Moog synthesizer); Jack Daley (bass guitar); Cindy Blackman, ?uestlove (drums); Mike Mangini (programming); Betty Wright (background vocals).

this is why $tateside/EMI hit the reissue groove for old tk disco crew a few years back, as in each sleeve notes they made a reference to joss stone

DC's Eddie Jones & the Young Bucks may be playing out again regularly. They were just at Jo-Jo's on U St. They're more old-school soul classicists than raunchy chitlin types though.

Jonathan Burton's "Too Much Booty Shakin' Up in Here" still sounds awesome. The Youtube is posted upthread. ILXer Tim Finney praises it up there as well.

That song kinda deserves its own thread

And maybe a place on my year-end list. Now what albums to include? Carl Sims maybe?

Very good chance I'll reach back to late 2010 for Carl Marshall's album, and vote for that. New Ms. Jody album (her second this year) is surprisingly good, though, and I like the new Luther Lackey (though not as much as his previous one.) Carl Sims's "Hell On My Hands" and Gerard Rayborn's "Feels Like Prison On My Job" have a good shot at my singles ballot.

On Wpfw Saturday a dj was playing a new Miss Jody song but I wasn't really listening that closely at the time. She's had some good songs.