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

(There was also an update of Levert's "Casanova" with a sort of semi-zydeco rhtyhm, only it was called "Roll With Me" or something like that. Not bad, not great.)

it's a zydeco take-off on rebirth brass band's version of casanova, which is great:

x-post--was just getting to your positive interest in this stuff.

If this kind of music was "anachronistic" 22 years ago (as Xgau said in that Sease review), what does that make it now that 41 years have passed since "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay"? And what does it mean that I still get way more out of this stuff than the vast majority of current r&b, which usually just strikes me as constricted and joyless in comparison? At least Southern Soul still seems written by grownups.

At the show I was at I heard an Otis Redding cover I think and a Prince one. That's the musical spectrum this genre and its audience appreciate. Kinda like country in that way. I happen to like some current pop-r'n'b and this stuff, and while I can hear differences, I don't agree with you on the "constricted and joyless" description but I don't have a well-supported argument in mind right now that I think could have an effect on your thinking. I'll just agree to disagree. Also "still seems written by grownups"--I'm not clear on my history but how old were soul music greats from the 60s and the songwriting teams in that era? Were they all 'grownups'? I do not think so. I think Peter Guralnick might have touched on this in one of his books.

x-post

Houston and Louisiana zydeco acts have been subtly and sometimes blatantly incorporating contemporary r'n'b, New Orleans brass,chitlin circuit soul and hiphop rhythms for years now. I wish there was more of it. The aging roots-rock zydeco crowd in DC prefers the traditional stuff (meaning incorporating the kind of r'n'b that was popular when Clifton Chenier was young) though, and that seems to dictate to tours the East Coast.

how old were soul music greats from the 60s and the songwriting teams in that era? Were they all 'grownups'?

No, but I meant for my emphasis to be on the "seems to" - -By which I mean, historically, lots of soul music and r&b (and disco) seemed to deal with adult lives-- in the way, say, much country music still does, but I don't get the idea that much commercial r&b does anymore; sex lyrics, especially, just seem to get more juvenile and stupid as time goes on. For instance, who would be the commercial r&b equivalent of Womack and Womack, or Ashford and Simpson? I doubt there is one. Then again, I could be totally off base about this, and I don't doubt I'm missing a lot. (And I know there are exceptions -- R. Kelly obviously has great moments every now and then. And self-conscious retro artistes like Badu and Saadiq and D'Angelo and Sharon Jones probably deal with adult lives all the time, I'm sure, but that stuff has always pretty much left me cold, for some reason. My favorite commercial r&b songs of the decade, for what it's worth: Koffee Brown's "Weekend Thing" and Kandi's "Don't Think I'm Not," both from the decade's very beginning, and both with a perfectly respectable but not great album attached.)

i don't think badu can be called retro, not these days

Good point -- but she can definitely be called a "self-conscious artiste." Either way, I'm not a fan (and in my mind, at least, she seems far outside of the realm of "commercial r&b." Just like a sometimes-sort-of-retro self-conscious artiste like Springsteen, who leaves me just as cold these days, falls outside the realm of "commercial rock." Which yeah, I know, is an arbitrary distinction. But he's sure a long way off from, say, Puddle of Mudd.) (Not sure where Ne-Yo, who I like a lot, fits into this.)

I love Ms. Jody's I Never Take a Day Off album from last year, Mel Waiters-Throwback Days from a few years ago, Denise Lasalle-Pay Before You Pump album, and a Barbara Carr best-of on Ecko. I have heard great songs by Sir Charles Jones, OB Buchana, Theotis Ealey, Willie Clayton, and Lee Shot Williams.

Here are some of my faves i mentioned upthread.

just seem to get more juvenile and stupid as time goes on.

I normally am not too picky about lyrics. It's music not poetry. But yea, some of this stuff bugs me too.

Xhuxk,

You're a metal fan also. Do those lyrics ever bug you? Do you want them to sound like they're written by grownups? Just askin'

Excellent question. And it would probably take me several thousand words -- full of examples, counter-examples, exceptions, and hedges -- to adequatly answer it. But basically I'd say that I'm not nearly as much a metal fan as I used to be (partly because the words usually aren't audible anymore, and the songs tend to be barely distinguishable as songs), and lots of people (especially Stairway To Hell readers) would say I was never a true metal fan in the first place. And even if I was, I don't know how huge a fan I've ever been of metal lyrics -- definitely never had much use for sex songs by Motley Crue or Limp Bizkit or whoever (which, right, are as dumb and juvenile as anything in r&b.)

But one thing I'd say is that, if lyrics come out funny or heartfelt or whatever (in metal or r&b or anywhere else), I'll excuse a lot of juvenile crap. And obviously sometimes being juvenile will help make the words more entertaining. There are creative and clever ways to do everything. And I'm not hearing much cleverness in r&b these days, though the fact of the matter is that the cleverness might be hidden somewhere, and I just can't get past the sound of contemporary r&b, which as I said tends to hit me as cold, detached, humorless. (Guess you could add "soulless", if that means anything.)

And it's probably worth mentioning that I miss truly bubblegum-sounding r&b at least as much as truly grownup-sounding r&b. I heard "I Love Your Smile" by Shanice on the radio the other day -- early '90s, I think, and not a song that sounded particularly outstanding then -- and I wondered why no r&b I've heard lately can get that kind of sweetness and warmth across. (Not even "Lip Gloss" or "Chicken Noodle Soup" or "Cupid Shuffle" -- not in that way, anyway. And those songs are more hip-hop anyway.)

Played Keri Hilson's album a few times this week; don't like it hardly at all. "Knock You Down" lifts the album to life when Ne-Yo comes in (and then when Keri sings along with him -- at least that what I assume is happening -- at which time she manages to cut closer to the emotional bone than at any time she's singing by herself.) "Alienated" has a wee little bit of Patrice Rushen's "Forget Me Nots" buried in its melody toward the beginning, but the feeling doesn't stick around, and the song dulls out. Pretty sure "Make Love" annoyed me the most.

Checked out a couple Jazmine Sullivan songs on line the other day too (because I've been told her songs are smarter than the run of 20somethings-kicking-it-at-the-club crap out there), and in both cases I thought her blatant retro vocal mannerisms were just that: mannered. In "Need U Bad," which is basically reggae soul, I actually liked the "ooh ooh" backup (which seemed to directly reference some early '70s soul hit I can't place) more than Jazmine's lead. Did think she has a rich, powerful voice, though; maybe she just needs better material, or better songwriters. So there's potential there, at least. But it's like alt-country -- If you're gonna try so hard to sound like classic r&b, you're almost guaranteed to fall short. (The '80s and '90s r&b I love most usually wasn't explicitly retro.)

Probably repeating myself here, but one thing about lots of old r&b and metal and otherwise hits (about sex and otherwise) I love is that, if they didn't sound written by grownups, they were often funny.. By which I mean goofy and fun, not "clever lyricism that only seems clever if somebody puts it on paper, and I probably won't get even then but maybe I'll pretend to." And I know, if the words bug me, I should just tune them out and concentrate on the "great music" instead. Except it's usually not that great. (And I also know all of this is a gross generalization, and just proves my ignorance. But it's still what my heart feels...)

And, to un-derail this thread at least at least a little, when I say I "can't get past the sound of contemporary r&b," I don't think I mean up-to-date studio production touches (current Southern Soul could almost certainly get away with using more of those, to sound less anachronistic) as much as I mean the vocal sound. At some historical point I can't pinpoint, r&b singers inexplicably seemed to start veering toward two extremes -- either melismatic bombast or icy restraint -- and skipping the comfy middle ground which had worked perfectly well for soul/r&b/disco singers for decades. (Probably the roots of newer singing styles I dislike were in certain classic old soul singers I was never a major fan of in the first place, but I'll just get in trouble if I start naming names.)

Also get the idea that, as r&b artists and fans inevitably started giving more direct emphasis to "great beats" in the wake of late-period hip-hop, they tended to de-emphasize hooks. Or at least the kind of hooks that hook me. (One of my big problems with metal these days, btw, is also that it's just not catchy enough anymore. And whenever I make that claim, people like Phil Freeman tell me it just makes me sound like an old fogey, since metal fans stopped caring about catchy songs years ago. Maybe something similar happened in r&b?)

(Rihanna is probably an exception to a lot of things I've complained about, as much as Ne-Yo is. And I don't doubt there are other obvious exceptions I'm just not thinking of. As much as I appreciate them both, though, I can't say that either Ne-Yo -- whose music often reaches me as sort of vague wafty beauty more than discrete songs -- or Rihanna have come up with a single track that ranks anywhere near my all-time r&b favorites. Maybe I'm just cranky, is all.)

how do you feel about r kelly

Mentioned Kelly several posts up; when he's good, he's probably the biggest '00s exception to all of this, especially as a vocalist. And he's obviously got some insanely great moments that rank with any soul ever -- "When A Woman's Fed Up" is probably my favorite, but also "Ignition," "Fiesta," "Step In The Name Of Love," etc. But he's horrible a lot, too (and the horribleness usually isn't as entertaining as it is in "Trapped In The Closet," which is great in its own way), and I always have trouble making it through his albums. Should probably spend more time with them, though usually I get the idea that The R in R&B Collection: Volume 1 might be all I'll ever really need. Though then again, it's not like all the great soul singers of the '60s/'70s/'80s all made consistently great albums, either. And Kelly knows how to reference classic sounds without being all nutritiously "retro" about it, and iciness and constraint are not part of his language. Wish there were more artists half as good as him. (Of more outwardly "retro" acts, I liked Ryan Shaw's debut album a couple years ago, btw. Though even with him, you get the idea there's play-acting going on -- a kid dressing up in vintage styles -- so there's an inherent emotional distance from the material.)

Well actually, "he's obviously got some insanely great moments that rank with any soul ever" is probably hyperbole -- I just listened to a random Johnny Bristol LP from 1975 that I bought for $1 a couple weeks ago, and it had two or three songs I liked as much as anything I've ever heard by R. Kelly. ("Morgantown, North Carolina" -- how's that for Chiltin Circuit?) And I don't know that anybody would call Bristol an absolute top-tier soul singer, and I have a feeling this probably wasn't even his best album ("Hang On In There Baby," his biggest hit, came a year earlier.) So I guess what I meant to say is the R. Kelly's best songs at least hold their own against soul's greatest; unlike almost any other r&b from this decade, it's not entirely ridiculous to speak of them in the same paragraph.

So do Malaco and Ecko send promos to Billboard contributors? I get the impression that Southern soul/chitlin circuit labels only send promos and press releases to radio stations and club djs

Uh, I've sure never received a single promo from either of those labels (when I was at Billboard or anywhere else.) Maybe the r&b columnists get them, though; I'm not sure.

Sorry to change the subject, but this fan of Jazmine Sullivan and Miss Jody has nothing further to add to the discussion other than that I heard Mary J. Blige on the radio at lunch today and she did not sound "constricted", "joyless" or "juvenile."

Yeah, Blige probably another obvious exception (but somebody I've never really got into, probably to my utter shame. I like "Not Gon' Cry" a lot. But mostly, I never got the idea she's much fun. And she could afford to be a lot catchier -- all Gladys, no Pips, in other words, and I like Gladys a lot more.)

(That is, I'd never for a second doubt her God-given talent or good taste or ability to communicate emotion, but those variables in and of themselves have never been enough to make me like somebody.)

Okay, I am (hopefully) done being crabby. And ready to get back to the actual topic of this thread.

Sounds like 88.7 KAZI-FM Austin rightly turns to more party music on Friday nights, and they just played this amazing track, sort of a partially semi-rapped old-school thing over a groove stretched out go-go-style but with a repeated funk vamp riffing on the Drifters' "On Broadway" rather than go-go-sounding; a guy in a gruff bluesy voice chanting variations on "I must keep on rockin' the wine will keep poppin' til the police come knockin'" or whatever; eventually other voices enter the party, and a harmonizing soul woman, and the groove keeps on keepin' on in an obsessively propulsive way. I'm not even sure how I'd classify the thing; it didn't quite seem like any r&b subgenre I've ever heard before. As usual, they didn't follow the song with the singer's name or the song title. Maybe I'll call the station later on to find out what it was, but if anybody has a clue, by all means let me know.

Here is the station's current "playlist," but the webpage says the DJs aren't required to stick to it, and can play whatever they want:

http://kazifm.org/playlist.html

Okay, just called the station. Couldn't wait. And turns out I was basically right about the song being sort-of-go-go/sort-of-not and sort-of-rapped/sort-of-not: "Block Party" by Chuck Brown and Soul Searchers featuring DJ Kool, off Chuck's 2007 album We're About The Business. I have some of his old albums but haven't been keeping up with what he's done lately; guess I need to get with the program.

Wow, cool website (which may or may not have been linked to here before): Top singles and albums of 2008 lists, top 100 songs and artists of the '90s and '00s, everything but "I Need A Bailout":

http://www.southernsoulrnb.com/corner2008.cfm

His #9 Southern Soul single of 2008 is maybe especially worth noting:

9. "Stay Down"--------------------------Mary J. Blige

Some people might ask, "Daddy B. Nice, why take valuable space away from a chitlin' circuit artist with a mainstream R&B pick?" Because, as with mainstream artists such as Glenn Jones, R. Kelly, Jaheim and Luther Vandross before her (see Daddy B. Nice's Top 100 Southern Soul Singles 90's-100's), Mary J. Blige has recorded a great Southern Soul song. Listening to it is like opening the door--fresh air overwhelms the senses. Look at the glass-half-full perspective: maybe some of Mary J's commercial success will rub off on the rest of us.

Yea, that is a good site (that I did link to above). Lee Fields is playing at an obscure little H St. NE club in DC Sunday. I might go. Speaking further of DC, I just heard Hardway Connection's upbeat "Southern Soul Rumpin'" again on WPFW. I wrote a feature on them years ago for the Washington City Paper, but they mostly just play south of DC now in Southern Maryland and they go to North Carolina in the summer sometimes and play for beach music/shagging aficianados. They have no website, and sent no promos for their latest cd to the press or websites as far as I can tell.

It's still weird to me how this stuff is ignored by, or goes ues under the radar of the folks who write up Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings, Ryan Shaw, Eli Reed, etc. I wish someone would e-mail that site's list to Jon Pareles, Ann Powers, Pitchfork and others and Malaco and Ecko would sent 'em stuff also.

Real funny mostly-talked song on the Southern Soul show today: Krystal (or Crystal?) Somebody, "Stop Telling Everything You Know." Girl who sounds like the girl in "MyBabyDaddy" (B-Rock? The Bizz? whoever) catches her dad kissing a woman who isn't her mom; her dad, who sounds like Snoop's dad asking him for five dollars in the "Gin and Juice" video, claims he was just helping the woman get something out of her eye. Daughter asks then how come her lipstick was messed up when Dad finished with her eye. (End of song, he helps her with her dress, too.)

I haven't heard that one. I will have to try and find it.

I haven't found it. I'm listening to James Funk fill in for the Gator on WPFW in DC right now. Funk, is a longtime go-go dj, but he also spins Southern soul and more on the radio. He's playing Miss Jody, OB Buchana, Aretha Franklin and more.

Awesome installment of that Austin KAZI-FM Southern Soul (actually "Blues," I think they officially call it) show last night -- Floyd Taylor's "Southern Soul Party" again; that heaven song about dead soul stars "gone home" again (still don't know who does that); a couple songs that showed up on the Trikont Motel Lovers comp a couple years ago that I'd never actually heard on the radio before (Marvin Sease's title track, Mel Waiters' "The Smaller The Club"); a zydeco rewrite of "Drop It While It's Hot"; lots and lots of cheatin' with the spouse's best friends songs, from both sides of the gender line. Especially liked this duet from what sounded like a gruff old mean jealous husband guy and a sweet-voiced and trusting young wife lady that seemed to be called "Two Different People." Plus one song with a long monologue about going to a hotel with some other woman and when the guy was coming out he saw his wife coming in with some other man, and another monologue song where another old-sounding guy gets picked up in the grocery store and winds up going over to the woman's house and having sex with her all day and periodically calling his wife and lying that he's got car problems but then the other woman's husband comes in and wacks him with a newspaper if I caught it right; and another one with an almost '50s-country-music-like talked beginning where the guy’s about to fly back to Austin from L.A. where he went with just his guitar (wonder if there’s different versions of that for different radio markets); and one where the guy says he likes his women like he likes his coffee –- dark, sweet, and hot. The only thing that drives me crazy is that they almost never back announce who did the songs. And since it’s often hard to figure out the song titles, which rarely turn out to be that distinctive anyway, googling is usually no help. (So if any of these sound familiar, please clue me in.) Still amazed, though, by just how much good stuff is out there.

Meanwhile, in more mainstream r&b circles, the best non-NeYo r&b hit I've heard on the radio this year, assuming it counts (actually dates to '08, apparently, but it's currently a hit on Radio Disney if nowhere else) is "How Do You Sleep" by Jesse McCartney (preferably the version without Ludacris.) Guess I just miss vulnerability in soul music or something; I really don't like The-Dream, at least not yet, though I think I'm finally starting to comprehend what other people like about him. Maybe I'm just not much of a concept album fan.

Also warming up to "There Goes My Baby" by old Gap Bander Charlie Wilson (a big r&b chart hit), though I get the idea I prefer the song to the performance. (Gap Band's specialty was never ballads, obviously.) Still want to check out his album sometime, though.

And speaking of albums, and old r&b reliables, I am really liking the new Teena Marie album (which I have an advance of.) Liking it as much as any Teena album in a couple decades, at least so far. Not sure if that will last, but I'm definitely liking it more than I expected. She is still weird. And still mushy, but the mush is part of the weird, somehow. And her singing still makes me melt like no one since. And the jazzy/scatty parts are wonderful. And she never does rock anymore, but I guess that's okay. Favorite song so far is the title cut, "Congo Square," with these in the running: "Can't Last A Day" (the single, featuring Faith Evans), "Baby I Love You," "Black Cool," "The Rose N' Thorn."

another monologue song where another old-sounding guy gets picked up in the grocery store and winds up going over to the woman's house and having sex with her all day and periodically calling his wife and lying that he's got car problems but then the other woman's husband comes in and wacks him with a newspaper if I caught it right;

There's a Roy C. song with this theme. When I last saw him live the lyrics were even more raunchy. He's from NY but is a longtime southern soul fave (somewhere upthread I posted more about him). He is very popular in the DC area. He's gonna be back around here at Lamonts in Pomonkey, MD outside DC May 23 with Miss Jody, the Hardway Connection and others. I like his voice and can do without the raunchiness

Charlie Wilson and Teena Marie perform live around here alot. DC's 40something and up African-American audience supports these folks. Meanwhile the DC area indie-rock audinece is excited about Sharon Jones and the Daptones coming to the 930 club for 2 shows this weekend. I have nothing against her, it just bugs me that's she's the only soul-related artist most of these folks pay attention to(because she's marketed to them). 70s soulsters the Chilites, the Dramatics, Cuba Gooding Sr and others are coming back to the Showplace Arena in Maryland Saturday. I bet I'd be one of the 5 to 10 pale-faces in the crowd of several thousand if I went. Whatever. It's just interesting to me.

You know who I wish would make a comeback (assuming he's still alive?) Richard "Dimples" Fields! He wasn't Southern apparently (in fact, Joel Whitburn calls him "owner of Cold Duck Music Lounge in San Francisco"!), but he was old school when old school wasn't cool anymore, which kind of counts. Always liked his first two albums from the early '80s a lot, and this weekend I bought a $1 used copy of his 1987 Columbia Tell It Like It Is (released just under the name "Dimples" for some reason -- maybe Boardwalk Records owned the rights to his first and last names?), and it's totally crass and wacky between the obligatory and never trustworthy yet undeniably pretty soul falsettos: An Aaron Neville cover that turns into an Oran "Juice" Jones-type spiel (subtitled "Dialogue" even though it's only one guy), two consecutive blatant early '80s style Prince rips ("Hooked On Your Loving" the ballad and then "Stand Up On It!" the new waved-out electro-funker), an even more blatant "Atomic Dog" ripoff ("Dog Or Hog," with oinks to go with the barks), and a timely closing track called "Do You Belong To The Dope Man?" (which also asks important questions such as "are you the type hooked on the pipe?" and "are you a fool of cool when you use crack?" then ridiculously suggests "don't go to waste on free base/get high on the love drug -- me myself and I.") Influence-wise, it's like Dimples was just trying to keep up with everybody who'd passed him up the past few years. So he was already behind the times, even when trying to keep up with them. Pretty sure almost nobody bought the album.

I also wonder whatever happened to Oran "Juice" Jones, come to think of it. These two guys were ahead of their time, in a way, for their idea that you could be a falsetto soul love man and a total cad and creep at the same time. And they both consciously revived the kind of soul monologues that used to be called "raps" before rap changed the meaning, but they did them as over-the-top parodies almost (yet without being cast a "comedy artists" per se'). And they were a lot funnier and more soulful about it than all the hip-hoppers who turned similar ideas into a cliche a decade-plus later.

"...cast as 'comedy artists'", I mean.

(So I guess I'm saying they were ahead of their time by being behind their time? Something like that. I wonder who else would fit in their genre.)

Oh well, RIP, I guess:

Sadly, in the year 2000, Richard Dimples Fields died of a stroke at Novato California Community Hospital in Los Angeles, California. He was 58.

http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Richard%20Dimples%20Fields.html

Also turns out that I don't have his "first two albums," since he'd put out three albums in the '70s! And looks like he put out a bunch of '80s LPs I've never heard, though the covers mostly look familiar, so I've probably seen them in stores.

----

Looks like Oran "Juice" had a comeback album in 1997, and Wapaedia claims "now he has 5 kids in houston texas and 3 go to Dodson Elementery," but information beyond that seems harder to find:

http://www.soulwalking.co.uk/Oran%20Juice%20Jones.html

I liked Juice too.

Roy C. may be known now for his cheatin' songs but, according to what I just read, in the 70s he varied things lyrically:

A footnote: The title "Something Nice" and the innocuous subject matter of the songs were a deliberate (and sarcastic) response to record label Mercury's complaints Roy C was too "controversial" on his previous albums with songs like "Open Letter To A President".

http://bluescritic.com/royc.html

Back to my pet peeve---Sharon Jones highlighted for her 60s throwback style in the Washington City Paper, NBC DC website, Washington Post site, & NPR's blog by Carrie "I only like Bon Iver bearded folkies" Brownstein; while the Stylistics, Dramatics, Chilites and Main Ingredient w/ Cuba Gooding Sr show goes unnoticed by those mostly rock-centric blogs and mainstream media outlets(and they've ignored Bobby Womack and other slightly rougher-edged soul folks over the years so its not just a we like Stax style but not 70s style thing). But the 70s soulsters will outdraw Jones anyway thanks to ads on 'quiet storm' black radio, and giveaways on the public radio Southern soul shows.

best non-NeYo r&b hit I've heard on the radio this year....is "How Do You Sleep" by Jesse McCartney

Really overrated this, it turns out. (Though the version with Luda is duller than the original mix.)

warming up to "There Goes My Baby" by old Gap Bander Charlie Wilson, though I get the idea I prefer the song to the performance... Still want to check out his album

Actually underrated this single, though -- it'd now be on my short list of my favorite singles of the year. And probably easily 2009's most convincingly "old school" major r&b hit so far -- plus it even rhymes "food court" with "shoe store" and "Macy's with "amazing"! Tried really hard with the album, though, and it just doesn't cut it -- He's just trying way too hard to come off up-to-date in the other songs, and he just comes off ridiculous instead, and not in an entertaining way: It's all just really oversung, over convoluted rhythms that communicate nothing and kill any potential hooks or feeling. Snoop Dogg and T-Pain/Jamie Foxx cameo tracks are complete washouts. If I had to pick a second favorite track, I'd probably go with the one that interpolates Player's pretty '70s soft-rock hit "Baby Come Back" but seems pointeless otherwise("Shawty Come Back," gawd) or the one that starts out with promising 2-step instructions but then just sinks into your usual Autotune tedium ("Back To Love"). Couldn't Charlie have done at least one Gap Band style funk stomp? That's what he was born to do, not all this oiled-up seduction crap.

really liking the new Teena Marie album... as much as any Teena album in a couple decades

Actually, I haven't played Ivory (which is still admittedly 19 years old!) in ages, and that might be more consistent; new one definitely drags for most of its first half, after you get past the initial couple songs. Favorite track is still "Congo Square," though, followed by "Pressure." But just like Charlie Wilson, I think Teena doesn't really understand what kinda stuff she used to be best at. (Or maybe their audiences just have no use for that sort of funk anymore. Which is sad, if you ask me.)

(Actually, the Charlie Wilson single I love is oiled-up seduction crap in its own endearing way. But at least in that one he's acting his age, not like some droopy-pantsed 22-year-old player.) (Btw, apparently there's also a Southern Soul singer called Charles Wilson. I wonder if that confuses anybody.)

OB Buchana's "Southern Soul Country Boy" is great. That's the 2nd catchy song of his I've heard.

Gonna be busy with family this weekend which means missing Miss Jody, Roy C., and Hardway Connection Saturday at Lamonts, and Little Royal (longtime James Brown impersonator) Sunday in Forrestville, Mad somewhere. Both of these gigs naturally are going completely unnoticed by the local mainstream media (but they'll get a sizable African-American DC area turnout anyout).

Forrestville, MD

So KAZI-Austin just segued Larry Hargrove's "I Need A Bailout" (my favorite Southern soul single of the year, and I had to call the station to finally find out who sang it) into Mel Waiters's "Everything's Going Up (By My Paycheck)" (now officially my second favorite Southern soul single of the year -- and as far as I can tell, it's just a single, not on an album.) Know nothing else about Larry Hargrove, though a quick google search indicates that he once did a song called "Leave Bill Clinton Alone."

Also been liking a couple of the (not exactly Southern Soul) current songs in KAZI's regular neo-soul rotation, namely "Sidestep" by Robin Thicke and Leela James's version of Womack and Womack's "Baby I'm Scared Of You" (off an album that, from the looks of things, appears to be mostly or all covers.)

While I'm here, here are roundtable reviews of three recent neo-soul singles from Singles Jukebox:

Charlie Wilson

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=774

Anthony Hamilton

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=712

Maxwell

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=710

Oops -- that Mel Waiters song is actually "Everything's Going Up (BUT My Paycheck)."

Though actually, the Southern Soul Singles chart at bluescritic.com lists it as just "Everything Is Going Up" (it was #2 there in April and May):

http://bluescritic.com/southernsoulsinglescharts.htm

And here is Larry Shannon Hargrove's CDBaby page for his "I Need A Bailout" album, which also has his Bill Clinton song. Maybe I should buy a copy:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/lshargrove

The Mel Waiters one is getting airplay on WPFW in DC

Re your Maxwell comments, I think these "quiet storm" singers look back not to forceful gospel-rooted soul, but to late 1970s Smokey ala "Quiet Storm" and to Luther Vandross.

I don't think of Irma Thomas as chitlin-circuit soul but sure enough in her rare appearance north at the free outdoor Duke Ellington Festival show at the Washington Monument she sang that song with words that go kinda "I Don't care what you do with my husband, just don't mess with my man." She sounded and looked great. Plus her large band-keyboard, organ and horns included-were tight. She's never gonna overpower ya like Etta or Aretha but she's got gospel-derived strength nonetheless. She did "It's Raining," but alas had no time to do (hah) "Time is on My Side."

The Bobbettes who had a hit in '57 with "Mr. Lee" did an out of the way DC area gig at Harmony Hall in Ft. Washington, MD recently that I missed. Now I see that they're gonna be on a Ponderosa Stomp goes to NY gig at Lincoln Center July 16th.