Big G (New Album Review)

Daddy B. Nice's #67 ranked Southern Soul Artist



Portrait of Big G (New Album Review) by Daddy B. Nice
 


"Thank You Girl"

Big G (New Album Review)

Scroll down to "About The Artist" for Big G's extensive discography.

Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's CD Reviews.

June 30, 2024:

BIG G: Sitting On The Sidelines (Cynthia Vaughn)
Three Stars *** Solid. The artist's fans will enjoy.

Big G's aptly-titled Sitting On The Sidelines has been out for a few months now, gathering modest traffic. It's the "new normal" for southern soul artists who came of age before the social media explosion of the last dozen years. Young artists like J'Cenae, Young Guy, Marcellus The Singer and F.P.J. attract many millions of YouTube views, carving out lucrative touring careers on singles alone. Meanwhile, artists like Big G, who has been recording southern soul albums for over twenty years, languish on the sidelines, starved for high-dollar bookings.

The latest bead in Big G's musical necklace, this album could impress newcomers more than veterans. In "Give Him His Papers" Big G responds to a request for money from a female friend. "Baby, I'm just your sidepiece, I'm not your husband." He then proceeds to put a new twist on the "sidepiece" drama, suggesting a responsible solution. Divorce the husband, get with me. The tune reflects the old Ann Nesby/Al Green standard, "Put It On Paper".
J
Big G confronts another domestic drama in "First Of The Year," notifying a female housemate he's going to show her the door "the first of the year" if she doesn't start doing her part around the house. This is classic Big G---part melody, part talk---woven into a relatively popular treatment (nearly 400K views).

There are retreads, possibly too many. "1-800," first published in the SIMPLY ME CD, swivels around the phrase, "Are you lonely and depressed?/ Are you tired of being stressed?" "Let's Party" was the title tune of the album of the same name a few years ago, and "Hot Loving" is another oft-recorded track, first appearing on the KEEPING IT REAL album.

But Big G still has his muse, writer/producer Cynthia Vaughn, and Sitting On The Sidelines isn't just a compilation. "Going Crazy" is a new project, as is the title tune, "Sitting On The Sidelines". A guest artist named Ms. Mickenzie delivers an interesting solo cut ("Won't You Rock Me Baby?") and "Can't Wait To Be With You" has some verve.

And there you have it. No surprises. No gaffes. Staten (Big G) and Vaughn have all the tools to record a hit single, and they've come close to recording a career-changing single with songs like "Last Paycheck," but the possibility of bringing in millions of fans like King George and these new-generation young guns appears more distant than ever. Not only for Big G., but many other veteran artists who've watched the genre explode in popularity and---at least to an extent---leave them behind.

---Daddy B. Nice

Buy Big G's SITTING ON THE SIDELINES album at Apple

See Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Big G.

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SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide
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Listen to Big G singing "Thank You Girl" on YouTube.

Daddy B. Nice's Original Profile


Big G is built like a hundred-year old tree stump. His neck alone is the size of an average man's waist. That's why they call him "big." And yet, he really doesn't sing "big," whatever that may sound like--perhaps an opera singer, or an American Idol candidate. Instead, his voice inhabits the middle ranges of the male register, as far up as a tenor, as far down as a baritone.

Big G's voice has a sweet, roughhewn quality, a cross between soul singers like Joe Simon and Clarence Carter and folksingers like Burl Ives, Jimmy Dean and Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Cover songs are often revelatory. Big G hasn't done many, but in his version of "I'd Rather Go Blind" much of the dark soul of Etta Jame's original vocal falls by the wayside and one almost expects to hear "Sixteen tons/What do you get?/Another day older/And deeper in debt."

Big G. is the kind of singer who could trade verses with Johnny Cash on "Ring of Fire" without the slightest drop-off in cowpuncher credibility. There's a distinct country-western inflection to his phrasing.

Much of this has to do with Big G.'s roots in Virginia. Like Tennessee's Wilson Meadows, he's never been at the heart of the Southern Soul scene, be it with Sir Charles and friends in western Alabama or with O. B. Buchana and the dozens of Southern Soul stars from Jackson and north-central Mississippi.

Big G's mentor, Roy C, lived outside the core area for southern rhythm and blues, too, and his career suffered for it. Like Roy C, Big G soldiered on without a lot of the networking that Delta musicians take for granted, and like Roy C, he has never faltered, releasing record after record without much compensation and without much airplay.

Still, he never lost confidence, outlasting countless one-and-done and two-and-done singers, patiently building a catalog, and today, with over a dozen albums to his credit, Big G holds down a noteworthy legacy in the middle ranks of Southern Soul vocalists, his reputation secure, his albums always credible.

I first became enamored with Big G about five years into his career with the tune, "Thank You Girl" (Stone River, 2005).

"Thank You Girl" was distinguished by one of the most marvelous background textures, a kind of chitlin' circuit "wall of sound" mixing the rhythm track, a rhythm guitar, a lead guitar, a female background and some unprepossessing horns.

You can hear this background track, ironically enough, on a YouTube presentation--

Listen to the background and rhythm track from Big G's "Thank You Girl" on YouTube.

--which, unfortunately omits Big G's transforming vocal. Ironically, a full version of the complete track isn't available (at the time of this writing).

Sample Big G's "Thank You Girl" mp3 with his vocal added.

"Here I am,
Just you and I.
I'm full of fire,
You're my one desire
I want to make you my wife."

You have to get a little farther into the vocal to know without a doubt how far into this song Big G is, and how humbly entranced he is by his loved one.

"Loving you,
It's been so good for me.
You came into my life
At a time when I was going down.

But you picked me up, baby,
And made me love again.
Taught me how it feels,
Showed me what was real.
I want to thank you, girl."

The chorus:

"I want to thank you, girl,
For saving me.
You made me be a man.
You made me understand
The game of love."

The sample (at the time of this writing) doesn't do justice to the effect Big G builds in the listener after a verse or two. But it's also true the song isn't perfect--marred to an extent by its programming, tentative horn lines and less than pristine mix.

Despite those flaws, however, the emotional accuracy in "Thank You Girl" is devastating. And with all those good vibes coursing through the lyrics, the background suddenly sounds perfectly apropos, gripping you you with a hypnotic power that never grows stale.

It was my fascination with the musical textures Big G achieved in "Thank You Girl" that led me to assume that was Big G's strength as an artist. Big G has recorded a steady output of CD's since 2005, and the curve in studio projection has gone accordingly up, but the most evident progress has been in his vocals, not his backgrounds.

(Big G was always a good singer--a singer who could turn your head. A great early song like "Hot Lovin'" is proof of that. What's not to like? You can hear Fats Domino in it.)

Listen to Big G singing "Hot Loving" on YouTube.

....But in the last few years, as Big G has matured, he's tackled themes and techniques that have taken his vocals to new levels--"I Can Do It," for example.

Here Big G lays out an arrangement that would do Mel Waiters proud, superimposing a drawn-out yet riveting story of man-meets-woman-and-they-get-it-on, but the surprise is Big G's novelty vocal.

Listen to Big G singing "I Can Do It" on YouTube.
Big G talks--rather than sings--the lyrics, and the effect is amazing (a throwback to top-forty pop?) but it goes beyond that. Big G times the words to the mechanically-exact beats in each bar and extends this child-like technique through entire verses. The story is worth the price, and there's a surprise ending, but the revelation is the ease with which Big G navigates the fun.

"Misunderstood" has a similar low-budget, supermarket-counter appeal, but here Big G adopts a slower style, with a heightened clarity and emotive power. Big G also adds a female vocal cameo which adds immeasurably and by contrast highlights his own.

Likewise for the Roy Orbison-like "Walk Away." In awarding his album All About Me a four-star, "distinguished effort" rating in November 2011 (see Daddy B. Nice's New CD Reviews) and picking his song "Walk Away," for DBN's Top Ten, I noted--

Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Review For. . .

OCTOBER 2011

1. "Walk Away"----------Big G.

A singer develops a technique (in this case artfully cracked vocals) through years of hard experience to be able to define the hurt Big G conveys in the lines--

"I'm not a play-thing,
I'm a full-grown man."

The heir apparent to Roy C.


Big G has become one of Southern Soul's natural resources, and it's about time he put out a "Greatest Hits" album. With one exception, his many CD's have been published by his own indie label, Stone River Records, so there are no copyright issues to complicate such a project. The album would surely be his best-seller.

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To read the latest updates on Big G, including Daddy B. Nice's many reviews of his CD's, scroll down this page to the "Tidbits" section.

To automatically link to Big G's charted radio singles, awards, CD's and other citations on the website, go to "Big G" in Daddy B. Nice's Comprehensive Index.

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--Daddy B. Nice


About Big G (New Album Review)

George Staten Sr., aka Big G, was born in Charlotte County, Virginia on July 4, 1957. He began his professional singing career in 1997 opening for Roy C at the elder artist's performances in the mid-Atlantic states.

Big G's first solo CD, Steppin' Out, appeared in 1999 on his self-owned label, Stone River Records.

A more influential CD, Keeping It Real (Stone River), highlighted by Big G's first popular Southern Soul single, "Hot Loving," followed four years later, in 2003.

From that point on, Big G released at least an album a year.

Big G's Discography:

Steppin' Out, (Stone River, 1999)

Keeping It Real (Stone River, 2003)

Here It Is (Stone River, 2004)

Love On The Run (Stone River, 2005)

Broken Hearted (Stone River, 2006)

Nothin' But A Party (Stone River, 2006)

Midnight Love (Stone River, 2006)

Simply Me
(Stone River, 2007)

Santa Claus Slide (Christmas album Stone River, 2007)

Heart And Soul (Stone River, 2008)

A Southern Soul Christmas (Christmas album, Stone River, 2008)

Count Your Blessings (Gospel album, Stone River, 2009)

Coming At You (Stone River, 2009)

Special Delivery (CDS, 2010)

All About Me (Stone River, 2011)

Last Paycheck (Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River, 2012)

Nothin But A Party, Vol. II (Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River Records, 2013)

Yellow Ribbon (Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River Records 2014)....

Satisfaction Guaranteed (Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River Records 2016)

Darkest Hour (Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River Records 2017)

Lonely Tears (Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River Records 2018)

Let's Party (Stone River, 2019)

Midnight Love Vol. 4 (Cynthia Vaughn, 2020)

Keep On Rockin' (Cynthia Vaughn, 2020)

My Lucky Day (Cynthia Vaughn, 2022)

Sitting On The Sidelines Stone River, 2023


Scroll down to Tidbits section for the latest additions to Big G's discography.

Browse through all of Big G's CD's in Daddy B. Nice's Bargain-Priced CD Store.

Big G has also been a longtime disc jockey for local radio station WCLM in Richmond, Virginia, where he currently resides.


Song's Transcendent Moment

"I couldn't see
The forest for the trees.
Love had broken my heart.
I didn't want to start
All over again.

I want to thank you, girl,
For saving me.
You made be a man.
You made me understand
The game of love."


Tidbits

1.


November 29, 2011: Updated May 1, 2016:

Here are some YouTube videos for Big G:

Listen to Big G singing "Somebody Like You" on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing "Yellow Ribbon" on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing "Last Paycheck" on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing "Tear Drops" on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing "Somebody Loves You Back" on YouTube.

Watch Big G singing "Misunderstood" on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing songs from the SPECIAL DELIVERY album on YouTube.

Listen to Big G. singing "I Can Do It" on YouTube.

Listen To Big G singing "Two Step" on YouTube.

Listen to Big singing "Hot Lovin'" on YouTube.

2.



November 12, 2011:

BIG G: All About Me (Stone River) Four Stars **** Distinguished Effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Big G breathes new life into the clichés of domestic life on his new CD, All About Me.

"Walk Away," the thematic heart of the album (see Daddy B. Nice's #1 "Breaking" Southern Soul Single for October 2011) reworks "The Hands Of Time," a tune Big G recorded previously on the Special Delivery album.

A singer develops a technique (in this case artfully cracked vocals) through years of hard experience to be able to convey the hurt, disillusionment and realistic self-appraisal Big G. conveys in the lines--

"I'm not a play-thing,
I'm a full-grown man."

--from "Walk Away."

The album as a whole mixes three perspectives on love and relationships: the pain of losing love ("Walk Away"), the joy of requited love (the first track, "Get It On") and the energetic pursuit of it.

"Get It On"will remind longtime fans of "Hot Lovin,'" the iconic Big G tune that in one way or another graced many of Big G's early CD's. The loping, mid-tempo beat provides the perfect backdrop for G's twanging country tenor.

Then the masculine sensitivity of "Walk Away" segues into "Love Me Right," representing the desperate search for new love and companionship.

"She don't have to be a beauty queen," Big G reports,

"An everyday girl will do."

While the mainstream music world may still look at this kind of music as embarrassingly outmoded, Southern Soul fans will know better. It's still the substance of real life and as such valid material if the true emotion shines through--and it does. Big G's plaintive verses and empathy-provoking voice-overs make sure of that.

"Have A Good Time" is generic, but Track #5, "Bad Self,"another home-breaking domestic ode with familiar Big G chords, has a nice refrain:

"Go on with your bad self."

The ballad "My Special Prayer" has a throwback feel to it, so much so that it sounds like a cover of an old standard your Daddy B. Nice couldn't put his finger on. Big G excels at vintage sounds.

The niftily-titled "Small Brown Frame" redoes such Big G uptempo tunes as "Pop That Thang" and the even better "Chillin'" slows it down with a winsome melody and a refreshing female chorus. In fact, after "Walk Away," "Chillin'" holds the most potential as a Southern Soul single, with a swaying, rocking hook that revels in its romantic message: spending time with a loved one.

The title cut, "All About Me," and the slow jam, "So Long," bring the album to its beach-music finale, "Myrtle Beach," "just a few hours away" from this Carolina native's home.

"It's a place I love. . .
Sometimes I wanna go there
And make a new start."

Big G acquits himself with customary professionalism and guy-next-door immediacy on this, his umpteenth album. With a catalog that makes most Southern musicians seem like johnnie-come-lately's, Big G is still an underground phenomenon, but his audience continues to grow, and justifiably so. He has a unique sound and a disciplined approach to his career.

All About Me confirms Big G as heir apparent to his onetime mentor, Roy C.

--Daddy B. Nice

Bargain-Priced All About Me CD, MP3's.

Browse other Big G CD's in Daddy B. Nice's CD Store.

3.


May 1, 2016: NEW ALBUM ALERT

Sample/Buy Big G's new SATISFACTION GUARANTEED CD at CD Baby.

Sample/Buy Big G's new SATISFACTION GUARANTEED CD at iTunes.

See Daddy B. Nice's upcoming Southern Soul Singles Preview for May 2016.

Listen to Big G singing "Work That Thang" on YouTube (from the new album).

Listen to Big G singing "Just Say The Word (Remix)" on YouTube (from the new album).

4.


June 10, 2017: Originally posted on Daddy B. Nice's Corner

Daddy B Nice on Big G

"...He's published, by my count, some nineteen albums--twenty including his newest release, Darkest Hour--since his debut Steppin' Out in 1999. That's an average of an album a year over two decades, more than long enough to be given some genuine respect."


Listen to Big G singing "Down On My Knees".

Read Daddy B. Nice's review of Big G's THE DARKEST HOUR.

Read Daddy B. Nice's Guide to Big G.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

5.


April 15, 2017:

New Album Alert!


Sample/Buy Big G's new DARKEST HOUR CD at CD Baby.

Sample/Buy Big G's new DARKEST HOUR CD at iTunes.

DARKEST HOUR TRACK LIST:


1
Steppen
2
Can You Hear Me
3
Down on My Knees
4
Wanna Go Dancing
5
Ladies Man
6
Darkest Hour
7
Backyard Barbecue
8
Shake That Thang
9
Can't Stop Thinking About You (Remix)
10
Two Step in the Name of Love (Remix)
11
Backyard Barbecue (Instrumental)

Listen to Big G singing "Darkest Hour" on YouTube.

--Daddy B. Nice

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

6.

Read Noah Shaffer's profile of Big G in "Living Blues Magazine".

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

7.

July 15, 2018:

See Daddy B. Nice's New CD Review!

May 19, 2018:

New Album Alert!


Sample/Buy Big G's new LONELY TEARS CD at CD Baby.

LONELY TEARS TRACK LIST:


1

Being with You (Remix)

2
Tonight Is the Night

3
You're Not the Only One

4
Lonely Tears

5
I Need Your Love (Remix)

6
Work That Thang (Remix)

7
Friends

8
Will You

9
Don't Take Your Love Away

10
I Need Your Love (Instrumental)

Daddy B. Nice notes:

You can set your clock by it. Every year, around the month of May, Big G releases an album of new material.

Listen to Big G's official video for "I Need Your Love (Remix)"--from the new album--on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing "Lonely Tears" on YouTube.

Buy Big G's LONELY TEARS album at iTunes.

--Daddy B. Nice

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

8.

November 18, 2018: First posted on Daddy B. Nice's New CD Reviews

July 15, 2018:

BIG G: Lonely Tears
Four Stars **** Distinguished effort. Should please old fans and gain new.

Southern Soul music from the mid-Atlantic states has been given short shrift by the genre's fans, and with some justification. In Virginia, Roy C's self-published albums were nearly impossible to find even at the height of his career. In Maryland, Frank Mendenhall's recordings were just as obscure, picked up by aficionados only. Younger artists like Hardway Connection and Sir Jonathan Burton came and went without making much headway. That is, until Big G--and more recently, J. Red (The Nephew)--came along.

With the Internet, the days of limited access to fans that hobbled Roy C are over. Big G, who took Roy C as his mentor, now posts YouTube songs regularly netting 100K-plus views. And for an "unaffiliated" recording artist, the disciplined "G" has quietly accrued an astounding series of roughly twenty albums in the last two decades, all this in the fertile, gospel-rich, Virginia-Carolinas base that has steadily gained southern soul adherents, as can be seen by the frequency of--and attendance at--southern soul concerts in the area. Even Deep South stars like Ms. Jody and Big Pokey Bear regularly trek north nowadays to the big audiences in Roy C/Big G territory.

Big G's newest release, Lonely Tears, isn't so different from the Big G albums preceding it. Southern soul vocals with a unique country/bluegrass strain. At least one or two unique compositions. Mesmerizing rhythm tracks. Skilled arrangements with live instruments, including most prominently saxophone, with a little programmed strings or the like discreetly added for depth.

The new, stand-out single on Lonely Tears is "You're Not The Only One," in the classic mid-tempo vein.

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Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles Preview For. . .

-------JULY 2018-------

...4. "You're Not The Only One"----------Big G

This is the song to hear from G's new LONELY TEARS LP. Big G is in really fine form, and the production with the female background vocals, harmonica and "live" saxophone is superb. Unfortunately, no YouTube "freebies" (7-4-18). See Daddy B. Nice's "Big G: New Album Alert!

7-15-18: DBN notes: All the album cuts from LONELY TEARS are now posted on YouTube.

Listen to Big G singing "You're Not The Only One" on YouTube.

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The other outstanding song from the set is "I Need Your Love (Remix),", first published on the Broken Hearted album (2006). Big G has just put up an "official video" for the tune:

Listen to the official video of Big G singing "I Need Your Love" on YouTube.

And give Big G credit for recognizing a good thing when he hears it (something very few recording artists excel at). He concludes the set with "I Need Your Love (Instrumental)". I almost had to pinch myself as I got lost in the robust saxophone solo, going back to the jazz of my youth.

These two great songs alone highlight what Big G brings to the table. Humility. Authenticity. Admirable songwriting. Supreme yet relaxed confidence in presentation and vocals. A thorough understanding and execution of all the background elements. The female background vocals. The brass and string interludes. The refreshing, "human" rhythm sections.

The rest of the album holds up, too. Two noteworthy remixes appear, along with a bevy of new tracks, among them:

"Being With You (Brings Out The Best In Me) (Remix)" was first published in 2004, on the Here It Is album.

And "Work That Thang (Remix)" was originally recorded for the Satisfaction Guaranteed album (2016).

Big G does a rare and interesting duet, collaborating with a singer named Lady T on"Tonight Is The Night," and almost forgotten in the mix is "Lonely Tears," the title track.

Listen to the official video of Big G singing "Lonely Tears" on YouTube.

Brimming over with all the quintessential vocal and lyrical quirks that have become synonymous with his brand, "Will You (Still Be In Love With Me)" is also compelling music, like something Big G might have recorded in the past. The influence of Roy C is especially strong.

"Friends," "Don't Take Your Love From Me" and a another tune or two close out this worthy entry in the Big G canon.

Here's a list of the credits, and you won't find many this extensive on southern soul albums today. And yes, the Glenn Jones playing percussion must be the same Glenn Jones who recorded the southern soul classic, "Baby, Come Home". After all, how many "Glen's" with two "n's" can there be?

Drums: Glenn Jones
Lead Guitar: Lamont Menefield, James Carter and William Anderson
Bass Guitar: William Anderson, Wilbert Anderson, Anthony Lucas
Sax: Richard D'Abreu
Background Vocals: Monica, Tonya and Michelle
Executive Producer: Cynthia Vaughan, CEO, Stone River Records
Arrangement: Sir Jonathan Burton and Big G
Songwriter: Big G
Producer: Big G

--Daddy B. Nice

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

9.


February 12, 2019: Originally posted on Daddy B. Nice's Best Of 2018 page.

January 26, 2018:

Daddy B. Nice Announces THE WINNERS of the 2018 (12th Annual) SOUTHERN SOUL MUSIC AWARDS.

Best Song by Longtime Veteran

Nominees:

"The Mule"----O.B. Buchana
"Squeeze Me"----Sir Charles Jones
"I Won't Give You Up"----Andre' Lee
"Let's Play Hide And Seek"----Ms. Jody
"I Want You"----Vick Allen
"Sidepiece On The Side"----Willie Clayton
"Cheating Together"----Mose Stovall
"Parking Lot Love Affair"----O.B. Buchana
"How Low Can You Go?"----L.J. Echols
"I Done Found Your Good Thang"----Rick Lawson
"Basement Party"----Uvee Hayes
"100 Years"----Sir Charles Jones
"You're Not The Only One"----Big G
"Make Your Toes Curl"----Mr. David
"Still Called The Blues"----Donnie Ray
"Dance"----Lebrado
"Don't Be Ashamed"----Bigg Robb
"That Bitch Ain't Me"----Karen Wolfe

Best Song By Longtime Veteran: "You're Not The Only One" by Big G

Listen to Big G singing "You're Not The Only One" on YouTube.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

10. LET’S PARTY Album Alert & CD Review!


July 4, 2019:

NEW ALBUM ALERT!:


Buy Big G's new LET'S PARTY album at CD Baby.

LET'S PARTY TRACK LIST:


1. Let's Party

2. Beauty Queen

3. Give Me Back My Heart

4. That Young Thang

5. Personality

6. Loving

7. Freaky Groove (Remix)

8. Sending Her Back

9. What You Mean to Me

10. I'd Go Back

11. What You Mean to Me (Instrumental)

Daddy B. Nice notes:

Big G releases his annual LP and it's both consistent in quality and familiar in content. As always, the live instrumental tracks lend the set a pristine quality rare in southern soul recordings. The ballad "Loving" is an apt example, merging a live rhythm section, keyboards and horns with G's brawny, back-country vocal. The title tune has the makings of a worthy southern soul single. "That Young Thang," with a humorous voice-over, excels simply because it does embellish G's timeworn formulas. "What You Mean To Me," a straightforward love song, also stands out. The only legitimate criticism of the CD is that it is so like its predecessors.

Listen to Big G. singing "Let's Party," the title tune of his new LET'S PARTY album, on YouTube.

Listen to all the tracks from Big G's LET'S PARTY album on YouTube.

Buy Big G's new LET'S PARTY album at CD Baby.

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SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

Originally posted in Daddy B. Nice's CD Reviews.

August 25, 2019:

BIG G: Let's Party (Stone River Records)
Three Stars *** Solid. The artist's fans will enjoy.

Without fail, my youngest brother (same mother, seventeen years my junior) sends out a "Song Of The Day" e-mail to the extended family, and once a month your Daddy B. Nice "subs," usually picking a southern soul song in which to indoctrinate the recalcitrant family (not a typical southern soul audience) in the southern soul genre. This month I sent out Big G's "I'd Go Back" from his latest album, Let's Party, with the following explanation:

"Here is a song from a CD I’m reviewing this week. The artist is Big G. from North Carolina. Unlike most southern soul artists, he uses all live instruments in his recordings. He’s on the borderline with country, bluegrass, and Americana. The song is "I'd Go Back". I like this stanza’s lyrics:"

Living down in a small town,
Everyone knows your name.
If you ever do something wrong in your life,
It’ll always bring you shame.


Listen to Big G singing "I'd Go Back" on YouTube.

You know how families are; you're lucky if you get any reaction, especially with a new song, and when you do it's usually unanticipated or off-the-wall. Vintage tunes--the ones that bring back memories--are the most popular, so I wasn't expecting much response from the family, even though we all grew up in a small town. However, Big G drew reaction. First, one sister commented on the coincidence that the song went out a year to the day after our beloved mother died. My song-of-the-day brother responded, "I liked your selection today from Big G. I may have to give it another listen." (High praise from him.) A first cousin chimed in with a thumbs-up, and another sister wrote back: "A good song, and touching lyrics! That's where my mother had me. (Another lyric from the song.) Thank you!"

I report this anecdote because it dovetails with a theme I was already considering for this review: namely, that Big G really does come close to being a crossover artist (via Americana and Bluegrass.). He never gets profane or outrageous--the bane of many conservative and religious people such as my family--and his music doesn't sound as strange as most southern soul music does to uninitiated ears. G's vocal style (which I once compared to bygone folksinger Burl Ives) and his live instrumental tracks also place his music closer to the Americana genre (remember, that's the category in which William Bell won his Grammy), and if Big G ever makes inroads with the college radio/National Public Radio/FM-friendly music market, he could cross over with financial windfalls.

In a profile of Big G written for Living Blues Magazine, writer Noah Schaffer recounts Big G's and (producer/promoter) Cynthia Vaughn's consternation at Big G's being excluded from an R&B festival in Virginia they themselves had started.

Vaughn noticed a paucity of southern soul venues in the region south of Richmond--and that Big G was invariably excluded from the lineups of outdoor Richmond events that book R&B groups, like the Second Street and Richmond Folk Festivals. So, Stone River launched the Father's Day Blues Festival in Crewe, Virginia...The event has featured artists like Kenne' Wayne, Jeff Floyd and Joe Tex III. Despite always having a peaceful audience, Big G and Vaughn were stunned when they were denied a permit to use the Crewe pavilion this year. Adding to the sting was that events targeted at white audiences were allowed to continue.

Well, that's not surprising. For "events targeted at white audiences," read mid-twentieth-century electric blues, the only blues with which the great majority of the white audience is familiar. And it's not surprising because in the southern soul geography, Virginia is a "frontier," an outlier. It's not the Delta, where southern soul music is insulated and where every small town and mid-sized city (even the capital of Jackson, Mississippi seems like a county seat to travelers from the North) is seeped in southern soul culture.

In Virginia, on the old Mason-Dixon line, you have a Tower of Babel of life styles and cultures, from small rural towns such as Big G (aka George Staten) grew up in, to the bedroom communities of the richest cache of urban-oriented lawyers feeding at the national trough in all of America. You have music fans who can't differentiate Big G among Shuggie Otis, Swamp Dogg, Al Green or Lionel Richie. In this confusing musical potpourri it's no wonder Big G (while identifying himself as a southern soul artist) sounds so different from most southern soul artists, and it's no wonder that G finds himself beset on every side by musical competition, genres and audiences of bewildering variety.

Big G himself is not confused. In the title track to the new disc, "Let's Party," he proudly invites "all you southern soul fans" to join him in his virtual Saturday night club setting and he rejoices at all the "southern soul fans everywhere". " Party" may have been intended as a showcase track, but it--or at least this version, with its simple chords, lackadaisical tempo and familiar delivery--falls short. The error may be letting the jazzy saxophone take the lead on the entire instrumental track when something more forceful--a good, blazing, lead guitar hook, for a change--is called for to slam the song home. And if there is an over-riding flaw to Let's Party as an album, it's the lack of a memorable song with the soulfulness and musicality of "You're Not The Only One" and, to a lesser extent, "I Need Your Love (Remix)" from Big G's last album, Lonely Tears.

The most interesting tunes from this new set are the aforementioned "I'd Go Back" and the old man/sugar-daddy vs. younger woman/gold-digger dichotomy of "That Young Thang," which has that novelty-song thing going for it in the same way G's biggest hit, "Last Paycheck" did. Indeed, "That Young Thang" simulates the same chords, tempo and even vocal approach (utilizing talking/rapping) as "Last Paycheck". Big G should take note, because every hit song from an unknown or little-known genre, going back from contemporary southern soul (Bishop Bullwinkle's "Hell Naw To The Naw Naw," Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It," etc.) to early "race" music (Cab Calloway, etc.), r&b and rock and roll has been labeled a "novelty song".

Technically, Let's Party is pristine. G's vocals are mostly superb, the background tracks lend much-needed texture, and the ubiquitous live saxophone fills and other live instruments are refreshing to hear in a southern soul context. There's something about live percussion that can't be replicated in programming. With live drums there is an anticipation, a Waiting-for-Godot like tension, as if the next bar might be tweaked with a slight hesitation, a flourish or other musical surprise, or as if the next bar might (or might not) even be played.

This works especially well in songs like "Personality," which sounds like Big G has been listening to some vintage Barbara Lewis, and "Loving," a cradle-rocking-tempo-ed ballad. Another ballad, "Give Me Back My Heart," with its strong Big G lead vocal and "hoo-hoo," owl-like, female background track, is especially poignant. The tune shimmers with G's trademark strength and authenticity.

But in spite of the good, solid music on the CD, the nagging question for longtime Big G fans will be the lack of much of anything musically new or surprising. Songs like "Freaky Groove," "What You Mean To Me" and "Beauty Queen" sound way too familiar. The disc may actually hold more pleasure for fans new to the artist.

Cynthia Vaughn, in the Living Blues article quoted above, recounts how back in the day Big G wanted to release a new album every six months. She convinced G to release no more than one new set a year, but even that pace is a torrid one for a solo singer/songwriter unaffiliated with any label--second only to John Ward's flagship artists (O.B. Buchana, Ms. Jody, etc.) at Ecko Records, who have their own perennial issues with fresh, non-derivative material--and John Ward relies on collaborators, something Big G to this point has not. Big G will have to surpass the songwriting limits of this CD and add more variety and novelty to his production in order to take his artistry to an even higher level. Perhaps he needs to slow down, step back and take the long view: take in the mountain vistas with their gleaming white, snow-covered peaks beckoning his art, not just the foothills where he is safely and securely ensconced as a southern soul institution.

--Daddy B. Nice

Listen to all the tracks from Big G's New LET'S PARTY album on YouTube.

Buy Big G's new LET'S PARTY album at CD Baby.

Read Daddy B. Nice's "Big G: New Album Alert!"

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

11. Dual Album Alert!


October 29, 2020:

NEW ALBUM ALERT!


Buy Big G's KEEP ON ROCKIN' album at Apple.

KEEP ON ROCKIN' TRACK LIST:

1
Get with It

2
Steppin In - Steppin Out

3
Can't Tell Nobody

4
Can I Hold You

5
Lonely Man Remix

6
Your Loveliness

7
2020

8
Mr DJ

9
Let Me Prove

10
Keep on Rockin

11
Take This Tip Remix

Daddy B. Nice notes:

Big G's KEEP ON ROCKIN' is a new album of all new material. The title song appears on Daddy B Nice's Top 10 Singles for November 2020.

*******************
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles For. . .

-------NOVEMBER 2020-------

...8. "Keep On Rockin'"-----Big G

As I've testified before, Big G is at his best when he inserts a little novelty into his tunes. This time he hits the bullseye with a jam glorifying the real old folks. Reminiscent of Stan Butler's "Took My Grandma To The Club".

Listen to Big G singing "Keep On Rockin'" on YouTube.
*******************


Big G has also just released the fourth in a series of retrospective compilations. See "Midnight Love Vol. 4" by scrolling immediately below. The compilation includes "Lonely Tears" and "You're Not The Only One," one of G's best ballads, from the LONELY TEARS album,
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzhyedEI5m4&list=OLAK5uy_mB0gzL-ObclUr8m3TaO8-yDbQixNSI3jw&index=5" target="_blank" class="guidetext" >"Personality"
from 2019's LET'S PARTY album, and even "Keep On Rockin'" and "2020" from the new "Keep On Rockin' album. "2020" has no references to Covid-19, by the way.

Listen to Big G singing the title cut "Keep On Rockin'" on YouTube.

Listen to all the tracks from Big G's KEEP ON ROCKIN' album on YouTube.

Buy Big G's KEEP ON ROCKIN' album at Amazon.

MIDNIGHT LOVE VOL. 4



Buy Big G's new MIDNIGHT LOVE VOL. 4. album at Amazon.

MIDNIGHT LOVE VOL.4 TRACK LIST

1
2020

2
Personality

3
Lonely Tears

4
Can I Hold You

5
Your Not the Only One

Mr DJ

7
What You Mean to Me

8
Give Me Back My Heart

9
Loving

10
Lonely Man Remix

11
Friends

Listen to all the tracks from MIDNIGHT LOVE VOL.4 on YouTube.

Buy Big G's MIDNIGHT LOVE VOL.4 album at Apple.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide

12.


October 29, 2022:

NEW ALBUM ALERT!

Buy Big G's MY LUCKY DAY album at Blues Critic.

MY LUCKY DAY TRACK LIST:

1
Everything And More

2
Spend Some Time With Me

3
My Lucky Day

4
Honey Love

5
It's Crazy

6
Mr. Do Right (Remix)

7
Never Fall In Love Again

8
Love On The Beach (Remix)

9
Party By Ourselves

10
Thinking About You (Remix)

11
What A Fool

Daddy B. Nice notes:

This is something like Big G's twenty-second or twenty-third album (not counting retrospective collections) spanning nearly a quarter-century. The most prominent track and also the first single is "My Lucky Day," a part-bittersweet and part-vindictive lament addressed to a departing partner with lyrics like "Someone else has been getting your love/ It might be the next door neighbor" and "So you're leaving me/ Go on and make my day". The latter is from the chorus, a memorable and sweetly melodic phrase in which Big G is joined by his fine female back-up singer. (#9, Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles, October 2022.)

G dips into his extensive catalog to remix 2008's Heart & Soul album's "Mr. Do Right" without the rap sections and 2009's Coming At You album's "Love On The Beach" with a West Indies musical flair. The best lyric line is "Smell the fresh air/ No one cares what color your skin may be."

Of the new songs, "Honey Love," with voice-overs featuring arguing mates, stands out, as does the dance-tempoed "Everything And More". Also worth checking out is "What About You," a vivid account of lust and temptation, specifically a man after "the woman of my best friend".

Listen to all the tracks from Big G's MY LUCKY DAY album on YouTube.

Buy Big G's MY LUCKY DAY album at Blues Critic.

Buy Big G's new MY LUCKY DAY album at Apple.

SouthernSoulRnB.com - Chitlin' Circuit Southern Soul Music Guide


If You Liked. . . You'll Love

If you liked Lebrado's "I'm Missing You, Babe," you'll love Big G's "Thank You, Girl."





Honorary "B" Side

"Hot Loving"




5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Thank You Girl by  Big G (New Album Review)
Thank You Girl


CD: Love On The Run
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Love On The Run


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy Hot Loving by  Big G (New Album Review)
Hot Loving


CD: Keeping It Real
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Keeping It Real


5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 5 Stars 
Sample or Buy I Can Do It by  Big G (New Album Review)
I Can Do It


CD: Coming At You
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Coming At You


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy 1-800 by  Big G (New Album Review)
1-800


CD: Simply Me
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Simply Me


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Can't Live My Life Without You by  Big G (New Album Review)
Can't Live My Life Without You


CD: Midnight Love
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Midnight Love


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Chillin' by  Big G (New Album Review)
Chillin'


CD: All About Me
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
All About Me


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Heart Ache by  Big G (New Album Review)
Heart Ache


CD: Heart And Soul
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Heart And Soul


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Hot Loving (Remix) by  Big G (New Album Review)
Hot Loving (Remix)


CD: Nothing But A Party
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Nothing But A Party


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy I'd Rather Go Blind by  Big G (New Album Review)
I'd Rather Go Blind


CD: Simply Me
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Simply Me


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Last Pay Check by  Big G (New Album Review)
Last Pay Check


CD: Last Pay Check
Label: Cynthia Vaughan / Stone River

Sample or Buy
Last Pay Check


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Prove My Love by  Big G (New Album Review)
Prove My Love


CD: Simply Me
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Simply Me


4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 4 Stars 
Sample or Buy Walk Away by  Big G (New Album Review)
Walk Away


CD: All About Me
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
All About Me


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Here It Is by  Big G (New Album Review)
Here It Is


CD: Here It Is
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Here It Is


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Love On The Run by  Big G (New Album Review)
Love On The Run


CD: Love On The Run
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Love On The Run


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Misunderstood by  Big G (New Album Review)
Misunderstood


CD: Special Delivery
Label: CDS

Sample or Buy
Special Delivery


3 Stars 3 Stars 3 Stars 
Sample or Buy Two Step by  Big G (New Album Review)
Two Step


CD: Broken Hearted
Label: Stone River

Sample or Buy
Broken Hearted





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