The 30 or so Greatest Southern Songs

Y’ALL, March/April 2009, Volume 7, Number 1, page 36

A note from Y’all Magazine associate publisher Keith Sisson:

Basically all forms of American music originated in the American South. From The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers to Elvis Presley and Robert Johnson, the South’s cultural influence on American music cannot be argued nor measured. Why is it that so many Southerners go on to make some of the deepest marks in musical history? Perhaps it could be the people and the place that inspires them. There is no doubt that the South has the highest concentration of regional pride in the country and that pride can be illustrated by our music. That got all of us at Y’all Magazine thinking about what the greatest Southern songs of all time would be. The criteria would have to be that the songs provoke a uniquely Southern experience, either by place or emotion. The songs could be of any format and would need to have stood the test of time. The following is a list of songs we rank as the “Greatest Southern Songs.” We hope you enjoy our list. If you feel we have made and error in the rankings or left something out, we would like to hear from you. Please email us with your feedback at southernsongs@yall.com or leave us a comment at www.yall.com.

11. Carolina Girls

A song doesn’t have to be a smash hit in order to become popular. That is evident from the success of “Carolina Girls.” When the band Chairmen of the Board first came to the Carolinas, they noticed the girls there had a specific style. Band member Danny Woods noticed that New York girls and California girls had their own songs, and that girls from the Carolinas felt left out.

With the release of “Carolina Girls” in the famed mid-Atlantic beach music style, girls from both North and South Carolina had a reason to be prideful. General Johnson and the Chairmen of the Board released the song in 1980, and it would prove to forever be an empowering and endearing song to not only Carolina girls in the ‘80s, but future generations of Carolina girls to come. The song spurned bumper stickers, license plates, and clothing. Girls from both states were proud of the song’s claim that “Carolina Girls (are) best in the world.

The women’s athletic teams at the University of North Carolina use the song as an unofficial fight song. Other schools do similarly, some even having marching band adaptations.

Nearly forty years after crashing onto the pop and soul charts with the hit "Give Me Just A Little More Time," the Chairmen of the Board continue to defy gravity, regularly playing to sellout crowds and recording while many of their early 70s R&B peers have long since left the music industry.  Two decades ago they became the face of Carolina Beach Music, a rollicking brand of music that mirrors the feel-good R&B of the 60s and early 70s (wonderfully captured in the group's 2008 documentary Under the Radar) and they've ridden the wave they created to continued success.

It has been four years since the group's last regular studio album, All In The Family, and fans could have legitimately thought that the act's recording days were over.  But General Johnson was positively enthused late last year when he talked to us about the songs he was writing for the group's brand new release, Soul Tapestry.  During a spell in the early 70s, Johnson was one of popular music's most celebrated songwriters, providing hits for several of the acts on the Invictus record label.  But he still had the fire, and he believed, the tunes to share, even as he and his bandmates enter their sixties.

The good news is that Soul Tapestry demonstrates that both General Johnson the songwriter and The Chairmen as a group are solid as we exit the first decade of the 21st Century.  Johnson's historic success has largely been due to his talent as a storyteller, from the now legendary child-turned-man song "Patches" to the sly 8th Day hit "You Gotta Crawl Before You Walk" (which is covered again by the Chairmen on Tapestry).  And these stories are central to group's concerts, where their multi-culti, multi-generational audience sings along with every word.  Soul Tapestry adds a few new tales to the collection, most notably "That's My Story (and I'm Stickin' To It"), the private confession of a philandering man who won't admit to an affair despite all the evidence against him.  But just as infectious are "I Go Crazy," a bouncy cut that sounds like the successor to "Dangling On A String," and the sing-songy "Beatin' the Bushes."

A bigger surprise on Tapestry is Johnson's more serious take on family and social issues.  "What's Up" is a pre-Obama rant of an exasperated man tryin to make sense of inequality, homelessness and an ill-conceived war, and "All In The Family" relies on family as tie-that-binds in a world of personal and societal failings.  Best of all is "Chances Are," a rumination of an older man who looks back at his financial and business failings, but finds comfort -- even redemption -- in the romantic love he found during his life.

Like many recent independent albums issued by classic soul artists, Soul Tapestry lacks the rich orchestration that the Chairmen would have had in their Invictus days, but programmer Mark Stallings does a nice job without a major label budget, particularly the wall of sound he establishes on "Chances Are."

It is uncertain how many people outside the Carolinas will be able to find Soul Tapestry in their local stores, but it is worth seeking out.  It is a fine disc that features the fun, entertaining sounds for which the Chairmen have largely established their legacy but also provides a deeper, more mature set of songs that make the album a sweet, enjoyable addition to an already solid group discography.  Recommended.

By Chris Rizik