"You Got Me Where You Want Me"  El Willie Composed by El' Willie

 

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El' Willie is the golden baritone of Southern Soul. His ballad, "You Got Me Where You Want Me," self-produced El'  showcases this wonderful instrument--El's singing--to stunning effect.

From the album Dance With Me (Hep'Me Records, 2007), "You Got Me Where You Want Me" plies the mid-tempo sweet spot of Southern Soul with the easy-going style that El' Willie has maintained ever since.

A certified loner, El' Willie--with rare exceptions--has insisted on doing all the work on his CD's, everyone of which has born the legend: "All songs written, arranged, produced, programed and sequenced by El' Willie." A sax player (he got his start in music playing the horn for The Drifters), El's occasional brass fills are the only time you'll hear a real instrument.

Another consequence of his loner personality and easy-going style has been a lack of exposure due to poor marketing and distribution of his product. Since his last two "finished" albums, Dance With Me and Situations (MVP, 2008), his CD's have been almost impossible for fans to find. Come Together, Me & Little Willie, and The Anthem (Get Your Shit And Go!!!) have been published without national distribution, available only by contacting the Shadow Mack Agency of West Palm Beach, Florida.

In 2007 El' Willie won a "Daddy" for "Best Airplay Breakthrough By An Aspiring (But Not New) Southern Soul Artist" based on his songs, "Marry Me," "You Got Me Where You Want Me," and "Crazy Kind Of Love." And that same year, based on the song "You Got Me Where You Want Me," Daddy B. Nice awarded El' Willie an even more prestigious honor as Best Male Southern Soul Vocalist of 2007.

Although El' Willie's "You Got Me Where You Want Me" stands heads and shoulders above the body of his work, he's recorded many singles of note, many of which are featured in "Recommended Tracks,"

El' Willie's  work as a whole begs for the greater exposure that a "Greatest Hits" album might bring to this deserving artist with one-of-a-kind pipes.

 What El' desperately needs to reinvigorate his career is a solid single: one song into which he pours every ounce of inspiration--and yes, every gimmick and trick he knows. He is too big a talent not to take his extraordinary musicianship to the next level.

 

--Daddy B. Nice

 

About El Willie

 

El' Willie's (born William Travis) career started in the seventies as a saxophone player for The Drifters. He went on to play with Eddie Cornelius ("Treat Her Like A Lady") and the doo-wop group The Flamingoes.

He entered the Southern Soul scene as a songwriter after moving to Atlanta in 1992 and hooking up with Theodis Ealey under his given name, William Travis. "Stand Up In It" and "All My Baby Left Me Was A Note, My Guitar & The Cookie Jar" were the two hits, in fact, that made Theodis Ealey a star on the chitlin' circuit.

El' Willie released his first solo CD--El' Ever Easy--on M.V.P. Records out of West Palm Beach, Florida in 2006. He has recorded regularly ever since.

El's finest solo accomplishment remains his Dance With Me CD (now out of print), and in particular the song "You Got Me Where You Want Me," in which his clear, intimate baritone and easy, jazz-based minimalism were perfectly realized.

Discography: 

 

El Over Easy (2006)   Dance With Me (Hep'Me) (2007)  Situations (MVP) (2008)  Come Together (2009) Me & Little Willie The Anthem (2010)

 ( 2011 ) Up Close & Personal  (2012 ) El' Willies' Greatest Hits ( 2013 )  ( 2014 ) Story Teller  ( 2015 ) Try Me  ( single )

 

Song's Transcendent Moment "Yes, I lay back and relax  Kick back and enjoy you, babe. Go on and do what you do. What am I supposed to do?
You got me where you want me, babe. You say you been waiting for a long time, baby.  I've been waiting, too."  Tidbits

May 11, 2009

 

Indeed, El' Willie's latest CD reminds me of a smooth-jazz, 70's singer-songwriter named Michael Franks who gained some fame (and a subsequent long career) writing songs that equated love with vegetables ("Eggplant") and "Popsicle Toes." But Franks' . And when you look at the credits, it's all El' Willie: "Songs written, arranged, produced, and sequenced by El' Willie, all background vocals by El' Willie, all sax solos by El' Willie," and so on.

I've been an advocate and champion for El' Willie since his Dance With Me album, and I went back two albums (his last outing was also sub-par) to listen again to the song "You Got Me Where You Want Me," for which your Daddy B. Nice awarded El' Willie the Best Male Southern Soul Vocalist of 2007.

 You can see what I saw in him: a great songwriting talent, and--on the evidence of this cut--potentially a great vocalist. 


--Daddy B. Nice

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2.

February 6, 2010:

 El' Willie's claim to fame remains his songwriting accomplishments for fellow Georgian Theodis Ealey early in the century under his given name, William Travis.

"Stand Up In It" and "All My Baby Left Me Was A Note, My Guitar & The Cookie Jar" were the two hits, in fact, that made Theodis Ealey a star on the chitlin' circuit.

El's finest solo accomplishment remains his Dance With Me CD (now out of print), and in particular the song "You Got Me Where You Want Me," in which his clear, intimate baritone and easy, jazz-based minimalism were perfectly realized.

The song garnered El' Willie a 2007 "Daddies" Southern Soul Music Award for Best Male Vocalist.

Sample "You've Got Me Where You Want Me" and you'll immediately see why I held El' Willie in such high regard.

"You've Got Me Where You Want Me" had the purity of first-class acapella, and it held the promise of an idiosyncratic but vivid career in Southern Soul. (Think of Frank Mendenhall.)

 El' Willie remains stubbornly "easy," refusing to give his songs anything resembling a novel arrangement to set one off from another.

I'd encourage any performer in need of material to check out El' Willie's music.  these CD's are well-crafted. The contact information is:

The Shadow Mack Agency of Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Florida. Patricia Pannell 561-758-2388, T. J. Rockafella 954-205-0616,  Eli Walker Twilight  Records, 561 907-8443

If you liked T. K. Soul's "You Ring My Bell," you'll love El' Willie's "You Got Me Where You Want Me."


EDITOR'S NOTE

Over the last year I've been dropping hints to the younger musicians.

"Be watching because there's going to be something coming on the site that'll be a real blessing for the younger people."

And I've also been telling a lot of deserving new artists to bide their time, that their day to be featured in a Daddy B. Nice Artist Guide was coming, and long overdue.

Now, at last, the day has come.

The great Southern Soul stars are mostly gone. There's a new generation clamoring to be heard.

Rather than waiting years to go online as I did with the original Top 100, this chart will be a work-in-progress.

Each month five new and never-before-featured artists will be showcased, starting at #100 and counting down to #1.

I estimate 50-75 new Artist Guides will be created by the time I finish. The other 25-50 Guides will feature artists from the old chart who are holding their own or scaling the peaks in the 21st Century.

Absent will be the masters who have wandered off to Soul Heaven. And missing will be the older artists who for one reason or another have slowed down, become inactive or left the scene.

The older generation's contributions to Southern Soul music, however, will not be forgotten.

That is why it was so important to your Daddy B. Nice to maintain the integrity of the original Top 100 and not continue updating it indefinitely.

(Daddy B. Nice's original Top 100 Southern Soul covered the period from 1990-2010. Daddy B. Nice's new 21st Century Southern Soul will cover the period from 2000-2020.)

When I constructed the first chart, I wanted to preserve a piece of musical history. I heard a cultural phenomenon I was afraid might be lost forever unless I wrote about it.

There will be no more changes to the original chart. Those performers' place in Southern Soul music will stand.

But I see a new scene today, a scene just as starved for publicity and definition, a scene missing only a mirror to reflect back its reality.

The prospect of a grueling schedule of five new artist pages a month will be daunting, and I hope readers will bear with me as I gradually fill out what may seem at first inadequate Artist Guides.

Information from readers will always be welcome. That's how I learn. That's how I add to the data.

I'm excited to get started. I have been thinking about this for a long time. I've already done the bulk of the drawings.

In a funny way, the most rewarding thing has been getting back to doing the drawings, and imagining what recording artists are going to feel like when they see their mugs in a black and white cartoon. Hopefully----high! An artist hasn't really "made it" until he or she's been caricatured by Daddy B. Nice.

In the beginning months, the suspense will be in what new stars make the chart. In the final months, the suspense will be in who amongst the big dogs and the new stars is in the top twenty, the top ten, and finally. . . the top spot.   I'm not tellin'.  Not yet.

--Daddy B. Nice