Radio stations didn’t want to play blues music after hip hop took over the airwaves in the mid-1990s.
Blues, which originated in the south during the 1870s, was cast aside and designated for Sundays. A Shreveport record label owner, Leonard Lewis, formally trademarked the term “Southern Soul” in 2001, to get the bluesy music he distributed on the radio.
“It became so underground. We were selling so much product in the stores. People started requesting certain songs. When they realized Southern Soul was basically ’70s, ’80s R&B style with a touch of the blues, they wanted more and more of it,” said Garland Jones, who worked with Lewis on the record label. “It found its place and took off in the South and everybody started using the term.”
Exactly where Southern Soul first took off has been disputed. Jackson, Mississippi, and Shreveport have been in an ongoing custody battle over the music genre. The clash has escalated to the point of both city councils ceremoniously proclaiming Southern Soul their invention.
Tuesday, the Shreveport City Council announced Shreveport the official place of origin for Southern Soul about a month after the Jackson City Council declared its city the birthplace of Southern Soul music.
“We should fight for recognition that we were the first. It’s not me. It’s these guys that are carrying it on. I just created the word and started the genre,” Lewis said Tuesday referring to the group of Shreveport Southern Soul musicians he brought with him to the City Council podium.
On June 11, the Jackson City Council unanimously approved a declaration that said the City of Jackson is “the home and birthplace of Southern Soul.” On July 9, all seven members of the Shreveport City Council passed a resolution that said the City of Shreveport is proud to be known as “the official birthplace of the genre Southern Soul.”
“What I’d like to know is, I’d like for you to find out, why is Jackson, why do they feel like they own the word?” Lewis asked Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins.
Perkins showed a competitive stance in response to Lewis’ question about Jackson’s claim to ownership. He said the relationship with Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba is somewhat tense and talked about shutting down the argument.
“The mayor of Jackson, Chokwe Lumumba, is a good friend of mine, so this whole thing has strained the relationship a little bit. But it wasn’t him though, in his defense, it was the City Council, because they actually do a festival annually highlighting Southern Soul,” Perkins said. “So, I think more so it’s because their consistent commitment to it. So, Shreveport, we now have an obligation to have a consistent commitment, more so than what we had in the past, so that we can shut down all their arguments.”
Lewis registered “Southern Soul” with the Louisiana Secretary of State Trademark Division, with a note that said, “Date First Used (in La.): 11/15/1997.” Lewis owned Jewel/Paula Records, which was founded in the mid-1960s by his father Stan “The Record Man” Lewis.
More: Shreveport music legend Stan ‘The Record Man’ Lewis dies, age 91
Stan Lewis, the biggest distributor in Shreveport during his time, owned Stan’s Record Shop on Texas Street. His record label started issuing blues singles later releasing pop, country and gospel records. Jewel album discography includes Memphis Slim “Born with the Blues” (1970) and Little Joe Blue “Southern Country Boy” (1972), which has been described as modern electric blues. The first Southern Soul album with Jewel/Paula records that did very well was by Carl Sims.
The Shreveport City Council also recognized Garland Jones who hosted a series of Southern Soul concerts in 1996 at the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium. Jones worked for Stan’s Record Shop and owned Garland’s Super Sounds on Linwood Avenue from 1989 to 2012.
“I don’t really think Shreveport understands that you created a genre of music,” Jones said.
The Jackson City Council resolution said Jackson had one of the first Southern Soul radio stations and one of the oldest Southern Soul festivals in the country. One councilman mentioned Mr. Sipp “The Mississippi Blues Child” from Malaco Records and Jackson’s Farish Street Heritage festival that celebrates the history of Mississippi’s African-Americans.
“The only way we’re going to attract developers is if we have something going on that means something and it’s something that only Jackson can do,” Jackson City Councilman Charles Tillman said. “There are no other Southern Soul artists that come out of Alabama, that come out of Louisiana, that come out Arkansas. They are all from Mississippi.”
Lee King, executive producer of the Farish Street Festival in Jackson said Jackson is the birthplace of Southern Soul because it’s the home of Malaco Records, which was founded in 1962.
“It is the record company that is recognized worldwide as a record outlet that introduced Southern Soul throughout the entire world, not only in Jackson, not just nationally, but throughout the entire world,” King said.
The Jackson City Council talked about a potential conflict with Memphis about branding Jackson the origin of Southern Soul.
“Well we’re probably going to get in a fight with the City Council of Memphis for doing this, but I think this is a fight we should take on,” one councilman said.
The Council didn’t seem to have realized the fight would be with Shreveport.