I come from Norfolk 'cause that's where I'm from.
Rob bastardized the Zeezus' original concept, but I'm gonna take it back to simply this: 20 tunes by people from around my way. My way, as I did it, means Norfolk, VA and the surrounding entities. Hampton Roads, if you will. Tidewater, if you would have 30 years ago. Coastal Virginia. The Norfolk-Virginia Beach area. The Seven Cities. SEVA. The 757.
A quick and obvious asterisking... the finest musician/singer ever to come from these parts is undoubtedly the Queen of Jazz, the First Lady of Song, Her Majesty Ella Fitzgerald. The breadth of her ability can't be encapsulated in just three songs, but you would do yourself a favor to listen to "Someone to Watch Over Me," "Dream a Little Dream of Me," and "Airmail Special (Live At the Newport Jazz Festival" to get a sampling that stretches from gorgeous rendition to heart-warming duet to kick-ass scat talent that seems to forerun hip-hop as if ancestry.
Her work stands apart in style just enough to leave her be and corral the rest of the locals for a 757 playlist.
Here we go:
Track 1. "Happy," Pharrell Williams (Virginia Beach)
Track 2. "Get Ur Freak On," Missy Elliott (Portsmouth), produced by Timbaland (Norfolk)
"THE NORFOLK SOUND"
Track 3. "Quarter to Three," Gary U.S. Bonds (Norfolk)
Track 4. "If You Wanna Be Happy," Jimmy Soul (Norfolk)
Track 5. "Just Ask Me," Lenis Guess (Norfolk)
Track 6. "That Man of Mine," Barbara Stant (Norfolk)
ROCKABILLY, BEACH MUSIC, AND THE BLUES
Track 7. "Be-Bop-A-Lula," Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps (Norfolk)
Track 8. "I've Been Hurt," Bill Deal and The Rhondels (Portsmouth and Virginia Beach)
Track 9. "Savin' Up," Clarence Clemons and the Red Bank Rockers (Chesapeake)
Track 10. "Smoking Gun," Robert Cray (Newport News)
INTO THE EIGHTIES
Track 11. "Copperhead Road," Steve Earle and the Dukes (Hampton)
Track 12. "Mandolin Rain," Bruce Hornsby and The Range (Williamsburg)
Track 13. "Queen of Hearts," Juice Newton (Virginia Beach)
Track 14. "This Little Girl," Gary U.S. Bonds (Norfolk)
UNDER YOUR RADAR BUT NOT MINE
Track 15. "My Latest Girl," The States (Norfolk)
Track 16. "Baby Jane," Waxing Poetics (Norfolk)
Track 17. "My My," Seven Mary Three (formed in Williamsburg)
Track 18. "Switzerland," The Last Bison (Chesapeake)
Track 19. "Another Man's Woman," Carbon Leaf (lead singer from Norfolk)
Track 20. "We Are Doing Fine," Super Doppler (Norfolk)
Enjoy, and keep the music flowing.
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