As a white kid raised in the suburbs, I knew little of the fertile world of black music. As soul music sprang out of the segregated south and industrialized north, I was content to listen to my parents' Ray Conniff albums. Imagine my surprise as a young adult on first hearing Motown, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, the Ohio Players, or Prince. Even the rock and pop that permeated my youth didn't prepare me for the unabashed lust, primal joy, or seething anger that soul music and rhythm & blues (and later funk, disco, rap, and hip hop) offered up so freely.

Soul music differed from the vocal groups and black rock of the 50's. Blackness back then was toned down, caricatured, or even hidden (ever wonder why so many old "race records" didn't have the artist's picture on the cover?). But soul music never poked fun at or tried to hide its origins. It was black and proud, and it said it loud. It helped me understand the rest of America, and you could dance to it! Know what I mean? Rap with me, my brother! Drop me a line...

Randy Anthony

The Rhythm & Blues Bookshelf

• All Music Guide to Soul (edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, 2003)
• The Death of Rhythm & Blues (Nelson George, 1988)
• Hip Hop America (Nelson George, 1999)
• Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music (Gerri Hirshey, 1984)
• Rhythm and the Blues: A Life in American Music (Jerry Wexler & David Ritz, 1994)
• Sweet Soul Music (Peter Guralnick, 1986)
• Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound (Nelson George, 1985)
• What'd I Say: The Atlantic Story (Ahmet Ertegun, 2001)

[top of page]

Soul and Rhythm & Blues On The Web

• All Music Guide
• Daddy B. Nice's Southern Soul RnB
• Rhythm & Blues Foundation
• Rhythm & Blues Music Primer
• Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven
• Soul Patrol
• Soul Tracks
• Soul2Soul
• Soul Walking
• Stax Museum of American Soul Music
• Google

[top of page]

Feedback

Your witty comments, impertinent questions, helpful suggestions, and angry denials are altogether encouraged. Submit feedback via email; submissions will be edited and posted at my discretion.