Attracting passionate fans primarily among African American listeners in the South, southern soul draws on such diverse influences as the blues, 1960s-era deep soul, contemporary R & B, neosoul, rap, hip-hop, and gospel. Aggressively danceable, lyrically evocative, and fervidly emotional, southern soul songs often portray unabashedly carnal themes, and audiences delight in the performer-audience interaction and communal solidarity at live performances. Examining the history and development of southern soul from its modern roots in the 1960s and 1970s, David Whiteis highlights some of southern soul's most popular and important entertainers and provides first-hand accounts from the clubs, show lounges, festivals, and other local venues where these performers work. Profiles of veteran artists such as Denise LaSalle, the late J. Blackfoot, Latimore, and Bobby Rush--as well as contemporary artists T. K. Soul, Ms. Jody, Sweet Angel, Willie Clayton, and Sir Charles Jones--touch on issues of faith and sensuality, artistic identity and stereotyping, trickster antics, and future directions of the genre. These revealing discussions, drawing on extensive new interviews, also acknowledge the challenges of striving for mainstream popularity while still retaining the cultural and regional identity of the music and maintaining artistic ownership and control in the age of digital dissemination.

A gripping narrative that captures the tumult and liberating energy of a nation in transition, Sweet Soul Music is an intimate portrait of the legendary performers--Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, James Brown, Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Al Green among them--who merged gospel and rhythm and blues to create Southern soul music. Through rare interviews and with unique insight, Peter Guralnick tells the definitive story of the songs that inspired a generation and forever changed the sound of American music.

Brian Ward is Lecturer in American History at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne .; This book is intended for american studies, American history postwar social and cultural history, political history, Black history, Race and Ethnic studies and Cultural studies together with the general trade music.

DIVCultural and literary study of the construction of racial and artistic identity in soul cover albums of three popular artists--Aretha Franklin, Al Green, and Phoebe Snow./div

Reviews and rates the best recordings of 8,900 blues artists in all styles.

Saratoga Soul Brandtville Blues is a visual narrative collection representing an historic agglomeration of African-American life in upstate Saratoga Springs, New York. This publication includes an initial sampling of the photographic collection. The greatest number of photographs were acquired as relatives passed away. Photographic materials then passed into the author's possession. Other photos have long been in the Daggs family circulation. Many of the vintage images capture the quiet lucid beauty of a rural African American family and their beautiful life experience. The earliest photograph captures the author's paternal Grandfather Emory, Sr. with his mother Eliza and another Saratoga Soul seated in the horse-drawn buggy. The trio stands alongside their Brandtville home circa 1909. Other photographs adduce the subtle details and appurtenant realities of Brandtville's prevailing agricultural existence. The photographs span several decades during the Twentieth Century. These souls were the early inhabitants of Brandtville and stewards of the land. They tell the story of Saratoga Soul Brandtville Blues.

Daily meditations cover identity, life assessment, goals, self-esteem, fear, risk taking, humility, and freedom.