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Odetta sitting on a park bench playing a guitar.

How Odetta Revolutionized Folk Music

She animated the horror and emotional intensity in American labor songs by projecting them like a European opera singer.
by Sasha Frere-Jones via The New Yorker on February 24, 2022
Johnny Cash in front of a microphone.

Johnny Cash Is a Hero to Americans on the Left and Right. But His Music Took a Side.

Listen to Blood, Sweat and Tears again.
by Michael Stewart Foley via Slate on December 7, 2021
Image of B.B. King on stage playing guitar.

When Young Elvis Met the Legendary B.B. King

King recalled: “I liked his voice, though I had no idea he was getting ready to conquer the world.”
by Daniel de Visé via Literary Hub on November 16, 2021
Richard Wright.

Outcasts and Desperados

Reflections on Richard Wright’s recently published novel, "The Man Who Lived Underground."
by Adam Shatz via London Review of Books on October 4, 2021
Advertisement for Ethel Waters' record

The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records

The story of the first major black-owned record label and the mystery behind the man who created it.
by Joe Richman via Radio Diaries on June 25, 2021
Rapper YG, one of a crowd of people at a protest over the death of George Floyd.

Hip-hop Is the Soundtrack to Black Lives Matter Protests

Songs from Public Enemy and Ludacris have been heard at marches, continuing a tradition that dates back to the blues.
by Tyina Steptoe via The Conversation on June 25, 2020

Janis Joplin, the Mistaken Icon of the Counterculture

The counterculture dictum to “turn on, tune in, drop out” did not quite capture Janis’s philosophy to “get it while you can.”
by Shalon Van Tine via Tropics of Meta on March 15, 2020

Heavy Metal, Year One: The Inside Story of Black Sabbath's Groundbreaking Debut

A look back on the album that kick-started a worldwide movement, half a century since Ozzy Osbourne first bellowed, “What is this that stands before me?”
by Kory Grow via Rolling Stone on February 11, 2020
Picture of DeFord Bailey holding a harmonica amplified by a gourd.

The Unsung Black Musician Who Changed Country Music

From the moment DeFord Bailey stepped onto a stage in Nashville, country music would never be the same. Decades after his death he finally got his due.
by Diana Bianco via Narratively on January 23, 2020
Blind Willie Johnson animation

Drawn and Recorded: Blind Willie in Space

Dark was the night, cold was the ground, and brilliant is that song drifting through space.
by Drew Christie, Bill Flanagan via Aeon on October 31, 2019

Odetta Holmes’ Album One Grain of Sand

Odetta’s artistry was a weapon in the Civil Rights struggle, and was crucial to the era’s politics.
by Matthew Frye Jacobson via Longreads on May 22, 2019

Muslims Arrived in America 400 Years Ago and Today are Vastly Diverse

Islamophobes today ignore the long history and contributions of Muslim Americans.
by Saeed Ahmed Khan via The Conversation on April 11, 2019
Elvis Presley performing to a crowd of fans reaching toward him

How Christianity Created Rock ’n’ Roll

Rock music owes much of its claim to coolness to the Christian faith.
by David Hajdu via Public Books on June 21, 2018

William Ferris: The Man Who Shared Our Voices

An interview with the legendary folklorist, who fundamentally changed America’s understanding of the South.
by Chuck Reece via The Bitter Southerner on May 30, 2018

Reliving Johnny Cash's 'At Folsom Prison' at 50: An Oral History

Eyewitnesses to the Man in Black's legendary 1968 concerts at the California prison recall Cash's shining moment.
by Michael Streissguth via Rolling Stone on May 7, 2018

Acquitting Elvis of Cultural Appropriation

His groundbreaking rock-n-roll was neither 'thievery' nor 'derivative blackness.'
by David Masciotra via The American Conservative on April 18, 2018
Smiling man in front of a microphone

Fats Domino: Rock'n'Roll’s Quiet Rebel Who Defied US Segregation

The groundbreaking musician who inspired Elvis and The Beatles.
by Brian Ward via The Conversation on October 26, 2017
Illustration of the folk hero, John Henry, face down with a hammer in his hand.

A History of American Protest Music: This Is the Hammer That Killed John Henry

How a folk hero inspired one of the most covered songs in American history.
by Tom Maxwell via Longreads on October 4, 2017

The Flood Blues

How floods have united people of color from the Gulf Coast states for nearly a century.
by Tyina Steptoe via Process: A Blog for American History on September 15, 2017
Mavis Staples singing on stage, head back and hand raised.

Mavis Staples on Prince, Trump, Black Lives Matter, and Her Exercise Regimen

Mavis Staples' lyrics span from the civil-rights-era to today's societal issues.
by Mavis Staples, Elon Green via The New Yorker on September 11, 2017
Illustration of Elvis Presley and Big Mama Thornton

The Question of Cultural Appropriation

It’s more helpful to think about exploitation and disrespect than to define cultural “ownership.”
by Briahna Joy Gray via Current Affairs on September 6, 2017

Chuck Berry Invented the Idea of Rock and Roll

The origins of rock and roll are unknown, but no one can deny the role Chuck Berry played.
by Bill Wyman via Vulture on March 18, 2017

Soul Survivor

The revival and hidden treasure of Aretha Franklin.
by David Remnick via The New Yorker on April 4, 2016
Fats Domino's restored white piano in a museum in New Orleans.

An Object Lesson: What The Restoration of Fats Domino's Piano Means to New Orleans

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, the legend’s showpiece symbolizes the city's resilience.
by Mary Niall Mitchell via The Atlantic on August 26, 2015
Black and white photo of Charlie Rich on a hammock.

Dear Charlie

Charlie Rich, the tragic soul man whose legacy was largely forgotten after his brief period of fame.
by Joe Hagan via Oxford American on January 7, 2014
C. L. Franklin and his daughter Aretha.

The Man with the Million Dollar Voice

The mighty but divided soul of C.L. Franklin.
by Tony Scherman via The Believer on July 1, 2013
Woody Guthrie.

This Land Is Our Land

The Popular Front and American culture.
by Michael Kazin via Humanities on May 1, 2011

Lady Soul Singing it Like It Is

In 1968, Time Magazine searched for the elusive definition of "soul."
via TIME on June 28, 1968
James Baldwin

Racism, Jazz, and James Baldwin’s “Sonny Blues”

Baldwin wrote with the knowledge that change would be hard and slow to achieve.
by Tom Jencks via OUPblog on August 2, 2024
Musical notation and a drawing of a barbed wire fence.

The Musical Legacy of a Mississippi Prison Farm

The new album “Some Mississippi Sunday Morning” collects gospel songs recorded inside a notorious penitentiary.
by Hanif Abdurraqib via The New Yorker on October 2, 2023
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