Happy Monday, you all. Hope you had a good and safe Thanksgiving. Time will tell though.
While most of these offerings are genre and theme-based, I do like to feature a favorite, and often underrated, artist from time to time. This week, it’s Bobby Womack.
While never a household name, Womack had a long and impactful career. He, like so many in his generation, started in a family gospel group with his brothers.
Womack became the protégé of gospel and R&B/pop star Sam Cooke, a session musician, a successful solo artist with decades of hits, a writer of his own and others’ songs, and along with Mos Def, and surviving members of The Clash, was a core member of Gorillaz.
Quincy Jones arguably stands alone in having a longer and more wide-ranging career. 10-year-old Bobby started touring with his brothers on the midwest gospel circuit as The Womack Brothers.
This is certainly a trying and unique one. Most of us aren’t doing what we traditionally do. And many of us are missing people at the table in 2020.
As is my wont, here’s a Monday playlist to take you into this year’s day of thanks. This collection ranges from songs about food, to family, to longing, to of course giving thanks, and back again.
Soul, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Gospel, Reggae, and more are included in this playlist to celebrate this most special and taxing of Thanksgivings.
While this has been the worst year on record for many of us, it has not been without its bright spots and reasons to be thankful.
One such personal reason for the thanks of the request to contribute weekly playlists from my friend Lori Lakin Hutcherson. She is a sista that I have not seen in person in nearly decades, but has become a wonderful social media friend and the gig of making these collections for GOOD BLACK NEWS and been the brightest of Covid era silver linings.
I don’t know if these are enjoyed by dozens or thousands but it has been an honor and delight to compile them on the weekly.
Whether you are safely gathering or going it alone on Thursday, here’s hours of music to sustain and nourish your ears and soul.
Stay safe sane, and kind you all. “See” ya next week.
Dub has become its own genre of electronic music. Though it grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Dub reggae started as a “version” of an existing song. The cuts were achieved by significantly manipulating and reshaping the recordings, often through the removal of some or all of the vocals, with the emphasis on the drums and bass. They were usually pressed on the B-sides of 45 RPM records.
The dub version is often made for a DJ to “toast” over. That tradition continues to this day across many music genres.
Dub was pioneered by recording engineers and producers like Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Errol Thompson, and others in the late 1960s. Augustus Pablo is credited as one of the pioneers and creators of the genre, and for bringing the melodica to dub.
The “Roland Space Echo” was widely used by dub producers in the 1970s to produce echoes and delay effects. These artists, especially King Tubby, Scientist, Lee Perry, and many that would follow, look upon the mixing console as an instrument itself.
This collection brings together early pioneers, and tracks by current artists. Enjoy! And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.
(A note to the Spotify adherent: This collection will benefit from going to your “Advanced Preferences”, and setting your crossfade to its maximum of 12 seconds. Lean into that Dub-stylee.)
Today, Good Black News celebrates the milestone 60th birthday of gospel music icon Karen Clark-Sheard, famous as the youngest member of the legendary Clark Sisters, as well as for her dynamic solo recordings.
Amidst the craziness of the coronavirus pandemic, lockdowns and quarantines, 2020 has nevertheless been a milestone year for Karen and her sisters, as they issued the acclaimed The Return in March, their first group release in over a decade.
Following the album drop was the April broadcast of The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, a Lifetime movie about their lives that was seen by millions of people across numerous airings in its first few weeks, becoming Lifetime’s highest original rated movie in 4 years – and one of the top cable telecasts of the year across all cable channels.
After 25 years recording with her sisters (since she was just an early teenager) as the group’s dedicated soprano, a break in the sisters’ group activities allowed Karen to release her debut solo album, appropriately titled Finally Karen in 1998.
She stepped out solo in a big way – on a major label (Island Records), with multiple producers and a guest appearance from Faith Evans. The results – a gospel bestseller that was nominated for a Grammy and won a Lady of Soul Award.
The album also included a duet with her daughter, Kierra ‘Kiki’ Sheard, ultimately kicking off the successful recording career for yet another generation of the Clark gospel dynasty (The Clark Sisters themselves are the daughters of gospel choir pioneer Dr. Mattie Moss Clark.)
Not long after the release and promotion of her first album, Clark-Sheard was hit with a major health crisis, when complications from a minor operation put her in a coma for multiple weeks.
We’re used to seeing Black musical artists honored regularly on the Grammy Awards, the American Music Awards, the MTV Awards, and, of course, the BET Awards. But this year, you can find several Black performers on the 54th annual CMA (Country Music Association) Awards, to be aired on ABC starting at 8P ETtonight.
Not that Black performers have never been on the CMAs before. Just last year rapper Lil Nas X won an award for his Billy Ray Cyrus collaboration “Old Town Road.” In 2016, the Chicks (fka The Dixie Chicks) shocked the audience with an incredible live performance with fellow Texan Beyoncé of her song “Daddy Lessons” (see it here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Ksi-uzuIg). But there have been many years where the closest the CMAs have gotten to Blackness was to give awards to Keith “Urban.”
CMA hosts Darius Rucker and Reba McEntire (photo courtesy CMA Awards)
Black country fans actually have three reasons to cheer during this year’s awards. First, newcomer Jimmie Allen is up for Best New Artist. Second, former Hootie & the Blowfish lead vocalist turned country singer Darius Rucker is co-hosting the show with Reba McEntire. Rucker is perhaps the most well-known Black performer in contemporary country music – and previously won the CMA for Best New Artist in 2009.
Most importantly, Rucker will be leading the tribute to this year’s recipient of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award, the legendary Charley Pride.
The aptly named Pride was a symbol of Black pride back in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s when he was the first major Black country artist to hit the charts. Coming on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, Pride won Male Vocalist of the Year two years running in 1971 and 1972, in addition to also picking up Entertainer of the Year in 1971.
Nominated for Entertainer of the Year six years in a row from 1968 through 1973, Pride, now 86 years old, is a singular figure in country music history, as no Black performer has been nominated even one time since then.
Pride also previously co-hosted the CMA Awards on TV with Glen Campbell in 1975, the only Black host prior to Rucker’s co-hosting duties this year. Pride had 30 #1 country hits and over 50 Top 10 performances, and is perhaps most known for the song “Kiss An Angel Good Mornin.”
Beyond Pride, Rucker and Allen, there are lots of other exciting things happening in country music these days for Black performers, including new female artist Mickey Guyton and recent chart-topper Kane Brown. Earlier this summer, Good Black News offered up “I Can’t Stop Loving You: A Collection of Black Country Music” as an overview of Black country music history.
[A child holds a billboard for Memorial Day shows at the Howard Theatre, featuring Trouble Funk and Experience Unlimited. Photograph by Thomas Sayers Ellis, used with permission.]
I can not imagine Washington D.C. was is not awash in its funnest export these days: Go-go. This subgenre of funk originated in and around D.C., during the late 1960s and remains popular to this day as a uniquely regional music style.
Singer-guitarist Chuck Brown and several bands are credited with having developed the style including Young Senators, Black Heat, and Trouble Funk.
Chuck Brown playing at a block party (photo via Flickr)
Go-go is primarily a dance hall music with an emphasis on live audience call and response. It has endured to include hip-hop influences recently and been around long enough to have retro adherents.
In February 2020, go-go was named the “official music” of Washington D.C. in a unanimous vote by the District’s city council. Please enjoy this dose of D.C. funky stuff.
Yesterday was a good day. As Joe Biden and Kamala Harris became President-Elect and Vice President-Elect of the United States of America, in several cities across the nation literal dancing broke out in the streets. So many people from all stripes of life — Black, Brown, white, Asian, Indigenous — were together exhibiting their joy at the victory.
The massive turnout — in the middle of a surging pandemic, no less — to celebrate the repudiation of the path towards division and exclusion in favor of the path towards inclusivity and diversity was the most patriotic thing I’ve witnessed on a national level in a long time. And so many were carrying and waving American flags.
It’s being acknowledged in the media – as well as in President Elect Biden’s speech – how vital the African American community was in saving this nation’s democracy. The visuals and the fireworks brought home for me just how much at heart Black people are patriots.
Even though from jump we have been treated unjustly, cruelly, unfairly — we have worked tirelessly to fight for the ideals America is supposed to stand for. Justice. Freedom. Equality. Perhaps we believe in democracy the most because we have always been the most vulnerable when it doesn’t exist.
Hearing Vice President-Elect Harris strut out to Mary J. Blige‘s “Work That” and President Elect Biden sprint out to Bruce Springsteen‘s “We Take Care of Our Own” before their respective speeches, then enjoy the crowd and fireworks to some Jackie Wilson, Coldplay, Hall & Oates and Tina Turner, made me think about some of my favorite takes on patriotic American songs by African American artists that could have been cool to play as well. (My most recent favorite from the past few years? Jon Batiste‘s inventive, unexpectedly moving version of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”)
When my sister Lesa texted me a song she’d been listening to all day — “This Land Is Our Land” by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings — my thoughts turned to action and I started making the playlist below I call “Black Americana” for inspiration now and in the months to come:
Hello, again! Here’s a collection of Black composers of film music. There are a few iconic songs from films included here, but the playlist is mainly devoted to scores.
As usual, this is a varied group of artists. They come from Jazz (Herbie Hancock and Duke Ellington), popular music (James Brown, RZA and Pharrell Williams), Rock (Barry Adamson), and of course, Classical ( Michael Abels and Kathryn Bostic).
According to the Associated Press, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and Ciara, the Grammy-winning performer, through their Why Not You Foundation, are contributing about $1.75 million to rebrand an existing charter program known as Cascade Midway Academy, just south of Seattle.
The Cascade high school program was set to debut this year before the pandemic forced founders to delay opening. The superstar couple’s generosity will be honored with the school’s name change to Why Not You Academy.
Wilson and Ciara said to the Associated Press they jumped at the opportunity to help launch the school. It focuses on academics, personalized student plans and internships and mentorships for underserved Black and brown students. The couple said they hope this will be the first of many Why Not You Academy sites across the country.
“I’m really confident…about the team that we have here and how we’re building things out,” Ciara said. “We’re passionate about everything. We’re all in on this.”
Today Good Black News celebrates a milestone birthday for soul diva Melba Moore with a Spotify playlist entitled “This Is It! The Ultimate Melba Moore Playlist” that spans her 50+ year career from a rare mid-‘60s recording now popular on Britain’s Northern Soul scene to her latest song – a house music infused dance track from this past summer.
We’ve got all the necessary hits in-between as well, from Broadway showcases to her huge ‘70s disco singles to her mid ‘80s soul duets to her gospel turn in the new millennium. Here is the playlist:
In fact, for Melba’s 75th, we’ve got 75 great songs. And because some sources suggest a different birth year, we’ve actually thrown in some bonus tracks just in case – any excuse to include a few added songs, because in this case, the more Melba Moore, the merrier!
Born into a family of musicians, Melba’s mother was Gertrude Melba Smith, a singer who performed under the name Bonnie Davis – and actually hit #1 on the Harlem Hit Parade chart in 1943 with the song “Don’t Stop Now.” Her father was saxophonist Teddy Hill who had his own prominent big band. And Melba’s stepfather, Clem Moorman, whose last name she later adapted for her own stage name, was a pianist who ultimately performed with her mother.
