Throughout history countless women have given the blues their unique stamp. They have fought their way to the front of the testosterone saturated genre, oftentimes with little praise.
Here’s a collection of modern and early masters of the form, including Ma Rainey, Memphis Minnie, Koko Taylor, Etta James, Ann Peebles, Odetta, Aretha Franklin, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Bettye Swann, Bettye LaVette, Irma Thomas, LaVern Baker and so many more.
Please enjoy. And as always, stay safe, sane, and kind.
Hope this tiny missive finds you all safe and well. Here’s my last October/Halloween Season offering, and it probably comes as no surprise this one is an eclectic mash-up leveraging off the three I have done so far.
I’ve cast a wide net for this playlist. Jazz, Blues, Soul, Rock, Reggae, and film soundtracks are all here in this more than 12 hour dose of music featuring chills, both real and imagined.
Killers, ghosts, vampires, demons, mad scientists, gravediggers, werewolves, and creatures of all ilk are on hand for this musical journey.
Do enjoy. See ya next week with a break from the macabre.
While our #MusicMonday main man and selector Marlon West takes a well-earned break from creating thoughtful and unique playlists exploring the musical diaspora, I’m stepping in to post two curations honoring the woman of the weekend, Aretha Franklin.
Respect, the MGM biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as the Queen of Soul, was released exclusively in theaters this past Friday and earned almost $9 million in its first weekend. In addition to being a satisfying film experience, Respect makes you appreciate even more how creative and intelligent Aretha was in her musical expression across all genres.
In addition to being an unparalleled singer who could turn tunes by other artists into her own signature songs, Franklin also composed, arranged and produced several of her biggest hits.
In honor of those aspects of her genius, I offer the playlists “How I Got Over”: Aretha Franklin’s Cover Songs, which includes (of course) “Respect,” by Otis Redding, “Until You Come Back To Me” by Stevie Wonder and “Spanish Harlem” originally recorded by Ben E. King:
James Weldon Johnson, an NAACP field secretary, civil rights activist, Broadway composer and professor who investigated and spoke out about lynchings in the first decades of the 20th century, also wrote the classic novel The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, first published in 1912.
But perhaps the publication Weldon is best known for was that of a song he wrote with his brother John Rosamond Johnson. In 1900, in honor of Tuskegee Institute founder Booker T. Washingtonas part of a tribute to Abraham Lincoln‘s birthday, they crafted a poem that was read by 500 schoolchildren entitled “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”
The poem celebrated freedom as it recognized a brutal past never to be repeated. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was so well received that the brothers set it to music and by 1919 the NAACP dubbed it “the Negro national anthem.” It has functioned in that capacity ever since.
The Johnson brothers pictured on the cover of this 1973 version of the sheet music
Sung for decades at countless meetings, events, and ceremonies, a 1990 version of the song performed by Melba Moore (which can be heard here on GBN’s “Black Americana” playlist ) was entered into the Congressional Record and, in 2016, into the National Recording Registry.
Singing this song today makes as much sense as any other American anthem, as it is a song of independence from tyranny, inhumanity and injustice. It is sung in honor of Americans who died building this country by progeny who seek to embrace the liberty, hope and prosperity freedom promises.
Enjoy Aretha Franklin, whose voice literally was designated an American natural resource, singing the song we might all lift our voices to sing. Full lyrics published below.
It’s no secret that I’m a die-hard Aretha Franklin stan. Have almost all the records, read all the books, seen all the documentaries, the concert film, watched the limited series, made several Spotify playlists (because one will never ever be enough).
So it should be no surprise the wait for the MGM feature Respect starring Academy Award winner Jennifer Hudson, delayed from release last year due to the pandemic, has been a long one for me. And from the looks of this featurette, it will have been well worth it:
This featurette excites me not only for the music and what look to be great performances from Hudson, Mary J. Blige as Dinah Washington and Forest Whitaker as Aretha’s father, Reverend C.L. Franklin, but also because of what director Liesl Tommy and screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson say in it about their approach to the film.
How does the woman with “the voice” find her voice? Knowing that the filmmakers focused on dramatizing Aretha’s artistic journey and how she “musicalized her lived experience,” makes me feel like Respect will be The One.
It also helps greatly to know Franklin’s family supports the movie – her cousin Brenda Franklin-Corbett, who sang backing vocals for Aretha, even appears in the featurette.
Respect will be released in theaters on August 13.
And… bonus…
“Here I Am,” an original song recorded by Hudson for the film, recently became available on several streaming platforms, including Spotify. Check it out!
Well, it is always African American Music Appreciation Month (aka Black Music Month) around these parts! We celebrate Black music every week here at Good Black News.
It’s been more than a year since I started making weekly playlists honoring African American music in its many forms.
If you’ve been tuning in with any regularity, you know I am no stranger to a free-wheeling and hours-long playlist.
When it comes to a collection that tracks Gospel, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Rock, Hip-Hop, and everything in between, this one was bound to be a long one:
Have a great week.
Marlon West (photo courtesy Marlon West)
[Editor’s Note: ICYMI, below are links to some of Marlon’s most popular playlists from 2020. Enjoy!]
Last week our fearless leader here at GBN, Lori Lakin Hutcherson, suggested a playlist celebrating Black History Month. I joked that every Music Monday at Good Black News is celebrating Black history.
Though a free-wheeling offer celebrating a century of Black music is definitely the thing to do. Here is a collection of African American music ranging from Mamie Smith to Marvin Gaye to J. Cole – from gospel, to hip hop, to jazz, to blues – and all points in between.
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.
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.
Last week our fearless leader here at GBN, Lori Lakin Hutcherson, suggested a playlist celebrating Black History Month. I joked that every Music Monday at Good Black News is celebrating Black history.
