I spotted Christmas decorations in Costco by early October and Hallmark Channel has been airing non-stop holiday movies already for weeks, but like many, our family has always marked Thanksgiving to be the point where we officially kick off the holiday season, including breaking out the yuletide tunes.
With that in mind, Good Black News is happy to offer the “Ultimate Soul of the Season Christmas Soundtrack” as a playlist to guide you through the holidays with ease.
This is a mega-playlist – 25 hours of music in honor of the 25 days of Christmas leading up to the big day. It is not meant to be listened to all in one sitting – but rather to be just one-click away as your go-to soundtrack for the month. You can set it and forget it, or hit shuffle and mix it up.
Our inspiration was to capture the mood of those many radio stations around the country that turn to a festive Christmas musical format in the month of December – but with our own specific Good Black News twist.
In our playlist, ALL the songs are by or feature Black artists. Have it on in the background for decorating, cooking, wrapping presents, or just sitting in front of the fire sipping eggnog – and in the process you’ll be supporting Black artists through your streams.
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.
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:
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.
I know Halloween is all-but cancelled this year for so many of us. No trick or treating. No parties. No parades. Though Halloween is still a fine excuse for me to compile a free-wheeling seasonal playlist.
Here’s a nearly 9 hour “Afroclectic” collection of music featuring chills and horrors both real (“Strange Fruit” and “Goat Head’) and imagined (“Season Of The Witch” and “Wolf Like Me”).
From Michael Abels‘ “I Got 5 On It” remix from US to Blind Willie Johnson’s “Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground” this is a wide ranging playlist of songs for this time of the year.
Blues, Soul, Jazz, Rock, Ska, Hip-Hop, and Reggae are all present here. In some cases the only thing that links some of these tracks to this spooky time of year is zombie, vampire, voodoo, monster, devil, ghost, or Dracula in the title.
Please enjoy this collection of spills and chills. Listen with the lights on. Or off, if you dare.
The world got a happy surprise when Stevie Wonder released two brand new songs earlier this week, his first new songs as lead artist in years.
Wonder held a virtual press conference Tuesday with reporters to reveal his latest news, in addition to the new tunes. Wonder, who turned 70 earlier this year, reported he “feels great” after a kidney transplant last December.
Most shockingly, nearly 60 years after he first signed with Motown at the age of 11, Wonder announced that he has left what had previously been his lifetime record label for his own What the Fuss Records, to be distributed through Republic Records (a sister label to Motown in the Universal Music Group family).
The label is named after the Prince-assisted single “So What the Fuss,” which was included on Wonder’s last full-length album, A Time to Love from 2005.
The new songs “Where Is Our Love Song” (featuring blues/rock guitar maestro Gary Clark Jr.) and “Can’t Put It In the Hands of Fate” (with Busta Rhymes, Rapsody, Cordae & Chika) are both based on musical elements Wonder had started composing years ago (the former song was started when Wonder was 18), but were completed this year with lyrics and messages inspired by Wonder’s take on the news of today.
Wonder indicated that both songs would be potentially included in an upcoming EP or full-length album. Proceeds from “Where Is Our Love Song” will be donated to the charity Feeding America.
Johnny Nash had no particular episode of personal hardship in mind when he composed “I Can See Clearly Now” in the early 1970s, though over the years it has struck a firm chord with generations who appreciate its feeling of new hope emerging from the despair: “I can see clearly now the rain has gone / I can see all obstacles in my way / Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind / It’s gonna be a bright, bright, sunshine-y day.”
He died last week at age 80.
Nash was American but spent time living in Jamaica in the mid-1960s, and the island’s influence on his music came to the fore in 1968, when his rock-steady compositions “You Got Soul” and “Hold Me Tight” were Top 10 hits in the UK, helping to kickstart a period of mainstream interest in reggae that remains to this day.
His reggae-fied version of Sam Cooke’s “Cupid” made it to No. 6 in the UK the following year, followed by “Stir it Up,” written for him, and later reclaimed, by his friend Bob Marley. That was a UK No. 13 in 1972, only months before the release of “I Can See Clearly Now.”
This playlist includes many of Johnny Nash’s recordings, songs by him, Bob Marley, and other early reggae artists, plus many of the cuts that dominated the radio in 1972 alongside Johhny Nash’s enduring song of hope.
Hope you enjoy this tribute collection. Next week I’ll be back with a more “seasonal” offering.
Until such time, stay safe sane, and kind… and vote!
