Southern soul

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Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. It has also been tagged deep soul or even country soul. Southern soul is often identified with artists like Wilson Pickett,[1] Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Carla Thomas, The Staple Singers, Sam and Dave and many others.

The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country and western, early rock and roll, and a strong gospel influence that emanated from the sounds of Southern African-American churches. The focus of the music was not on its lyrics, but on the "feel" or the groove.

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[edit] History

Groundbreaking pioneers of the genre include Georgia natives Ray Charles and James Brown, whose work influenced all of popular music. Other influential early artists were Little Willie John of "Fever" fame, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Memphis DJ Rufus Thomas, a former vaudevillian.

Southern soul was at its peak during the 1960s, when a strand of the genre now referred to as Memphis soul was created. The most significant contributors were Stax Records and their house band Booker T. & the MGs, called "The Greatest and Tightest backing band of all time" by Rolling Stone magazine. The Stax label's most successful artist of the 1960s, Otis Redding, was influenced by fellow Georgia native Little Richard and the more cosmopolitan sounds of Mississippi born Sam Cooke, but he, like Brown and Charles, created his own unique style. Al Green, later called "the last great soul singer", recorded for Memphis's Hi Records.

Equally as influential as Memphis soul was the "Muscle Shoals Sound", originating from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section played on the majority of recordings featuring Aretha Franklin and many latter day Stax artists during the late 1960s through the mid 1970s. A number of classic Southern soul recordings had their genesis at Muscle Shoals studios such as Muscle Shoals Sound Studios and FAME Studios.

While the slicker sounds of Philadelphia soul, Chicago soul, and the Motown Sound in Detroit were created almost exclusively by African-Americans, a significant number of the major contributors to southern soul and deep soul have been Caucasian. In fact, one of the most acclaimed southern soul songwriting teams, Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, were white, as were many Stax musicians and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.

The term "southern soul" refers to music recorded in studios south of the Mason-Dixon line but is also applied to musical styles that were developed there, regardless of where recording took place. For example, Aretha Franklin’s Atlantic recordings were often laid down in New York, but the sound was authentically southern, and not just because the key Muscle Shoals players were flown up to the Big Apple to accompany her.

Some confusion regarding the term is due to the prevalence of the genre northern soul, which refers not to a geographical location in the U.S., but to one in the U.K., despite the fact that the music is almost exclusively American in origin.

[edit] Notable artists

[edit] Other artists

[edit] Rhythm sections

  • American
    • Gene Chrisman - drums
    • Tommy Cogbill - bass
    • Bobby Emmons - keyboards
    • Reggie Young - guitar

[edit] Songwriters

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wilson Pickett, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
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