If you’ve ever wondered what Motown would sound like if it had been born not in Detroit but on the streets of Karachi or Kingston or in the surf dens of late-60s southern California, you might like Houston collective Khruangbin. On their new third album, Mordechai, bassist Laura Lee Ochoa, guitarist Mark Speer, and drummer […]
Tag: Motown
Posted inMusic
BJ the Chicago Kid has what it takes to carry any song alone on 1123
R &B singer Bryan James Sledge, aka BJ the Chicago Kid, has the kind of commanding voice most rappers seek out when they’re looking for a guest artist to make a good song great—and to loosen their inhibitions in the process. On Sledge’s second album for Motown, July’s 1123, he turns the tables, showcasing guest […]
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Chicago soul aficionado Darrell Gordon on the most underrated Motown singer of the 1960s
Current musical obsessions of VJ Darrell Gordon, DJ Ken Wong, and Reader listings coordinator Salem Collo-Julin
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Summoning the ghosts of Record Row
For two decades, a short stretch of Michigan Avenue hosted a concentration of creative entrepreneurship whose influence on Black popular music is still felt today.
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Legendary soul singer Gladys Knight still sparkles bright
The true mark of a musical icon might be the power to move intergenerational audiences with a signature song, even decades after its original release. Take soul legend Gladys Knight: she often ends her concerts with the 1973 hit “Midnight Train to Georgia,” a tribute to those who follow their dreams and fail. Born in […]
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Bettye LaVette can make any song sound like it was written for her
Bettye LaVette debuted with a hit soul single in 1962, but she’s long since transcended genre, singing blues, country, pop, funk, rock, and more.
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Bacon fat, corn liquor, and tail feathers: remembering R&B legend Andre Williams
R&B legend Andre Williams influenced generations of rockers and rappers—and his decades-long comeback ended only with his death at 82.
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Crate diggers have caught up with the funky soul of Doug Shorts’s Master Plan Inc.
Decades after his greatest group disbanded, Chicago soul singer Doug Shorts is finally being recognized for his brilliance.
Posted inBlogs
The alleged David Cameron-Brexit-O’Hare-pizza connection, and other Chicago news
Also, Chicagoan Raj Fernando is at the center of a Trump-Clinton feud.
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Luther Allison was the Jimi Hendrix of blues guitar
Guitarist Luther Allison learned his craft in Chicago, but he spent much of his career in Europe when American interest in the blues waned.
Posted inBlogs
Reader’s Agenda Wed 12/25: Christmas, Mary Wilson and the Four Tops, and The Great Escape
What’s on the Reader‘s Agenda for Wednesday, December 25
Posted inBlogs
Reader’s Agenda Sat 12/14: Windy City Soul Club fifth anniversary, Slo ‘Mo Spectacular, and Snow Angels
What’s on the Reader‘s Agenda for Saturday, December 14
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The Secret History of Chicago Music: Mr. Lee & the Rearrangers Band
Mr. Lee & the Rearrangers Band are credited on what Roctober‘s Jake Austen calls “perhaps the most bizarre 45 in Chicago history.”
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The long game of soul singer Doug Shorts
Doug Shorts has been a doorman, a karate instructor, even an extra in an Adam Sandler movie—and now he might finally make it as a soul singer.
Posted inMusic
People Issue 2012: Dave Mata, the educator
Eclectic music curator: “I feel a great deal of responsibility as a DJ in this town.”