James Sullivan is the author of five books, including the forthcoming 'Which Side Are You On,' and is a feature writer for The Boston Globe.
There’s a lot more gospel in classic rock and soul than the histories sometimes show. Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown: they all had plenty of holy roller in their…
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All of American music is black music, said Bruno Mars in a recent interview, and he wasn’t the first to say so. “When you say ‘black music,’ understand that you…
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Some big things happened in the year 1933. Construction of the Golden Gate Bridge began. Major League Baseball hosted its first All-Star game. King Kong premiered. Prohibition was repealed. And…
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Chris Cornell and country royalty give Cash’s lost lyrics a new voice.
In February 1969, James Brown appeared on the cover of Look, then one of the country’s biggest magazines. The headline posed a question: “Is he the most important black man…
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Fifty years after Stax Records’ Volt label released one of the true all-time classic songs, Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” the song routinely appears on Pandora’s…
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