June ‘20 Playlist

For this month’s playlist, I wanted to take a step back and look at some of the Black music that made American music into what it is today. Genres like folk, jazz, rhythm and blues, Motown, funk and disco all shaped music as we know it. When it comes down to it, Black music is American music.

You can have a listen to the June playlist below.

Some fun facts from the playlist:

• Junior Kimbrough was a blues legend with a polyrhythmic style. The Black Keys arguably would not exist without him as Dan Auerbach was inspired to drop out of college and pursue music after listening to Kimbrough’s music. The Black Keys actually have an entire tribute EP for him titled, Chulahoma: The Songs of Junior Kimbrough.

• “Saturday” by Norma Jean Wright, “Smile” by Emotions and “One Nation Under a Groove” by Funkadelic were a few of the “Top 20 National Disco Tunes” in November, 1978 according to Right On! Magazine’s “Disco Explosion” issue.

• Barrett Strong’s song “Money (That’s What I Want)” has been covered by the likes of The Beatles, The Flying Lizards, Iggy Pop and even Hanson.

• Did you know that Bill Wither’s holds the note at the end of “Lovely Day” for 18 seconds?!

I also urge you to listen to The New York Times podcast ,“1619: The Birth of American Music”, narrated by Wesley Morris on Spotify. It begins with him recalling listening to yacht rock with a friend, and how strangely enough everything relates back to Black music. Yes, even yacht rock.

A closing remark that stuck with me is, “All that history is just very silently coursing through this music. It might not even be aware that it’s even there. It’s so thoroughly atomized into American culture.”