Soul Music Guide: History and Sounds of Soul Music

Soul music is a collective term for several forms of pop music that Black Americans pioneered from the mid-twentieth century onward. Genres grouped under the "soul" banner include rhythm and blues (R&B), urban blues, Motown, smooth jazz, and gospel music.

Soul as a genre came into fruition in the early 1960s when record labels such as Motown, Atlantic, and Stax records actively recruited and supported Black artists in an otherwise fairly segregated music business. During this era, many forms of soul music entwined with the civil rights movement, as Black pop musicians sought to connect their art to the social and political struggles of the era.

Soul music is the foundation for more contemporary music traditions, including hip-hop, disco, and electronic music. Classic soul also remains popular on many radio stations and streaming services.

Soul music traces its roots to traditional blues and the gospel music of the Black church. Soul pioneers of the 1950s—such as Ray Charles, Etta James, Sam Cooke, Clyde McPhatter, Little Richard, and Hank Ballard—learned music through performing in gospel groups. As these artists incorporated blues tropes and shifted to secular lyrics, the soul genre was born.

In the 1970s, soul music began to lay the groundwork for funk and disco. Isaac Hayes, a Memphis-based musician who was a creative lead at Stax Records, and Curtis Mayfield, a Chicago singer-songwriter and guitarist, helped lead this "progressive soul" movement to incorporate new sounds and rhythms. Yet it was James Brown, who was based in Augusta, Georgia and had recorded for numerous record labels, who first brought funk to an international audience.

Over time, soul music has incorporated elements of psychedelic rock, jazz, and country music. In turn, soul has become the foundation of new genres including disco, hip-hop, contemporary R&B, and smooth jazz.

Much of soul music's growth and evolution is specific to particular cities and regions, each of which had a major record label anchoring its soul scene.

• Southern soul: Centered in Memphis (and to a lesser degree Birmingham, Atlanta, and New Orleans), the south was home to Stax Records (whose roster included Otis Redding, Booker T & the MGs, Wilson Pickett, and The Mar-Keys) and Hi Records (the label home of the Reverend Al Green). These labels recruited Black artists from Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana to craft a sound with prominent horns, Hammond organ, and a pummeling rhythm section. Many southern soul artists also recorded at the famed Alabama locales FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound, where house band The Swampers created a similarly propulsive aural tapestry.
• Detroit soul: In Detroit, Motown Records led a soul movement that emphasized catchy pop melodies and slick production, courtesy of the label's house band The Funk Brothers. Motown artists Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and The Temptations scored hit after hit under the direction of label president Berry Gordy. Motown soul singers crossed into genres popular with white audiences, such as doo-wop, and enjoyed some of the most robust sales of any soul artist. Gordy eventually moved the label to Los Angeles, but Detroit remained a soul capital, fostering artists like Jackie Wilson and Aretha Franklin.
• New York City sound: The third major hub of the soul music revolution was Atlantic Records, which Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson founded in New York City. Although they were white, the founders actively recruited Black artists who played both jazz and various forms of soul. Major Atlantic artists included Aretha Franklin (who was based in both Detroit and New York), Ray Charles, Percy Sledge, and Solomon Burke. Atlantic would eventually become a distributor for Stax Records, helping to release chart-topping hits like "Hold On, I'm Coming" by Sam and Dave and "Respect" by Otis Redding.

Although soul music evolved in disparate places—from Detroit and Memphis to Philadelphia and beyond—many key elements unite the genre:

1. 1. Continuation of gospel traditions: A great number of soul singers learned about music through the Black church. Idioms from Black gospel music—such as call-and-response vocals between a lead singer and a chorus—appear in many soul songs. “Love Train” by The O’Jays, "The Tracks of My Tears" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, and "Baby Love" by The Supremes all feature gospel elements.
2. 2. Blues harmonies: Many soul songwriters brought the harmonic language of the blues to their music. From Ray Charles's piano to the Reverend Al Green's guitar, the influence of southern blues pervades much of soul music.
3. 3. Virtuosic vocals: Soul music tends to provide an excellent showcase for virtuosic vocalists. From Sam Cooke on "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "You Send Me" to Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)," many soul songs flourish on the beauty of the singer's voice.
4. 4. Prominent rhythm sections: Some of the most famous soul musicians are rhythm players, such as Funk Brothers bassist James Jamerson and MGs guitarist Steve Cropper. Soul music tends to emphasize a heavy backbeat, a characteristic derived from its gospel origins.
5. 5. Horn sections: Many soul groups made ample use of horn sections. This was particularly true of records put out on Memphis-based Hi Records (under the direction of label president and trumpet player Willie Mitchell) and Stax Records. Motown Records made less frequent use of a horn section, but horns can still be heard on classics like Martha and the Vandellas’s "Dancing in the Street."
6. 6. Connection to the civil rights movement: Classic soul came of age in the 1950s and 1960s, which was a crucial period in the United States' struggle for Black civil rights. Many soul artists sought to address the nation's social and political climate in their work, such as Marvin Gaye on his seminal record What's Going On.

Soul music has inspired a wide array of popular styles since its heyday in the 1950s through 1970s. Hip-hop, disco, smooth jazz, dance pop, house, and even dancehall and Latin pop show heavy influence from the soul music tradition.

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