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Music, Music Feature Oct 23, 2019
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.
- By Aaron Cohen
- Tags: Music Feature, Record Row, soul, R&B, blues, gospel, jazz, Move On Up, Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power, Michigan Avenue, Roosevelt, Cermak, Chess Records, Cadet Concept, Brunswick Records, Vee-Jay Records, Constellation Records, Mama Batt’s Restaurant, Jerry Butler’s Songwriters Workshop, Jerry Butler, Garmisa Distributing Company, One-derful Records, Otis Clay, Alvin Cash, Jackson 5, King Records, Curtom Records, Motor Row, WVON, Universal Recording, Ebony, Willie Dixon, Blues Heaven Foundation, Jackie Ross, Mitty Collier, Fontella Bass, Raynard Miner, Rescue Me, Louis Satterfield, Terry Callier, the Dells, Rotary Connection, Peace, Occasional Rain, Freedom Means, Charles Stepney, M.S. Distributing, Ron Alexenburg, Columbia Records, the Jacksons, Michael Jackson, Vivian Carter, James Bracken, Beatles, Carl Davis, Dakar, Jimmy Reed, Staple Singers, Swan Silvertones, Wayne Shorter, Impressions, Betty Everett, Gene Chandler, Shirley Wahls, Chi-Lites, Barbara Acklin, Jackie Wilson, Tyrone Davis, Willie Henderson, Thomas “Tom Tom” Washington, Sonny Sanders, Argo Singers, Ewart Abner, Curtis Mayfield, Just Be True, Motown, Stevie Wonder, Mar-V-Lus, George Leaner, Ernie Leaner, Halo, Five Du-Tones, Shake a Tail Feather, Ray Charles, Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, Larry Wade, The Love We Had (Stays on My Mind), Chuck Jackson, Marvin Yancy, Independents, Leaving Me, Natalie Cole, Richard Steele, Marshall Chess, Leonard Chess

Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Mar 28, 2017
Otis ‘Big Smokey’ Smothers recorded with Howlin’ Wolf even before his own first session

Guitarist Big Smokey Smothers wrote for Muddy Waters and partnered with Freddie King, but his traditional style of Chicago electric blues didn't help him make his own name.
- By Steve Krakow
- Tags: The Secret History of Chicago Music, Otis Smothers, Big Smokey Smothers, Abe Smothers, Little Smokey Smothers, blues, guitar, harmonica, Mississippi, Winter Blues, Square Deal Club, Johnny Williams, Johnny "Man" Young, Lester Davenport, Arthur "Big Boy" Spires, Earl Hooker, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, "I Asked for Water", "The Natchez Burning", "I've Been Drinking Muddy Water", "Smokey Smothers Sings the Backporch Blues", "I Got My Eyes on You", Red Beans Records, Federal Records, Freddie King, King Records, "Got My Eyes on You", Ice Cream Men, Chess Records

Music, The Secret History of Chicago Music Jun 27, 2013
The Secret History of Chicago Music: LaVern Baker

This powerful R&B singer helped shape rock 'n' roll with her raucous 1956 smash "Jim Dandy."
- Tags: The Secret History of Chicago Music, blues, The Secret History of Chicago Music, Delores LaVern Baker, Merline Johnson, Club DeLisa, Little Miss Sharecropper, Eddie "Sugarman" Penigar, Todd Rhodes, King Records, Atlantic Records, Georgia Gibbs, R&B, 1950s, Ed Sullivan, Alan Freed, Jackie Wilson, Bessie Smith, Chicago Blues Festival, 1980s

Arts & Culture, Book Review Jun 13, 2013
Recommended
Country music's little white myth

The new book Hidden in the Mix details African-American contributions to a genre long associated with whiteness.
- By Noah Berlatsky
- Tags: Book Review, country music, Hidden in the Mix: The African American Presence in Country Music, DeFord Bailey, Ray Charles, Muscle Shoals, King Records, Jerry Wever, Saint Lucia, George Jones, Jim Reeves, Diane Pecknold, Erika Brady, Arnold Shultz, Robert Johnson, Patrick Huber, Charles L. Hughes, Geoff Mann, Benedict Anderson, Brad Paisley, Accidental Racist, LL Cool J, Charley Pride, Cowboy Troy, Recommended

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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.

Otis ‘Big Smokey’ Smothers recorded with Howlin’ Wolf even before his own first session

Guitarist Big Smokey Smothers wrote for Muddy Waters and partnered with Freddie King, but his traditional style of Chicago electric blues didn't help him make his own name.

The Secret History of Chicago Music: LaVern Baker

This powerful R&B singer helped shape rock 'n' roll with her raucous 1956 smash "Jim Dandy."

Recommended
Country music's little white myth

The new book Hidden in the Mix details African-American contributions to a genre long associated with whiteness.

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Browse Music

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Browse Arts & Culture

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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.

Otis ‘Big Smokey’ Smothers recorded with Howlin’ Wolf even before his own first session

Guitarist Big Smokey Smothers wrote for Muddy Waters and partnered with Freddie King, but his traditional style of Chicago electric blues didn't help him make his own name.

The Secret History of Chicago Music: LaVern Baker

This powerful R&B singer helped shape rock 'n' roll with her raucous 1956 smash "Jim Dandy."

Recommended Country music's little white myth

The new book Hidden in the Mix details African-American contributions to a genre long associated with whiteness.

Other Searches

Recommended
Country music's little white myth