Soul-Funk Blues
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Soul-Funk Blues blends blues feeling with soul vocals and funk rhythm sections. It is smoother and more song-oriented than guitar-jam funk blues, often using horns, organ, backing vocals and romantic or adult-life lyrics. The blues arrives through bends, call-and-response and testimony; soul adds vocal polish; funk adds the pocket. It is a key bridge into modern Southern soul-blues.
History
Artists working between blues, soul and R&B naturally absorbed funk after the late 1960s. Little Milton, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Z.Z. Hill, Denise LaSalle, Latimore, Bobby Rush, Johnnie Taylor and Tyrone Davis all helped shape adult Black blues-soul markets where groove mattered. Later soul-blues labels and festivals kept the blend alive outside mainstream pop radio.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Grits Ain't Groceries — Little MiltonSpotifyYouTube
- Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City — Bobby "Blue" BlandSpotifyYouTube
- Down Home Blues — Z.Z. HillSpotifyYouTube
- Trapped by a Thing Called Love — Denise LaSalleSpotifyYouTube
- Let's Straighten It Out — LatimoreSpotifyYouTube
- Chicken Heads — Bobby RushSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- soul-blues histories
- Southern soul discographies
- artist catalogs
- streaming/video checks