In honor of Black History Month, Madison Public Library's music selector Guy Hankel pulled a list of five albums by notable Black artists that have had an outsized influence on American music.
Madison Public Library has a wonderful collection of vinyl records and CDs that contains many hidden gems. Over the next few months, we'll have Guy share more curated lists to highlight some of the music in our collection. Don't forget that you can browse and place holds on music using LINKcat. If you're specifically interested in vinyl, you can browse records in person at Monroe Street Library or Central Library, and these locations also have portable record players you can check out to enjoy the albums if you don't have your own! Learn more on our Library of Things page.
Check out his selections below to learn more about each album and the artist who made it:
Live at the Apollo by James Brown and the Famous Flames (1962)
Attending a James Brown show at almost any point in his career would've been memorable. Attending a James Brown show at The Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC on Wednesday night October 24, 1962 would've enabled you to say that you were present for one of the greatest live albums ever recorded.
Brown had scored a string of hit R&B singles up to that point, but album sales were lacking. He reasoned that people would buy an album of his vaunted live act (Brown was already known as "The Hardest-Working Man in Show Business" at that point). When his label, King Records, balked at the idea, Brown decided to finance the album himself. The end result was a perfect snapshot of his tight, intense show.
Upon its initial release of 5,000 copies, some DJs began playing the entire album--unheard of at the time--dropping in commercials between sides one and two. Spreading largely by word of mouth, Live At The Apollo rose to number two on the Pop Album charts, and eventually sold millions of copies. Live at the Apollo served to broaden his audience on an international scale, and helped establish the live album as a more-than-viable medium in the recording world.
Color Me Country by Linda Martell (1970) | Cowboy Carter by Beyonce (2024)
Viewers of this year's GRAMMYs saw Beyoncé take home the Album of the Year award for her eclectic 2024 release Cowboy Carter. Perhaps more significantly, Cowboy Carter also won Best Country Album of the year, making Beyoncé the first Black woman in GRAMMYs history to win that category. In accepting the award, she acknowledged the influence of another barrier-breaking artist: Linda Martell.
In the wake of Charley Pride's success with white country audiences, Martell, an R&B singer, was signed by a Nashville music agent in 1969, hoping to replicate Pride's success. After the release of her album Color Me Country in 1970, Martell became the first commercially successful Black female artist in country music. She also became the first Black woman to perform on the Grand Ole Opry stage.
Martell had the highest peaking song on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart by a Black female country artist (with "Color Him Father", which reached #22 in 1969), until Beyoncé's "Texas Hold 'Em" hit #1 in February, 2024. Unfortunately, her success was short-lived. With subsequent singles failing, lack of proper promotion, racism from White audiences, and conflicts with her record label and manager, by mid-decade Martell had left Nashville and her recording career behind.
Martell's legacy paved the way for others later in the 1970's, such as Lenora Ross (who signed to RCA) and independent artists Ruby Falls, Barbara Cooper, Virginia Kirby, and up to today, with Brittney Spencer, Mickey Guyton, Miko Marks, the group Chapel Hart, Rissi Palmer, and many more. She was honored with the Equal Play Award at the
2021 CMT Music Awards, given to recognize her pioneering work as a female Black performer in country music.
Country music has cultural roots in African American traditions. Adding to that, the ground-breaking work of Linda Martell and Beyoncé has undoubtedly contributed to the increasing success and acceptance of Black women within the genre.
Check Out Color Me Country: Vinyl Check Out Cowboy Carter: Vinyl |
CD
Innervisions by Stevie Wonder (1973)
Rightly considered one of the greatest albums of the 20th century, Stevie Wonder's 1973 album Innervisions was (and remains) an undisputed critical and commercial success. Innervisions won GRAMMY awards for Album of the Year (making Wonder the first Black artist to win the category), Best Engineered Non-Classical Recording, and Best R&B Song for the second single from the album, "Living for the City". In accepting the award, Wonder stated "I hope that through my music, I have given the message of my people and of the world." He considered it his most personal album to that point.
Wonder's musical virtuosity is on display throughout, expertly covering a multitude of styles, while handling the majority of the instrumentation himself. His extensive and innovative use of synth sounds influenced much R&B going forward.
Lyrically, the album reflects sobering themes of systemic racism, drug abuse, political corruption, personal resilience and spiritual growth. Although the serious messages still have relevance today, Wonder's Innervisions offers reminders that something better is possible through his art.
Check it Out: Vinyl | CD
Shout Sister Shout by Sister Rosetta Tharpe (2024)
Who invented rock 'n roll? The list of progenitors is always up for debate, but any serious discussion should include the name Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Born in 1915 as Rosetta Nubin in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, Tharpe grew up in a family of religious singers. She started playing guitar at the age of four, and soon after began accompanying her mother during church performances. The two eventually moved to Chicago and joined a traveling troupe that performed in churches across the Midwest and the South. Tharpe eventually developed a style of her own, mixing jazz, blues and gospel into a potent combination that contributed to her fame as a musical prodigy.
In 1934, Tharpe married a preacher, Thomas Thorpe. The two performed radio shows, with Thomas preaching and Tharpe singing and playing guitar. The marriage was short-lived, but she adopted a version of his surname as part of her stage name. By 1938, the marriage was over, and Sharpe and her mother moved to New York City, where she found stardom playing venues such as the Cotton Club and the Apollo Theater. A recording contract with Decca Records and an engagement with Lucky Millinder's swing band brought more exposure to secular audiences as well as national success.
Her 1944 single, "Strange Things Happen Every Day", became the first gospel record to cross over to Billboard's "Race Records" chart (later named the R&B chart), reaching number two. The song has been cited by some as perhaps the first rock and roll record.
Despite three marriages, Tharpe had relationships with both women and men throughout her life, and toured with one of her romantic partners throughout the 1940's, gospel and R&B singer Marie Knight.
Tharpe continued to perform and record up until her death from a stroke in 1973. Her energetic stage persona and virtuoso guitar work created a proto-rock star presence that inspired and influenced a staggering number of pivotal figures, including Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Johnny Cash and Aretha Franklin. She received a long overdue induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.
