Few musicologists have taken a genre’s pulse as literally as Richard J. Ripani, who has counted the number of beats per minute in a half-century of rhythm-and-blues hits, from the Johnny Otis ...

Charles “Big Saul” Greene didn’t have the longest career as a DJ in Macon, but it was certainly one of the most impactful. As part of the legendary “Three Horsemen” of WIBB -- along with Hamp “King ...

Ruth Brown, the pioneering singer whose 1950s hits including “Teardrops From My Eyes” and “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” helped establish both the rhythm-and-blues form and Atlantic Records as ...

LOS ANGELES - Singer Ruth Brown, whose recordings of "Teardrops in My Eyes," "5-10-15 Hours" and "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" shot her to rhythm-and-blues stardom in the 1950s, has died. She ...

This essay challenges the received wisdom that teenpix of the 1950s were dominated by a soundtrack of rock 'n' roll. I argue that this cycle of film production was marked by a diversity of musical ...

Rhythm and Blues wasn’t just a genre—it was a powerful force in the fight for civil rights. In this episode of The Cause: Conversations on Music, History, and Democracy, Dr. Reiland Rabaka explores ...