Course Description
Starting in the mid-1950s with seminal recordings by James Brown, Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, this ten-week course will explore the seminal figures and seminal recordings that define the genre. Along the way, we will look at the regional sounds of soul in Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, New Orleans and Muscle Shoals. We will also spend time discussing how different branches of soul were created and marketed by record companies such as Stax, Motown, Atlantic, Chess, Hi, and Fame. Artists that will be covered include Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Al Green and Isaac Hayes.
Course Director
Rob Bowman
Rob Bowman has been writing professionally about rhythm and blues, rock, country, jazz and gospel for over 50 years. Nominated for six Grammy Awards, in 1996, Bowman won the Grammy in the “Best Album Notes” category for a 47,000-word monograph he penned to accompany a 10-CD box set that he also co-produced, The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles Volume 3: 1972-1975 (Fantasy Records). He is also the author of Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records (Schirmer Books), which was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2013. Bowman’s most recent book is Land of a Thousand Sessions: The Complete Muscle Shoals Story 1951-1985. In 2024, HBO began streaming a four-hour documentary called Stax: Soulsville U.S.A., for which Bowman provided interviews, served as co-executive producer and creative consultant. His book on Stax served as the documentary’s primary source material. In 2025, the documentary was awarded a Peabody Award.
Rob Bowman
Term and Time
Fall 2026 – starting September 11
1:00 p.m. on Fridays
Room 204 in York Hall
Course Outline
Two weeks before the course starts, you can download a printable PDF giving the 10-week detailed course outline.
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Lecture Notes
Links to resources such as additional reading or videos are provided here as the Course Director makes them available during the term. Like the course outline, lecture notes open in a new browser tab so that you can download and print them.
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