When R&B Got Soul and Entered the Mainstream. Two new Wilson Picket LPs.

Rhythm and Blues, or R&B emerged on the music scene in the early 1950s. By the early 1960s R&B, particularly that coming out of Detroit from Barry Gordy’s Tabla and Motown labels was popular across a broad spectrum of music. But as the Beatles and British invasion music begin to dominate the pop charts, R&B took a turn from the heavily orchestrated Motown sound of groups like the Supremes and Temptations to deeper soul music. Wilson Pickett was one of the singers who both rode that new wave and helped drive it. Pickett’s story tells us a lot about not just his career and R&B in general but American culture as well. So what is the story? A look at a new exclusive version of a Wilson Pickett classic LP and a new compilation of Pickett’s hits.