"If a song's about something I've experienced or that could've happened to me it's good. But if it's alien to me, I couldn't lend anything to it. Because that's what soul is all about." Aretha Franklin

Building off street jazz and church gospel, the syncopated sounds of Rhythm & Blues could be heard far and wide in post-WWII African American communities - from the rural farms of the Mississippi Delta to the Windy City and everywhere in between. Fitted with flatted chords, storytelling and revelations, R&B gave way to poppier incarnations Funk, Doowop, and perhaps most importantly Soul, with its secular testifying, handclaps and call-and-response phenomenon.

At Rhino, the King and Queen of Soul (Otis and Aretha) set the pace, Curtis brings the funk, Ray makes the rhythm jump and countless blues masters and girl groups pave the way for decades to come.