Guess what's finally back in print, remastered, and expanded. Nina Simone Sings The Blues. This record sat on my wish list for over a year before I scratched it out figuring I wouldn't see it anytime soon. I actually found it that very afternoon in the discount bin in Waterloo. There's so much humor and sensuality in Nina's voice, and the just under two minute long "Buck" is about the funkiest track ever recorded. Everyone needs this.

Monday I caught Howard Tate at the Continental Club down on South Congress. Howard is a much lauded soul singer from the late '60's among collectors but basically unheard of by anyone else. I discovered him through an article in the annual Oxford American southern music issue (2005 ). Still, I've never stumbled on any of his records. Apparently after the mid 70's he basically fell off the face of the Earth and has only in the past few years reemerged and begun recording and touring again. He's older and a little scary when climbing the rickety half staircase to the red curtained stage, but his voice still holds an audience in suspense even if it has become thinner over the years. And he holds a genuine appreciation for his audience, which he displayed by shaking every hand deep into the second row during his final number. Most importantly, very few torch bearers of the soul legacy still tour and it felt like crawling out of Michael J. Fox's Delorean to see Howard on that tiny stage in a dive bar in south Austin.

Jill tried to drag me back stage after the show to talk to him and I refused. I feel stupid for that now. How many 25 year olds are there in the world that understand how important the social contributions of soul music were to America? I should have just gone back and said, "Thank You."

Sweet Soul Music

by Peter Guralnick

The definitive history of southern soul. A music always largely under represented in American popular culture that long ago submerged to mostly a cult following of collectors trolling through dusty 45 bins. This book left a pile of scribbled notes beside my bed and scattered along my coffee table full of long lists of artists and records I'd never heard of. The obvious are well represented here (Stax, James Brown, Aretha) but the stories of Goldwax, Johnny Jenkins, and Dan Penn are the reason to dig in. Now if someone would just release the legendary Dan Penn demo's from Fame and American studios.

My only complaint is the more than lacking discography which is comprised almost entirely of bargain bin best of's for all the baby boomers who picked this book up on a whim of nostalgia. For such a thoroughly researched work, the discography could have at least pointed at a few of the less obvious gems instead of just telling readers to pick up James Brown's Polydor comps.

Above Otis Redding protege Arthur Conley performs the books namesake to a German audience in 1966