Bigotry is dumb on every side. Playing the music in your Soul is what it means to be human. These humans teamed up with other humans to lovingly record and collaborate on so many of the iconic productions we associate with the greatest fist in the air Black Power anthems of all time.
This is the band that played on the signature songs that made Aretha, The Staples, Wilson Pickett, and so many other amazing voices LEGENDS.
The songs hold up because they all played their hearts out and developed a unique sound.
The message is not about Black or White, it’s about being inclusive. It’s about 10,000 hours. It’s about great chemistry and good intentions.
This group of friends created a welcome and safe space for artists to visit and do their finest work, in one of the most segregated and perilous places for people of color to visit at the time – rural Alabama of the 1960s and 70s.
Music is the best kind of Magic, because it is TRUTH.
Don’t tell anyone they can’t play or love a certain style because of their so called race, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, or nationality.
That’s so dumb. What we should focus on is making sure people know the history, the ancestors, the innovators, the standard and the standard bearers, and how they can be THIS GOOD.
I have heard the most ignorant sh☆t. People told me Black people invented nothing, or that White people have never innovated anything in music.
I want to slap both of those sorts of people with a leather glove and smack them equally as hard out of principle.
As Amy Winehouse once said, “what f☆ckery is this?”
Life does not fit the basic narrative.
Because life ain’t simple. But some people are.
Lets focus on helping the next generation being better than us, and honoring the old folks that got us to this precipice of culture worth keeping.
I am in my second act. Remember the importance of giving good artists a first and a third one. Remember the American spirit of a second chance. Somebody might not knock you down, but they’ll think twice when you brush your shoulders off and get back up.
…and never forget the Swampers and the great black artists that stepped through those doors to blow a hole in racism like a 12 gauge…right there in Alabama.
Even the Klan kept a distance because even those terrorists were afraid of f☆cking up this Magic.
All things must pass, but don’t lie to these kids. College Sophomore Marxism can’t explain the nuances of real life.
These were real Social Justice Warriors. They stayed in the background and pushed so many amazing Black voices onto the radio to be heard and represent what doesn’t suck about The South.
– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com. Davin’s new song has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is available here.
