From Jim Crow to Eminem, white culture has been transformed by black music. To be so influenced by the boundless imagination of a race brought to America in chains sets up a fascinating irony, and Souled American, an ambitious and comprehensive look at race relations as seen through the prism of music, examines that irony fearlessly--with illuminating results. Tracing a direct line from plantation field hollers to gangsta rap, author Kevin Phinney explains how blacks and whites exist in a constant tug-of-war as they create, re-create, and claim each phase of popular music. Meticulously researched, the book includes dozens of exclusive celebrity interviews that reveal the day-to-day struggles and triumphs of sharing the limelight. Unique, intriguing, Souled American should be required reading for every American interested in music, in history, or in healing our country's troubled race relations.

"Texas journalist Phinney's first book traces the history of race relations as seen through commingling musical crossovers and a parade of personalities: from Al Jolson to Louis Jordan, Billie Holiday to Bonnie Raitt, Zip Coon to Pat Boone. This comprehensive coverage spans all genres, including blues, country, gospel, jazz, R&B, ragtime, rock and rap. With blackface minstrelsy, 'whites opened a portal to their own hidden creative impulses,' and Phinney explores this theme as he covers 'white men in transparent blackface' (Eminem), 'multi-culti chanteuses' (Mariah Carey) and 'sepia Sinatras' (Johnny Mathis). Anecdotes abound, and many music history milestones punctuate Phinney's probing critical commentary. Analyzing Nat King Cole's singing style and how it made him 'one of the first modern artists to 'cross over' from black to white popularity,' Phinney recounts how Cole, only months before the premiere of his 1956 — 1957 NBC television show, was assaulted onstage in Birmingham, Ala., by five white men. Phinney writes with verve and vitality, articulately charting hundreds of black and white intersections in this definitive roadmap to racial rhythms. 45 b&w photos. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

This book, which began as a newspaper series in the 1980s for the Austin American-Statesman (and uses quotes from some of those interviews), examines how black music foundations spawned the melding of black and white cultures to create country, hip hop, blues, rock `n' roll, and jazz. It begins with music of the seventeenth century; discusses minstrels, ragtime, spirituals, the roots of jazz, blues, and big bands; describes the convergence of styles and cultures into rock `n' roll; recounts the 1960s, Motown, and funk; and traces the MTV era, rap, and hip hop of the 1990s. Phinney is a journalist who has written about music, film, theater, and pop culture.
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This book, which began as a newspaper series in the 1980s for the Austin American-Statesman (and uses quotes from some of those interviews), examines how black music foundations spawned the melding of black and white cultures to create country, hip hop, blues, rock `n' roll, and jazz. It begins with music of the seventeenth century; discusses minstrels, ragtime, spirituals, the roots of jazz, blues, and big bands; describes the convergence of styles and cultures into rock `n' roll; recounts the 1960s, Motown, and funk; and traces the MTV era, rap, and hip hop of the 1990s. Phinney is a journalist who has written about music, film, theater, and pop culture. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"A near-encyclopedic study of black influence on American music." Kirkus Reviews

Kevin Phinney, an entertainment journalist based in Austin, has written for the Austin American-Statesman, Premiere magazine, and the Hollywood Reporter. Currently, he is cohost of KGSR FM's morning drive-time program, "Kevin & Kevin".