Rock N Roll Archaeology

We open in Manhattan, in the main room, the big studio at Columbia Records. It’s Fall of 1963. A big-time, high-stakes recording session for Aretha Franklin is about to get underway. Aretha is an astonishing, one-in-a-billion talent, but it’s just not clicking for her at Columbia. We spend a little time exploring why it isn’t clicking, and then we talk a little about the feminist perspective, and why we think it is called for. And we move on from Manhattan, to South Grand Avenue in Detroit; to Hitsville, USA—Motown Records. Early summer, 1964, and Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson are worried. Motown has taken a tough hit, losing their top-selling artist, Mary Wells. These guys have no way of knowing it, but not to worry: Motown is just about to BLOW UP. And it’s the first female pop superstar, Diana Ross, who will touch off that explosion. We talk a bit about Berry, about the Motown Fun Factory, and about Diana. And we have to stop and wonder: why does a driven, ambitious man like Berry Gordy get called a visionary and a leader, but a driven and ambitious woman like Diana…well she gets called something else entirely. What’s the deal there? Then we head south, Deep South, to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and meet the Swampers. We hear from the effusive, fast-talking Atlantic Records Exec, Jerry Wexler. When Aretha comes over to Atlantic, it’s Wex who puts her together with the Swampers. It’s a magical moment, but it does not last. While there may have been cooperation and racial harmony in the studio, outside it’s still Alabama. That state is convulsed by the civil rights movement and the angry, hateful backlash it inspires. And it’s not just the state of Alabama; it is a tense and angry nation that awaits The Fire Next Time. We close out the show with a detailed look at the anguish and the glory of Aretha Franklin and her music. A holy blend; a terrible beauty: captured and preserved forever.