Music

Rock historian Ed Ward remembers the Detroit label Westbound Records, which recorded early funk, disco and gospel in the 1970s.

Rock historian Ed Ward explains how New York City's Tin Pan Alley songwriters coped with changing times in the 1960s.

Rock historian Ed Ward considers pop music produced at Ardent Studios in Memphis in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Much of the music wasn't heard any farther than the city limits.

Rock historian Ed Ward tells the story of the Staple Singers, an American gospel, soul and R&B group.

Fresh Air rock historian Ed Ward considers the legacy of Lonnie Mack, who sings soulfully and plays a mean guitar.

Fresh Air's rock historian considers the intertwined fates of the Impressions' Jerry Butler, and his brother, Chicago soul singer Billy Butler.

It's not often that you hear of a record company being destroyed by success, but that was the fate of one of America's most prominent soul labels, Vee-Jay Records. They recorded John Lee Hooker, the Four Seasons and Betty Everett, but the music has been unavailable for decades. A new box set ends the wait.

Fresh Air's rock critic runs down the best pop music of 2007, which he likes to call The Year in Rehabilitation. His picks are:

"Rehab" by Amy Winehouse

"Piece of Me" by Britney Spears

"Closure" by Aly & AJ

"Navy Nurse" by The Fiery Furnaces

"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" by Miranda Lambert

"Change of Heart" by Teddy Thompson

In 1964, Motown, a black-owned record company in Detroit achieved the nearly impossible goal of dominating the American pop and soul charts. Ed Ward looks back on 1965 and Hip-O Select's "Complete Motown Singles" series.

Celebrated salsa musician is the subject of the film El Cantante. Our music critic takes a look at his career, marked by dazzling musical highs and personal lows including heroin addiction and a suicide attempt.