Clockwise from top left: The Ton-Up Motors, Joss Stone, Charles Bradley, and Eliza Doolittle.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame defines soul music in its biography for late, soul singer Otid Redding: “His [Otis Redding’s] name is synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying. ” In other words, soul music, like jazz, is a uniquely American creation shaped and formed and influenced by uniquely American experiences.

Or at least it was.

In March of this year, Public Radio International Senior Producer Marco Werman examined the idea that while soul has largely fallen out of favor in America, we do get the occasional infusion from sultry, U.K.-based singers like Joss Stone, Amy Winehouse, Duffy, Adele and Eliza Doolittle. Meanwhile, soul continues to enjoy a level of popularity in the U.K. and Europe that hasn’t been seen in America for decades. Even American-born soul singers like Charles Bradley feel unappreciated in the homeland of soul.

“They got the gift. They know the gift and they don’t respect it,” Bradley says in his interview with Werman “And out of the country, they respect it. They see the love. They see where we’re coming from and they love it.”

Today, Charles Bradley is playing a gig at the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland. Tomorrow he’ll do another show at the Cool Jazz Festival in Portugal. Before the end of the year, he’ll play dozens more shows Canada, France and all over the United States. So when is he headed to Japan?

That’s right, Japan. Earlier this month a soul band called The Ton-Up Motors released their second album Hey!! People,. How does it sound? Let’s just say that if imitation is indeed the most sincere form of flattery, late, soul pioneer James Brown must be feeling pretty buttered up right about now.
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