The famous “shave-and-a-haircut, two-bits” beat didn’t start with Bo Diddley, who died on June 3, 2008. Through sheer force of will, he made it his own.

For years, maybe from the beginning, the music of Hall and Oates has been described by the same musical term – and Daryl Hall despises it.

If Booker T. and the MGs’ signature hit “Green Onions” always felt like a loose-limbed good time among musical friends, that’s because it actually was.

When Steve Cropper finally got a chance to work with Percy Sledge, he did everything he could to make it happen — regardless of the cost.

‘Moonlight’ covers a lot ground musically, yet Armenian-born keyboardist Vahagn Stepanyan manages to hit the mark with each song.

Rare is the group that appeals to both squealing girls and picky critics, but such was the Jackson 5.

Steve Cropper thought he was going to talk to Booker T. Jones because he could round out the band on keyboards. There’s a lot more to it.

Papa Mali’s “I’m a Ram” is an intriguing voodoo of sex and danger, something that seems to always surround the best Louisiana music.

The Leslie Johnson Project finds this formidable Texas talent making passionate, funky and forward-leaning music firmly rooted in jazz and funk.

The Florida-based JJ Grey and Mofro return to make an absolutely heavenly, cross-pollinated racket — like a bourbon tabernacle hootenanny.