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.

‘First Ya Gotta Shake the Gate’ includes 33 songs, both mirroring Funkadelic’s 33 years away and creating an almost exhaustively comprehensive return.

With D’Angelo’s pertinent message, color-blurring harmonics and a total lack of slickness, ‘Black Messiah’ is a worthy successor to ‘Voodoo.’

Highly personal songs addressing both personal and political issues propelled Bill Withers into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Steve Cropper has long advocated for the 5 Royales, newly announced recipients of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Early Influence Award.

Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life’ is one of those albums that I can truly say changed my life.

Hall and Oates made a gutsy move, choosing to go their own way – and became genre-jumping pioneers in the process.