For full TV listings for the week, see thetimes.co.uk/tvplannerViewing guide, by James JacksonSoul AmericaBBC Four, 9.30pm“Between the 1960s and 1980s, soul music best expressed how it felt to be black in America.” So begins a three-part series tracing a history of glorious music against the sociopolitical backdrop of that time. It’s a rich heady tour. The first episode starts by exploring where soul music actually began: in the cotton fields and churches of the Deep South, where the best gospel singers started to find themselves becoming sought-after performers as the black American church grew in strength. One of those was a young, unknown Aretha Franklin — and we know this because Candi Staton, now 80, offers her first-hand memory here.

Source: The Times September 03, 2020 23:03 UTC