How could a band ever follow Led Zeppelin IV (1971)? Considering the album had “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,” and “Stairway to Heaven” on just its first side, it was a daunting task — even for the band ...

Studio wiz Ricky Reed has been behind major hits from the likes of Jessie J, Jason Derulo, and Fifth Harmony in recent years, but 2017 will finally see a new release under his own name. The Facing New ...

It’s one of a handful of intro guitar riffs that makes people hoot and holler and shake it on down to the dance floor. Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music” has all the essential musical ingredients ...

For years, I heard "Play That Funky Music" as some kind of statement of racial solidarity. The white boy singing the song, Wild Cherry frontman Rob Parissi, knew that nobody would expect a white boy ...

Arlester "Dyke" Christian and his bandmates were packing the dance floor at one of their regular stomping grounds in Phoenix, the Elks Club on Seventh Avenue, when a man approached to ask whose song ...

Confined to his home like everyone else during a long quarantine last year, Sam "Big Sam" Williams has not stopped working on new music. A fixture on the New Orleans music scene as trombonist and ...

George Clinton hailed the “seemingly impossible” achievement of P-Funk keyboardist Daniel Bedrosian’s new book. Titled The Authorized P-Funk Song Reference Official Canon of Parliament-Funkadelic, ...

The Red & Black is a 501c3 nonprofit. Please consider a one-time gift or become a monthly supporter. Cancel anytime. National Get Funky Day will be observed for the very first time on Thursday, Oct. 5 ...

Bass Week: The word ‘funk’ or ‘funky’ can be applied to almost anything, from butt-shaking basslines to scatter cushions. We all instinctively know what’s implied, but in a bass playing sense, what ...

In the video above, funky seniors show how they spend a night on the (up)town in their version of Bruno Mars' hit song "Uptown Funk." It was put together by Alex Boye, who often uploads videos of "pop ...