Tony Scherman

Just Substacked, "Among the Musical," Episode 101 (!!): The Aretha Series, Part Four: "Black Music Power." (The link is in Comments, below.) "I began to appreciate myself as a beautiful black woman,” Aretha said in 1970. Next up, the fifth and final part.

Just posted: "Among the Musical", Episode 95: "Rarely If Ever Noted: a Transcendant Moment of Aretha's" (The link is in Comments, below.) This Substack is subtitled, "Unlike many of us beset with problems, Aretha Franklin had an escape hatch: her genius." Wherein your author explores Aretha's version of "I Say a Little Prayer" (1968) and points out why it belongs in the small group of her greatest performances, an underacknowledged masterpiece.