GARY CLARK JR. AND LEON BRIDGES
Gary Clark Jr. and Leon Bridges, both from Texas, partnered to write and perform the song Shake, their modern take on soul music.
HARRY BELAFONTE
“I have always believed art is the conscience of the human Soul and that artists have the responsibility not only to show life as it is but to show life as it should be.”
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson dominated ratings and received countless awards. The most overlooked achievement, however, is the week when Johnny Carson gave up his chair to Harry Belafonte in February 1968.
The Sit-In, a documentary directed by Yoruba Richen (The Green Book: Guide to Freedom, The New Black), follows the first time an African-American hosted a late-night television show for an entire week.
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They were founded in 1973 by Bernice Johnson Reagon when she was teaching a vocal workshop in Washington D.C. at the Black Repertory Company.
The members have changed over four decades and now includes a male bassist. The group continues to sing and perform worldwide today and DW hopes to present them in Jackson Hole one day.
The name, Sweet Honey in the Rock, is based on a passage from the Bible - Psalm 81:16, which speaks to a land so rich that when rocks were cracked open, honey flowed from them. Their sound ranges from African to blues to gospel and jazz.
Sweet Honey in the Rock has received three Grammy Award nominations. Their most powerful messages are proclaimed through an enormous catalog of songs addressing the world's woes that still exist today: immigration injustices, congressional greed and lack of compassion for citizens, the environmental imbalance, racial and women's issues.
ALICIA KEYS AND BRANDI CARLILE
Ahead of last year’s presidential elections, CBS hosted the Every Vote Counts: A Celebration of Democracy.
The collection of submissions from musicians, actors, politicians and activists featured the first-ever collaboration between Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile with their new song, “A Beautiful Noise”.
Keys and Carlile both sit at dueling grand pianos with no other musical accompaniment. The lyrics for “A Beautiful Noise” tell the story of marginalized communities finally gaining their birthright to fully participate in society.
After Keys and Carlile trade verses back and forth, they come together in harmony to lift each other up just as women have been doing on and off the stage for years.
MARVIN GAYE
Marvin Gaye was a soul singer-songwriter with Motown in the 1960s and 1970s. He produced his own records and often addressed controversial themes. Marvin Gaye sang in his father's church and in the Moonglows before signing with Motown. He recorded songs by Smokey Robinson before becoming his own producer on the protest album What's Going On (1971). Gaye was killed in 1984 during a domestic dispute with his father.
Playing for Change began in 2002 to unify people from around the world through music. Marvin Gaye’s song, What’s Going On, was played around the world beginning in 2014.
