(Clive Chin, left and Bertram Brown, center. Photo by Malcolm Allen) Jamaican producer Bertram Brown was the man behind Freedom Sounds, founded in '75 and operating into the '90s, an important reggae label from the Greenwich Farm ghetto of Kingston. The imprint put out some great music of social concerns by Prince Alla, Rod Taylor, Phillip Fraser, Horace Andy, Ranking Dread, Michael Prophet, Earl Zero and many, many others, with a special regard for neighborhood talents and singers not part of the island's mainstream. These rootsy 45s usually were with the backing of the Soul Syndicate band (often cut at...

Peace & Rhythm and C.A.M.P.O.S. team up to present the world premiere of C.A.M.P.O.S.'s new video for "My Bird Has Many Voices" (Mother's Mix). This is the latest of a string of videos to songs off of the Miracles & Criminals 2xLP, available now direct from Peace & Rhythm or wholesale from Forced Exposure distribution. The video was again created by Croaker Norge. (If you would like to see the previous videos made for the album, click here, here and here. Purchase the album direct from our webshop. "My Bird...": Last month, we were thrilled to see the inclusion of...

I never personally knew Jack Rose (although several of my friends did), but I always dug his playing. It brings me back to my fondness for John Fahey and Robbie Basho. I used to listen to his noisy group Pelt back in the '90s as well. It was still a shock to hear of his passing in 2009 at just 38. There have been many tributes to him, rightfully so, and on his date of birth we'll share a few videos here too. His music mostly pulled from country blues, ragtime and Indian ragas. "A lot of people, when they...

Happy birthday to the R&B singer & dancer Alvin Cash, of Alvin Cash & The Crawlers, Alvin Cash & The Registers and Alvin Cash & The Hundred Dollar Bills fame. Born Alvin Welch, he grew up in St Louis as one of eight children. He and some of his brothers started singing and tap-dancing and they went to school with the future Tina Turner, Luther Ingram and Billy Davis (of The Fifth Dimension). Cash and three of his brothers moved to Chicago in '61 and a few years later hooked up with producer Andre Williams and recorded "Twine Time" (credited...

Part Mexican-American and part Santee-Dakota Sioux, the inspired poet/musician/actor/activist John Trudell grew up on a reservation in Nebraska and became heavily involved in the Red Power & American Indian Movements and was also a hemp advocate (alongside Willie Nelson). In '69 he was the spokesman & broadcaster for the All Tribes Occupation of Alcatraz Island, which put him right in the FBI's crosshairs. His entire family (including his children) all died in a suspicious fire the day after Trudell burned an American flag on the steps of the FBI building in '79. Soon after, his poetry career started. His first...