As traditional soul's popularity receded in the wake of mid-1970s funk and disco, a loose group of revivalists pressed to keep the urgency and fervor of '60s soul alive. These retro soul artists, as they came to be known, upheld the long-standing tenets of the genre and found intimate audiences of soul loyalists along the way. Singers as diverse as smooth-voiced Johnny Adams and versatile bluesman Johnnie Taylor carved out successful followings in the '80s and, in Taylor's case, well into the '90s. A number of retro soul singers--many of whom along with Taylor recorded for the Jackson, Miss.-based Malaco label--consistently dipped their stirring soul songs in the greasy bucket of the blues revival of the early '80s: Bobby "Blue" Bland, Ernie Johnson, Little Milton, and Z.Z. Hill among them. Bookending retro soul's history are a pair of bawdy belters in Millie Jackson, who made '70s audiences howl with her raw tales of love and sex, and Chuck Roberson, who released a series of well-received records in the latter half of the '90s and the early '00s.

Notable Artists: Johnnie Taylor; Chuck Roberson; Bobby Rush; Little Milton