Imagine the heat of a 1920s Texas street corner: the hum of traffic, the scent of dust, and a voice so raw it sounds like gargling gravel. This was the world of Blind Willie Johnson, a man whose slide guitar technique utilized a pocket knife to wring harmony and moaning unison from the strings. Born in 1897 near Temple, Texas, Johnson was not born blind. His childhood began with the simple joy of a cigar box guitar gifted by his father. However, the light did not last; at the age of seven, his s...

The gritty, industrial soul of Detroit rarely exports its secrets to the southern tip of Africa, but Sixto Rodriguez was the exception that proved the rule. Born in 1942 as the sixth child of Mexican immigrants, his early life was defined by the clatter of Motor City factories and the crushing alienation often faced by the inner-city poor. He was a man who lived at the intersection of creative hope and physical demolition, literally. After his mother died when he was only three, Rodriguez spent ...