The Groove Loungehttps://thegroovelounge.com/ Soul, funk, disco and R&B, and the stories behind the records. A new show every week on Mixcloud, hosted by Simone.en-gb The Crossing · No. 003https://thegroovelounge.com/shows/the-crossing/https://thegroovelounge.com/shows/the-crossing/ Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:00:00 +0000From Birmingham to Canterbury, British soul didn't copy America — it absorbed it, melted it down, and found something entirely its own. There's a story about British soul that rarely gets told straight. Not imitation — absorption. A group from Birmingham in 1978 who sounded like they'd grown up on Gamble and Huff. A London trio who actually broke through in America without a gimmick. A voice from Canterbury who sang as if the microphone wasn't on, recording neo-soul before anyone had named it. Lew Kirton is in here too — British soul with Barbadian roots, which makes it personal for me. Same part of the world my mum came from. The show ends in 2024, with a voice that knows exactly where it came from. The circle closes. It always does. — Simone From Birmingham to Canterbury, British soul didn't copy America — it absorbed it, melted it down, and found something entirely its own.

There's a story about British soul that rarely gets told straight. Not imitation — absorption. A group from Birmingham in 1978 who sounded like they'd grown up on Gamble and Huff. A London trio who actually broke through in America without a gimmick. A voice from Canterbury who sang as if the microphone wasn't on, recording neo-soul before anyone had named it.

Lew Kirton is in here too — British soul with Barbadian roots, which makes it personal for me. Same part of the world my mum came from.

The show ends in 2024, with a voice that knows exactly where it came from. The circle closes. It always does.

— Simone

]]> The Quiet Room · No. 002https://thegroovelounge.com/shows/the-quiet-room/https://thegroovelounge.com/shows/the-quiet-room/ Mon, 26 Oct 2026 20:00:00 +0000The room where male soul voices stopped performing and started telling the truth - twelve tracks, no hiding. There is a room in soul music that doesn't appear on any map. Not the dancefloor, not the church — somewhere between them, where a man sings something he cannot say straight out. That is where this show lives. William Bell and Judy Clay listening to each other across a Memphis studio. Ronnie Dyson's falsetto sitting still rather than reaching. Curtis Mayfield setting down the weight for a moment. Bobby Womack talking to someone in the same room. Two Teddy Pendergrass tracks from the same year, the same label — completely opposite ends of himself. Minnie Riperton answers at the end. Because intimacy was always a conversation, not a monologue. — Simone The room where male soul voices stopped performing and started telling the truth - twelve tracks, no hiding.

There is a room in soul music that doesn't appear on any map. Not the dancefloor, not the church — somewhere between them, where a man sings something he cannot say straight out. That is where this show lives.

William Bell and Judy Clay listening to each other across a Memphis studio. Ronnie Dyson's falsetto sitting still rather than reaching. Curtis Mayfield setting down the weight for a moment. Bobby Womack talking to someone in the same room. Two Teddy Pendergrass tracks from the same year, the same label — completely opposite ends of himself.

Minnie Riperton answers at the end. Because intimacy was always a conversation, not a monologue.

— Simone

]]> Long Way from Home · No. 001https://thegroovelounge.com/shows/long-way-from-home/https://thegroovelounge.com/shows/long-way-from-home/ Fri, 23 Oct 2026 19:00:00 +0000Voices that travelled — what soul sounds like when an artist leaves home, finds a new city, and discovers they were always heading somewhere. There's a moment in every journey when you stop being from somewhere and start being somewhere. That's what I was listening for when I put this show together — the exact place in a vocal where the road becomes the voice. Jerry Butler taking his Chicago baritone to Philadelphia before Gamble and Huff had even named their empire. Lou Rawls arriving at Philadelphia International and sounding like he'd lived there his whole life. Dee Dee Warwick standing in an Atlantic studio with almost nothing around her and needing nothing more. And then the ones who never left home at all — who built home so deep inside the music that distance couldn't touch it. The Moments. DJ Rogers, still in the church. Sometimes the most honest journey is the one that circles back. — Simone Voices that travelled — what soul sounds like when an artist leaves home, finds a new city, and discovers they were always heading somewhere.

There's a moment in every journey when you stop being from somewhere and start being somewhere. That's what I was listening for when I put this show together — the exact place in a vocal where the road becomes the voice.

Jerry Butler taking his Chicago baritone to Philadelphia before Gamble and Huff had even named their empire. Lou Rawls arriving at Philadelphia International and sounding like he'd lived there his whole life. Dee Dee Warwick standing in an Atlantic studio with almost nothing around her and needing nothing more.

And then the ones who never left home at all — who built home so deep inside the music that distance couldn't touch it. The Moments. DJ Rogers, still in the church. Sometimes the most honest journey is the one that circles back.

— Simone

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