The Library of Congress has created this delightful site that brings together hundreds of items that tell of the musical culture of the American Civil War. First-time visitors will want to start by perusing the Civil War Sheet Music section. Here they will find 2,500 pieces culled from the Library's collection, including songs about various generals, battles, and a longing for the tranquility of...

The road to creating a popular song can take decades and often includes a number of incarnations before the listening public finally becomes interested. Such is the complex and at times painful story of the song "Mbube" (which is perhaps best known in the United States by the version titled "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"), which was first recorded by Solomon Linda and the Evening Birds in 1939 in South...

During the 1960s, young and old people alike began to hear a new type of music blossom over the radio, and it soon became referred to as the "Motown sound." With the help of the legendary Berry Gordy, Motown churned out dozens of hits, many of them sung by emerging stars such as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, and the Supremes. What few people knew at the time that many of the...