Good story here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/14/ma...1&ref=magazine

I have Mayer Hawthorne's and the Kings Go Forth albums, both excellent. I heard Eli "Paperboy" Reed at the record store, it's good. I'm debating on getting it. I haven't heard Aloe Blacc.

It seems to me that classic soul fans are the harshest of critics, probably why newbies have a tough time breaking in as opposed to rock and country. And as this story says, they're going to have to sell more than 15,000 and 40,000 albums [[the sales of the Kings Go Forth and Hawthorne records, respectively) if the genre wants to get popular again.

Anyway, this is a good story and some of the artists mentioned are truly excellent.