That Driving Beat

One last show before James jets off to England for a few weeks, and it's packed with soul, rhythm & blues, garage rock, psych, and quite a bit of classic British Beat, Mod, pop, and other bits and bobs. Don't forget: if you're in range of London, England, join me with The Face Radio's Jaf Jervis and Brendan Farrell at Out on the Floor soul night on October 10th at the Mildmay C...

James has a box full of vintage vinyl singles designed to get you moving today. You'll hear tunes with That Driving Beat from Barrett Strong, Jean DuShon, The Spencer Davis Group, Erma Franklin, Bobby Bland, Gene Chandler, and The Chicago Loop, plus some faux-British-Invasion from a member of Buffalo Springfield, some crunchy Ohio garage rock, and various takes on the nature of love! Don't...

Today's show has a lot more garage rock and British Beat than usual, some forgotten favorites from James's early days spinning records, bad grammar, record-hunting tales, girl groups, northern soul, R&B, and other 1960s and 70s movers and shakers! Don't forget: if you're in range of London, England, join me with The Face Radio's Jaf Jervis and Brendan Farrell at Out on the Floor soul night on...

Here's two hours of top vinyl soul, R&B, and funk dance tunes from the 1960s and 70s. You won't hear these kinds of forgotten gems on most radio stations. Support noncommercial community radio! -Originally broadcast September 13, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Sandy Wynns / Love's Like Quicksand Ray Charles / I Don't Need No Doctor Edwin Starr / Back Street Jimmy Holiday /...

James has packed his playbox tight with 45 rpm vintage vinyl movers and shakers. It's September, it's still HOT in Louisville, but we're not going to let it stop us from getting out on the floor with 1960s rare soul and R&B tunes by Joe Simon, The O'Jays, Sugar Pie DeSanto, Levon and the Hawks, Jerry O, The Shangri-Las, The Sensations, and many, many, more! Also, today's show tests out a...

James celebrates the life of Dolly Parton on this episode, playing her rare mid-1960s girl group pop R&B tunes on the Monument label out of Nashville before she became the legendary country musician we've known for many decades. There's another future Nashville country star lurking in this episode amongst all the vintage soul, R&B, funk, and other tunes with That Driving Beat. -Origin...

James throws some midtempo, gentle soul sliders and steppers into the mix this week, along with some hard-hitting funk, northern soul, R&B, and more, all on 45 rpm vinyl from the 1960s and 1970s. -Originally broadcast August 23, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat The Hesitations / Soul Kind of Love Arthur Conley / Funky Street Jackie Shane / Comin' Down Jimmy McCracklin and his Orchestr...

James is back with another 2 hours of rare, upbeat 1960s and 1970s dance music! This is soul, R&B, and funk you don't hear just anywhere if you're not seeking it out, all played on original vinyl singles! Support non-commercial community radio in your hometown and beyond! No algorithms, no AI, just real music selected by real people! -Originally broadcast August 16, 2026- Willie...

That Driving Beat is coming to London! James is excited to announce that he'll be a guest DJ at The Face Radio's October edition of Out On The Floor, hosted by Jaf Jervis (Blues & Grooves) and Brendan Farrell (ModnSoul) at the Mildmay Club in London! He auditions a few Northern Soul heavies for his travel playbox in this episode in a full 2 hours of other rare soul, funk, and R&B danc...

The show is packed with soul, R&B, and funk vinyl dancers from the 1960s including tunes by Z.Z. Hill, Gene Candler, Andre Williams, The O'Jays, Buddy Guy, Mitty Collier, Tammi Terrell, and more! -Originally broadcast August 2, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Z.Z. Hill / Set Your Sights Higher Lou Courtney / I've Got Just The Thing Jimmy Delphs / Don't Sign The Paper Baby (I Want You...

We've got Uwe in the studio for one last week, and he's running low on records in his box! There are still plenty of gems, plus James has some new finds to play, making for a grab-bag assortment of classic vinyl 45 rpm Northern Soul, R&B, pop, funk, girl groups, popcorn, doo wop, and more! -Originally broadcast July 26, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Vickie Anderson / Baby, Don...

The co-founder of That Driving Beat, DJ Uwe is still in town this week, so he shares another stack of records he's dug up in his new home in Texas. We've got upbeat soul and R&B tunes for your dancing pleasure from Bobby Bland, Ray Charles, Dee Dee Sharp, Ronnie Love, James Carr, Ben E. King, and a bunch of people you may never have heard of! -Originally broadcast July 19, 2026- Wille Mit...

We've got Uwe back in the studio this week! He's brought some recent finds to add to the mix for this latest radio dance party. It's 2 full hours of vintage vinyl 1960s soul, R&B, rock, and more! -Originally broadcast July 12, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Ann Sexton and the Soul Masters / You've Been Gone Too Long Soul Sisters / Flashback The Climates / Breaking Up Again...

You'll hear some Motown from the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, and from a group out of and named for Vancouver, BC. We also have Bettye Lavette covering Neil Young, Ann Sexton, Z.Z. Hill, Jackie Shane, Dolly Parton, plus random assumptions, potentially misremembered facts, and a bunch of real songs by real artists, played from real records selected by a real person. -O...

James got some record digging in this week, and he has a few newly unearthed vintage 45s to spin on this show this week by Fred Waters, Ann Duquesney, Donald Jenkins & The Delighters, Bobby Byrd, plus an unlikely cover by Lena Horne, and favorites you've heard on That Driving Beat before by Ruby Winters, Edwin Starr, Brenda Holloway, B.B. King, and so many more! -Originally broadcast June 14,...

"They drilled right through the little bunny's head!" The record box steers this show in a Funkier direction than the average episode of That Driving Beat. You'll hear late 1960s and early 1970s funky movers from Clarence Reid, Sir Joe Quarterman & Free Soul, Candi Staton, Ohio Players, Swamp Dogg (of course!), Junior & The Classics, Indianapolis's The Vanguards, and more. P...

It's two more hours of vintage 1950s and 60s vinyl soul and R&B found on record labels ranging from obscure locals almost lost to time to the Big Dogs of those genres: Motown, Atlantic, Chess, etc. Slip on your dancing shoes and hit the floor! -Originally broadcast May 31, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Percy Sledge / Baby, Help Me Bob & Earl / Dancin' Everywhere James Carr...

James is Back with another 2 hours of upbeat soul, R&B, popcorn, and funk movers and shakers. We give a nod to Clarence Carter, spin a soul group from way up in the Appalachian Mountains, a double shot of Dusty, a rare Louisville Gospel jumper, two Popcorn R&B work songs new to the collection, and so much more! -Originally broadcast May 24, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Cl...

This week we start with some Northern Soul stompers, dip into some popcorn and midtempo steppers, head to the garage, then finish big with some greasy R&B movers. You'll hear Sam the Sham's girl group backup singers out at the front of the stage, a couple of Willie Dixon compositions, a favorite train song, a group called The Virginia Wolves with a fine double-sider including some delicious Rh...

Another 2 hours of vintage (antique?) vinyl dancers, including some recent finds. The scores from a rural Kentucky barn and collectables auction provide a few more nice rare soul finds from the Solars (aka the new Famous Flames), The Romeos, Don Gardner, and Detroit's own Edward Hamilton. You'll also hear a Sunset Strip scene take on "Sinner Man", some beautiful Big City orchestral arran...

James has some recent finds for his collection from a rural Kentucky barn and an auction where they let some great dusty 45s go unnoticed while they concentrated on signed(?) Beatles stuff and other collectables. We get into some things from King Records empire, and several Motown spins from a big hit to a weird miss with a few in between. Plus, hear some stories about obsessively scroll...

Another packed show full of vinyl survivors from the 1960s and 70s. James talks about some recent bulk buys of dusty records from barns and auctions, and asks his listeners to hassle him to get finished sorting, cleaning, and cataloging them so y'all can hear them on the show! In the meantime, this show has a bunch of stuff from deeper in the collection, including R&B shakers, classic Nor...

It was Vinylthon at WXOX, which means there were DJs in the studio for over 100 hours straight of 24-hours-per-day all vinyl radio! That's nothing new for That Driving Beat, you weekly vinyl 1960s soul, R&B dance party! James finally has a copy of a long-time want by Little Willie John and a friend stops by to share a 45 containing a Nashville take on Motown that almost never go...

James has some hot 1950s, 60s, and 70s dance tunes from Nashville, Memphis, Chicago, New Orleans, Muscle Shoals, Louisville, Houston, and more! There's no theme, no plan, just letting the playbox full of 45 rpm soul, funk, rhythm & blues, rock, pop, and more pull us in the direction it wants. -Originally broadcast April 12, 2026- Willie Mitchell / That Driving Beat Soul Ambassadors / I've...

Almost every song in this episode is by a band with the word "The" in their name! Two different songs are called "Run, Run, Run"! It's an all 1960s rock episode of That Driving Beat this week, with garage rock, proto-punk, psych, British Beat, Mod rock, pop-rock, and more with The Kinks, The Seeds, The Pretty Things, The Mojo Men, The Guilloteens, Them, and The Shadows of Knight, plus a...