Soulsville is the ninth studio album from Huey Lewis and the News and the band's first since Plan B in 2001. The album was released on October 18, 2010, in the United Kingdom and Europe and November 2, 2010, in the United States. The album, a tribute to the artists and music of Stax Records, was the brainchild of the band's manager, Bob Brown. As lead singer Huey Lewis explained, "the public isn't clamouring for new Huey Lewis & the News material". Brown and the band thought an album of Stax covers could be their "last shot at getting something out there that can get a rise out of anybody", while also bringing new exposure to the deep Stax catalog.
Lewis and the News recorded Soulsville at Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, in early 2010. One of the original Stax co-engineers, Jim Gaines, who also engineered the band's best-selling albums, Sports and Fore!, produced the album with the band.
Black man, born free
At least that's the way it's supposed to be
Chains that binds him are hard to see
Unless you take this walk with me
Place where he lives is God plenty of names
Slums, ghetto and black belt, they are one and the same
And I call it ?Soulsville"
Any kind of job is hard to find
That means an increase in the welfare line
Crime rate is rising too
If you are hungry, what would you do?
Rent is two months past due and the building that's falling apart
Little boy needs a pair of shoes and this is only a part of Soulsville
Some of the brothers' got plenty of cash
Tricks on the corner, gonna see to that
Some like to smoke and some like to blow
Some are even strung out on a fifty dollar Jones
Some are trying to ditch reality by getting so high
Only to find out you can never touch the sky
'Cause your hoods are in Soulsville, oh yeah
Every Sunday morning, I can hear the old sisters say
?Hallelujah, Hallelujah, trust in the Lord to make a way, oh yeah
I hope that He hear their prayers 'cause deep in their souls they believe
Someday He'll put an end to all this misery that we have in Soulsville