´An erudite and deeply passionate dive into the complex relationship between American music and politics´ – Sean O’Hagan, The Observer
This is the untold story of black music – its triumph over racism, segregation, undercapitalised record labels, media discrimination and political anxiety – told through the perspective of the most powerful office in the world: from Louis Armstrong´s spat with President Eisenhower and Eartha Kitt´s stormy encounter with Lady Bird Johnson to James Brown´s flirtation with Nixon, Reaganomics and the ´Cop Killer´ scandal.
Moving, insightful and wide-ranging, Hey America! charts the evolution of sixties soul from the margins of American society to the mainstream, culminating in the rise of urban hip-hop and the dramatic stand-off between Donald Trump and the Black Lives Matter movement.