Illinois Soul

Illinois Soul captures the spirit of the Midwest: hardworking, honest, and full of feeling. The playlist draws from Motown, Stax, and Atlantic Records, with heavy doses of church-inspired vocals and gritty funk. You'll hear Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke, but also contemporary artists like Leon Bridges and Brittany Howard who carry the torch. The curation feels human, not algorithmic. There's a warmth to the transitions, a sense that someone actually cared about the sequence. The bitrate is low at 24kbps, but that actually fits the aesthetic - it's like listening to an old AM sta…