About the author

Jonas Bernholm is a Swedish researcher, writer, and record label owner (also known as “Mr. R&B”) who made it his life’s ambition to document the rhythm and blues scene in the United States during the 1960s. He has been instrumental in sharing blues music via a number of record labels he has started since 1976, including Route 66, Mr. R&B, Stockholm, Bluesboy, Crown Prince, Saxophonograph, Jukebox Lil, Gospel Jubilee, and Earth Angel, among others. The distributor for these labels is City Hall Records.

An avid record collector, Bernholm’s 26,000 LPs, 45s and 78s and artist correspondence have been on display at The Smithsonian Institute since 1996. In 2013 a documentary on his career was featured for four months at The Stax Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, and a 360-page book was written about Bernholm in 2016 by Jan Kotschack titled Resan Mot Rockens Rötter.

This book is the result of a soul music pilgrimage to the United States in 1968, visiting studios, clubs, and other sites related to American R&B and soul music. Much of the supporting material for this book can be found in the Jonas Bernholm Rhythm and Blues Collection, 1976-1991, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Washington DC.