Many cities have a signature sound. Detroit has Motown. Memphis has the blues. Nashville has a country twang. The nation's capital — Washington, D.C. — grooves to a sound called Go-Go. Its Godfather is Chuck Brown.
Go-Go is dance music with beats that are meant to get bodies moving. The lyrics and the rhythm are pretty simple — even repetitive. The texture of the music comes from the call and response with the crowd and the blend of a wide range of musical influences like Latin, funk, soul and blues.
Chuck Brown created and popularized this sound some 30 years ago. Brown says his music is like gumbo: a lot of ingredients, no fixed recipe and no two batches are exactly the same.
Still spry and more stylish than men half his age, 71-year-old Chuck Brown has a new CD called We're About the Business.
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