“Though Some Days the Blues Was Our Parade, Still We Marched Through All the Tears We Made": A Historical Examination of Soul Aesthetics & the Functionality of (Re)Evaluation is a historically based comparative study that examines the connection of Black music from the soul era to contemporary Black music. It argues that the musical legacy of the soul era is not just mid-twentieth century ephemera but instead is still recognizably influential among contemporary Black musicians. Extant scholarship on soul music explores convergences between the music and the modern struggle for civil rights – the symbiotic relationship between Black mobilization and popular culture. Yet it has failed to appreciate the everyday importance of this musical genre. In each chapter I offer two close readings of Black musicians – one from the soul era and one from the contemporary – to illustrate the continuity of soul era aesthetics into the present. Drawing from history, cultural studies, and (ethno)musicology, my project proves that quotidian dimensions of soul music are representative of private or interior expressions of Black life during the soul era and are not exclusively informed by large-scale moments of mobilization. By uncovering the individualistic nature of soul combined with other musical styles—country, psychedelia, disco, and progressive soul—each chapter affirms the quotidian legacy of the soul era on contemporary music.