Soul Cafe

Chris Clay bills Soul Cafe as "the softest place on the planet," and the show delivers on that promise. It is part curated music show, part indie soul spotlight, running weekly countdowns of independent soul and R&B artists alongside commentary and interviews. The Indie Soul Top 30 Countdown is the flagship segment, ranking independent soul artists each week and giving exposure to musicians who are making excellent R&B outside the major label system. Clay hosts live weekdays from 2 to 6 PM EST on soulcaferadio.com, and the podcast feed captures highlights and full countdown episodes from those broadcasts. Episodes tend to run over two hours, so this is not a quick listen. It is a full immersion experience for people who want to discover independent R&B and soul artists they would never encounter through algorithmic playlists or mainstream music coverage. The show has been running since 2017 and has 25 podcast episodes in the Apple feed, though the live radio output is much more extensive. Soul Cafe carries a 4.6-star rating from 17 reviews on Apple Podcasts and maintains a clean content rating. NuSoul Productions LLC produces the show. For listeners who feel like the mainstream R&B conversation skips over too many talented independent artists, this podcast functions as both a discovery engine and a community gathering place. Chris Clay clearly cares about giving shine to artists who are putting in the work without major industry backing.