It may not have been a good week in Washington or in Iraq (is it ever?), but this week has certainly been good for soul music fans. Here are four r&b artists that P+P thinks you could use to update your music library.

Amy Winehouse is a British jazz and soul singer who recently made her debut in the U.S. with her second album entitled Back to Black, out last Tuesday. I first heard her music while listening to my launchcast player on yahoo music (an excellent source for internet radio because it allows you to customize what you hear while randomly selecting music that it thinks you might like). Her style of soul with its punkish, bluesy vibe is a definite throwback, nothing I’ve ever heard before. This past February she won a Brit Award (the equivalent of the Grammy’s) for Best British Female Artist. Her first album, Frank released in 2003 went Platinum and earned a #13 spot on the UK charts.

Another Brit is making moves on the airwaves with the release of her third album, Introducing Joss Stone, hitting stores this past Tuesday. Nineteen-year-old Joss Stone, a native of Dover, Kent, England, first caught the attention of the American music scene in 2003 with the release of her debut album, The Soul Sessions. Since then, she has gone on to perform with big names like Stevie Wonder, Blondie, and Gladys Knight. Switching from innocent blonde to funky redhead, Stone has a completely new attitude with this album. Highlights on the album are the collabos with Lauryn Hill and Common, and her new 70s’ish-style single “Tell Me About It.”

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