Though Solomon Burke never had a top 20 hit, he has long been revered by most everyone who cares about soul music as an essential pioneer of the genre. And he’s also proven to have remarkable staying power, soldiering through the lean years of the ’80s and ’90s when his new recordings were rarely heard outside circles of soul purists. His career achieved a proper revival with the release of 2002’s Don’t Give Up on Me, a startlingly intense and wrenchingly beautiful affair produced by Joe Henry and featuring tunes by Bob Dylan, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello, among others. That album won a Grammy, and since then, Burke has released three more terrific records to much acclaim, gaining legions of younger fans. The latest of those albums is called Like a Fire, and you can check out its sound in this edition of the Songlines podcast.

If you’re under 40, chances are this was the first time you heard Solomon’s voice: