Start building your soul music collection right here. If you're looking for more than Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, and Maxwell, here are some amazing neo soul songs that you will never hear on the radio.

I gather independent soul and R&B music from all kinds of sources: internet radio, blogs, recommendations from friends, message boards, podcasts, compilation albums, and artists I know personally.

There's a sea of new soul artists on the scene. There are some who you can count on to deliver consistently superb albums, and others who came and went, but left us with a classic track or two. This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list. It's just a place to start exploring to find music. Check out this list of soul songs you should know, and expand your music library!

In the cases where I recommend the entire album, I noted it with an asterisk. Otherwise, you can listen to and download the songs at sites like iTunes, Amazon.com, iLike, or Lala.com.

Eric Roberson, N'dambi, DJ Spinna and more

1. * Eric Roberson – "Couldn't Hear Me."

Erro' is a prolific artist who's penned hits for Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Case, Vivian Green and many others. This is is signature song, from the album, "The Vault Vol. 1.5."

2. Nate James – "Pretend"

3. *Aquanote – "Nowhere" from the album "The Pearl"

4. * N'dambi – "See Ya In My Dreams."

It was hard to pick just one track from N'dambi's first album, "Little Lost Girl Blues," but I decided on this one.

5. Marsha Ambrosious – "Cloud 9"

6. *W. Ellington Felton aka Wes Felton – "Love Is Something More" from the album "Soul Sonnets," an underground classic.

7. Coultrain – "Green"

8. Carol Riddick – "Flirtatious"

9. Un-cut – "Midnight (Waiwan mix)"

10. * The Foreign Exchange featuring Darien Brockington – "Come Around" from the album, "Connected."

If you get the whole album, you can expect a seamless mix of classic-style hip hop, nu-soul grooves, and ambient mood music. Heck, even the intro, "Foreign Exchange Title Theme," is hot.

11. * Jack Herrera – "City Lights"

Jack Herrera is a group, one of whose members is R&B singer Jon B. The entire "Retro-Futuristo" album is amazing. It was never officially released, but you can find tracks here and there on the internet.

12. Hil St. Soul – "Sweet on You"

13. Tony Henry – "What a Joy."

He's got raspy Terrence Trent D'arby-esque falsetto – which is a lovely thing.

14. Fertile Ground – "Black Is…"

Fertile Ground does here what they do best – perform positive, uplifting, empowering songs that sound as good as they make you feel.

15. * Choklate – "Incredible."

An incredible talent on the underground scene. Her debut self-titled album is a soul classic.

16. Havana – "Shine"

17. DJ Spinna feat. Selan - "Back 2 U"

18. Jazmine Sullivan – "Braid Your Hair (live)"

Jazmine was making classics long before she was busting windows in her 2008 breakthrough. I actually prefer the stuff she did without the slick studio production – you can hear her redonkulous vocals much better.

19. Chico DeBarge – "Oh No"

Many people forgot about Chico after his stellar debut album, "Long Time, No See," but he's still making smooth, soulful music.

20. * The Foreign Exchange (vocals by Darien Brockington and Phonte) – "Take off the Blues" from the album "Leave It All Behind."

Conya Doss, Darien Brockington, Ryan Leslie and more

21. * Ryan Leslie – "Quicksand"

I could've picked any track from his album, "Ryan Leslie," but I choose the one that hooked me. R. Les does what few artists seem to be able to do nowadays, which is make an urban album that's fresh, musically innovative, and mainstream friendly without resorting to the lowest common denominator. He proves that there's middle ground in Soul/R&B music between "begging" songs and "headwraps and incense." Watch the video on the left to see why I love Ryan Leslie so much.

22. Venus Malone – "Eyes on the Prize"

23. Darius Rucker - "Wild One"

Though he's now winning CMA's and country music accolades (congrats, Darius!), his first post-Hootie and the Blowfish album was actually soul record on Hidden Beach. This song is a quintessential "A Touch of Jazz" production, circa 2002.

24. * Eric Roberson – "Couldn't Hear Me"

Erro' is a prolific artist who's penned hits for Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, Case, Vivian Green and many others. This is is signature song, from the album, "The Vault Vol. 1.5."

25. Joe - "Why Just Be Friends."

I normally wouldn't put Joe in the "neosoul" category, but this particular track has a Michael Jackson "Off the Wall" feel (that Ryan Leslie is also channeling), so it makes the cut.

26. N'dambi – "Call Me"

27. Will.I.Am featuring Terry Dexter, "Lay Me Down"

Will.I.Am is a name you wouldn't expect to see on this list, but when he's Pea-less, he produces some interesting music. He put out a gem of an album called "Lost Change" back in 2001, with other standout tracks such as "Money," and the title track, "Lost Change."

28. Darien Brockington – "Give In"

Darien Brockington is quickly building a catalog of classic tracks through not only his solo efforts, but his various collaborations and guest appearances. This one on 4Hero's 2007's album "Play with the Changes," is one of D-Brock's best.

29. *Conya Doss – "All Because of You." This Cleveland singer's debut album, "A Poem About Miss Doss," is flawless.

30. * Deborah Bond – "See You In My Dreams," from her debut album DayAfter.

This is one of those rare albums that has been in constant rotation since the day it came into my life, and probably always will be. When you tell your friends about her, make sure you pronounce her name "De-BOR-ah."

31. Joi – "Another Rocket"

32. Trina Broussard – "Still the Same Girl"

33. Darien – "The Road"

34. * Kim Hill – "The Real Hip Hop" (which is not a hip hop song).

Before Fergie, Kim Hill was the female singer with The Black Eyed Peas. This song describes her feelings about the rift between her and the group, but more than that, it's a beautifully sung acoustic groove. I highly recommended Kim's debut album, "Suga Hill."

35. Vanessa Marquez –"In the Midnight Hour"

36. * Leon King – "The Digital Church."

Grab the entire "The Digital Church" EP. This London singer is one to watch.

37. Soulive featuring Dave Matthews – "Joyful Girl." A beautiful, jazzy take of the Ani DiFranco song, featuring an unusual collaboration and a completely original arrangement.

38. Izzy Dunn – "Fly on the Wall"

39. Allison Crockett – "Crossroads"

40. * D'Nell – "This Thing."

If you like soul that's a little left of center (or are a fan of Portishead, Esthero, Bassment Jaxx, Blue Six, Break Reform and the like), then run, don't walk, to get D'Nell's album, "1st Magic."

41. Queen Aaminah – "If You Want Me to Stay"

42. Jafrosax feat. Yukimi Nagano – "Drawn 2 U."

This is Yukimi BEFORE she was the lead singer of Little Dragon, sounding lovely as ever.

43. * Amy Winehouse – "In My Bed."

This song makes clever use of the beat from Nas' "Made You Look."

Though Amy's debut album, "Frank," didn't make a huge splash in the U.S. at the time of its release, it earned her a Mercury Prize in the UK. Before she was a punchline and tabloid fodder, she was just a girl, making good music like this.

44. Alice Russell – "Peace Resides," from her album, "Under the Munka Moon."

I also recommend her album "My Favourite Letters."

45. Daru & Rena - "When You're There"

46. Omar featuring Stevie Wonder – "Feeling You"

47. Ladybug Mecca – "You Never Get Over It."

Mec channels Res and Stevie Nicks on this one.

48. The StiX & Corinne Bailey Rae – "Young & Foolish"

49. * Esthero – "Superheroes."

It really doesn't matter which song I picked here. Never has an album been in my constant rotation as long as 1998's "Breath From Another." I think it might be my favorite album of all time.

50. * Carmen (Rodgers) – "Ain't No Time" from the album, "Free."

51. Crystal Night – "The Way to Paradise"

52. Dain Harris – "Open Book"

53. Conya Doss – "Sixth of June (Miracle)"

54. Kendra Ross – "I'm So Okay."

The former background singer for artists such as Talib Kweli ("Get By") steps out into her own.

55. Darien Brockington – "Seduction"

56. Stateless (Swell Session's Boy Wonder Mix) – "Falling Into"

57. Darien Brockington – "Can We Fall in Love Again"

58. Platinum Pied Pipers featuring Dwele – "Open Your Eyes."

Dwele does Bobby Caldwell proud.

59. Zap Mama featuring Erykah Badu – "Bandy Bandy"

60. * Janita – "I Miss You."

This Finnish singer's 2006 album, "Seasons of Life," is smooth and breezy.

61. Darius Wilrich – "Can't Get Enough"

62. Siruis B Project – "Midnight Silhouette"

64. Sara Devine – "Special."

She's more known in underground circles for her hit "Take Me Home," but I also dig this one.

65. Q-Tip – "Even If It's So" from the "Kamaal the Abstract" album.

This is Q-Tip's foray into soul music, which finally saw an official release in 2009 after circulating in the music underground for 8 years.

66. Stephanie McKay – "Forget/Regret."

I prefer the original version from the Brother Jacques Project, but the version on Roy Hargove's "The RH Factor" is good as well.

67. Tiombe Lockhart – "G.P. (Growing Pains)"

68. Jazztronik – "Colour of Days"

69. Lina – "Smooth"

70. * Omar – "Little Boy" from the classic album, "For Pleasure"

71. Wayna – "Daydream"

72. *Donnie – "Do You Know" from Donnie's debut album, "The Colored Section"

73. Gorillaz – "Dirty Harry."

Afrobeat-type flava mixed with I don't know what. It works, though.

74. Seek –"Believe Me"

75. * Emily King – "U & I"

76. Gretchen Lieberum – "Home"

77. Ayo – "Get Out of My Way"

78. J. Davey & 4Hero - "Take My Time"

79. Tracy Cruz – "Your Dreams"

80. *Soulstice – "Andromeda" from the album "Illusion," which is perfect for setting a loungy, spacey mood.