Discussion: What is Soul?

"Soul is a hamhock in your cornflakes"

Time for a bit of discussion.  Soul is one of those words that get thrown around quite a bit when discussing music.  This guitar player has soul, those lyrics really hit the soul, that beat is full of soul, etc., but just what is soul music?  At what point dose an artist cease being a soul artist (that first middle of the road hit might be a good start. . .)?  Dose Gospel count?

Some one pointed out to me last week that an artist can have soul and not be a soul artist.  One example is the Allman Brothers Band. Even though Duane Allman played on a number of landmark soul records,  the band sits in the jam band rock category pretty solidly.  Likewise with many blues masters (like B.B. King) and jazz artists (like Miles Davis), who may have contributed to the sound of soul, but never quite got the distincion of being in that category (unless they recorded a crossover hit or a "Jazz-Soul" tune).  And while soul came out of the church, could church music be called soul?  The jury may be out on that one for a while.

The question also can be applied to more modern R&B music, guys such as Cee-Lo, Kid CuDi, and so on.  Do they also fall under the banner, or do they fall solely under others?

I'd like to hear what other people have to say on the subject, so leave a comment below, and let everyone know where you stand.