Gospel Music Through the Years
Research Question: How did gospel music develop over time since the late 19th century, and how was the Appalachian region involved?
Forms of gospel music have existed in the world for centuries, but the type of gospel music that is most known today was first created in the late 19th century and has grown and been shaped by people and places since then. It started with religious movements and revivals after the Civil War that were influenced by the ideals of the Great Awakening in the mid-1700’s. “The new theology promised that if a person sincerely repented and willingly embraced Christian values, God would grant eternal life. These “glad tidings” became the essence of the gospel movement and the primary message of gospel music” (“Anglo-American Gospel Music”). Preachers traveled to revivals and spoke messages that they hoped would bring joy and unity to people in the country again. At a revival in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1871, a preacher named Dwight L. Moody met Christian singer, Ira D. Sankey, and they began to collaborate on music and messages to share with people. The two “became important figures in the evangelistic crusades,” traveling in the United States and in Britain (Wise 20). In 1874, the first time the term gospel was published to describe this type of music was when “Philip P. Bliss edited a revival song-book titled “Gospel Songs” for use in evangelical campaigns” (White). During the next few years, Bliss and Sankey worked together with a few other men involved in church revivals at the time to compile some of the first gospel song books, including “Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs” and “Gospel Hymns №2” (White).
Around this same time, a musical group called the Fisk Jubilee Singers helped bring popularity to the African American style of gospel music. They “were students of the all black Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee,” and they traveled around the United States and internationally singing spiritual songs (White). Other very influential music groups emerged in Appalachia, mostly from American Missionary Association schools. “One such group, the Tuskegee Institute Singers of Alabama, incorporated harmonic patterns borrowed from European musical tradition, anticipating and eventually influencing the African American quartet styles of the 1930s and 1940s” (“African American Gospel Music”). All throughout the late 1800’s, white and African American people alike traveled around to revivals in the United States to spread gospel music and the messages they wanted to share about God. Even though slavery had just ended after the Civil War and there was still segregation, people of all races accepted and enjoyed all types of gospel music that were being spread around the country. White and African American people began to blend their music styles, and they also incorporated developing blues and jazz music styles (White).
The next big wave of gospel music came mostly in the 1920’s with the influence of Thomas A. Dorsey and the radio. “After moving to Chicago in 1916, Dorsey developed the modern gospel sound and wrote much of its seminal material. His songs, notably “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” and “Peace in the Valley,” became standards in both black and white churches” (“African American Gospel Music”). Soon, gospel quartets became very popular for their harmonies and rhythms, and many of the most famous quartets originated in places in Appalachia. For example, some African American groups that emerged from Jefferson County, Alabama were the Birmingham Jubilee Singers, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Famous Blue Jay Singers. In South Carolina, the Spartanburg Famous Four and the Dixie Hummingbirds were among the most popular in their area, especially in the 1930s. In Coalwood, West Virginia, a man named Claude Jeter worked as a coal miner. In 1938, he formed a quartet that was later called the Swan Silvertones, which became “one of America’s premier gospel groups” by 1942 when “they “joined a radio show…on Knoxville, Tennessee, station WBIR” (“African American Gospel Music”).
Many white gospel singers and quartets also gained popularity in the 1920’s. “In 1927, gospel singers Alfred G. Karnes and Ernest Phipps, from Corbin, Kentucky, were not the only ones to record spiritual numbers; Blind Alfred Reed (from Floyd, Virginia), Ernest V. Stoneman (Monarat, Virginia), and the Alcoa Quartet also recorded sacred songs” (“Anglo-American Gospel Music”). The Carter Family was another significant group with the popular songs “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “No Depression in Heaven.”
As time passed, gospel music continued to change because many bluegrass and country musicians in Appalachia began to feature gospel music and songs in their performances. These artists helped add other well-known gospel songs such as “I’ll Fly Away” and “Unclouded Day.” “Several recording acts from Appalachia, including the Louvin Brothers and Elvis Presley, while achieving their biggest success in secular music genres, also made beloved gospel recordings” (“Anglo-American Gospel Music”). In the 1980’s, a Kenova, West Virginia native Michael W. Smith emerged and became a very successful contemporary Christian music artist; he records music that has more modern music styles. In 1999, the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame and Museum was created to help preserve “the legacy of southern gospel” (“Anglo-American Gospel Music”). As the gospel music has become more modern, so has the means of it spreading around the country and world. An important example was the movie soundtrack from the popular film O Brother, Where Art Thou? which greatly helped popularize gospel music in the 2000’s.
Below is a link to a YouTube playlist called “Gospel Music Through the Years.” It contains music by many of the musicians and artists mentioned above. In total, listening to all of the songs all the way through will take over an hour, but even just listening to parts of each song will be enough to better understand how the gospel music styles have changed over time.
Works Cited
“African American Gospel Music,” Encyclopedia of Appalachia, 2018, Encyclopedia of Appalachia. 23 Apr 2018. http://www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=99
“Anglo-American Gospel Music,” Encyclopedia of Appalachia, 2018, Encyclopedia of Appalachia. 23 Apr 2018. http://www.encyclopediaofappalachia.com/entry.php?rec=98
Turner, Patrice E. “Getting Gospel Going.” Music Educators Journal, vol. 95, no. 2, 2008, pp. 62–68. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30219666.
White, Alan. Early Gospel — Origins, 2012, www.earlygospel.com/eg-origins.htm. Accessed 27 April 2018.
Wise, Raymond. “Defining African American Gospel Music by Tracing its Historical and Musical Development from 1900 to 2000.” Order №3059350 The Ohio State University, 2002. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 23 Apr. 2018.
