Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments

The otherwise unknown Pinkard Singers released a single – but highly engaging -- 45 for the short-lived RaptureA label in the early 1970s, “Let Freedom Ring.”

Ethel Waters was a national treasure during her lifetime and increasingly turned to religious music later in life, including this sprightly version of the old folk spiritual, “I am a Pilgrim.”

The Rev. Kenneth Glover turns the old spiritual “Roll Jordan, Roll” into an amped up “sending song” of the highest order.

Bariton Eddie Robinson’s “Reflections of the Man Inside” also features top Motown producers, arrangers and musicians.

Some of New York’s finest musicians accompany the J.C. White Singers on the funky, jazzy gospel hit, “I’m Saved.”

The Rev. June Cheeks was one of the greatest shouters and testifiers in the history of gospel music – as his rendition of “Mountain Railroad” will surely prove!

The legendary guitarist the Rev. Gary Davis recorded 14 stunning gospel tracks in New York City in 1935, including “I Belong to the Band, Hallelujah.”

The Supreme Voices never quite broke through during the Golden Age of Gospel Music, but with great tracks like “I Made a Vow,” it’s clear they probably should have been stars.

The Sweet Brothers of Vero Beach, Florida, deserved wider recognition for their soulful, slow burn gospel songs, including “I’ll Be Welcomed.”

The Cotton Brothers of Macon, Georgia, excelled at a particularly exciting brand of gospel soul, including the rave-up, “Alright, Alright.”

The Rev. J.R. Lockley and His Original Gospel Clefs, featuring big-voiced Ann Moncrief, deliver a killer version of the spiritual, “One of These Mornings.”

New York City’s Echoes of Life turn Thomas Dorsey’s beloved “You’ve Got to Live the Life” into a rough and raspy old school gospel shout.

In 1959, the Abbysinnia Baptist Church Young People’s Choir recorded a cheerfully up tempo version of the old spiritual “You’ve Got to Move” for the famed Gotham Record label.

The Faithful Wonders’ funky “Ol’ John (Behold Thy Mother),” first released in 1968, has been re-released multiple times on various gospel and R&B anthologies in recent years.

The Kansas East Sunshine Band Children’s Choir’s Young & Gifted Recorded Live! LP features a killer vocal by 9-year-old Crystal Morris on the funky “Is There Anything Too Hard for God?”

From the Zion Sings LP by the venerable Zion Missionary Baptist Church of East Chicago, Indiana, comes this moving and reverent version of the spiritual, “The Old Ship of Zion.”

For my 500th episode of “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” I’m sharing the first gospel 45 I ever bought, “People Get Ready” by the Chambers Brothers.

The rare 45 “Oh, Mother Tonight” by the otherwise unknown Gospel Twins is a uniquely primitive addition to Baylor’s Black Gospel Archives.

Evangelist Jessie Mae Renfro was one of the last great traditional gospel voices, as her song “Oh, Have You” so beautifully displays.

The Jordan Jubilee’s slow and brooding “No Segregation in Heaven” was a pretty grave statement to make in the early 1970s!

Fort Worth’s Galatian Baptist Church tears into the old camp-meeting song, “Down by the Riverside.”

That’s the powerful voice of Maggie Bell on the Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir’s version of “Pray on My Child.”

The otherwise unknown Evening Doves deliver a spirited, rollicking version of the traditional gospel song “No Hiding Place."

The unknown Silver Bells of Macon, Georgia’s “No Friend Like the Lord” is a masterclass in a cappella doo-wop styled gospel singing.

The Brooklyn All Stars were New York’s best-known gospel group, singing hits like the slow and stately “No Cross, No Crown.”

The Caravans ruled the Gospel Highway in the 1950s and ‘60s with songs like the upbeat “No Coward Soldiers.”

The music of Daddy Grace’s United House of Prayer for All People is an ecstatic rave-up, fueled by a dozen honking trombones!

The Williams Family and the legendary Canton Spirituals combine for one of the funkiest Christmas songs of all time, “Down Home in Mississippi".

The Rev. H.B. Crum and His Mighty Golden Keys, “I Can Feel Him” is an exciting example of gospel’s transition from traditional doo-wop harmonies to a more soulful sound.

The Rev. Johnny “The Hurricane” Jones preached and sang at Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta for nearly 60 years!