Gospel music

Gospel music may refer either to the religious music that first came out of African-American churches in the 1930's or, more loosely, to both black gospel music and to the religious music composed and sung by white southern Christian artists. While the separation between the two styles was never absolute — both drew from the Methodist hymnal and artists in one tradition sometimes sang songs belonging to the other — the sharp division between black and white America, particularly black and white churches, kept the two apart. While those divisions have lessened slightly in the past fifty years, the two traditions are still distinct.

White Gospel

Often called southern gospel or country gospel to distinguish it from black gospel, white gospel music has followed a different trajectory during the past eighty years. Some of its roots are found in the publishing work and "normal schools" of Aldine S. Kieffer and Ephraim Ruebush. It was promoted by traveling singing school teachers, southern gospel quartets, and shape note music publishing companies such as the A. J. Showalter Company (1879), the James D. Vaughan Publishing Company and the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company.

Related Topics:
Aldine S. Kieffer - Ephraim Ruebush - Singing school - Shape note - 1879 - Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company

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Southern gospel also drew much of its creative energy from the Holiness churches that arose throughout the south in the first decades of the twentieth century and that created new music, in addition to the traditional hymns of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, to accompany their new forms of worship.

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Some early country gospel artists, such as The Carter Family, achieved wide popularity through their recordings and radio performances in the 1920s and 1930s. Others, such as Homer Rodeheaver, George Beverly Shea or Cliff Barrows, became well-known through their association with traveling evangelists such as Billy Sunday or Billy Graham.

Related Topics:
The Carter Family - 1920s - 1930s - Homer Rodeheaver - George Beverly Shea - Cliff Barrows - Billy Sunday - Billy Graham

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The city of Hartford, Arkansas, was for a time known as an oasis of Gospel publishing, being home to the Hartford Music Company, which employed the talents of Albert E. Brumley (composer of "I'll Fly Away") and E.M. Bartlett (composer of "Victory in Jesus").

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Among the best known southern gospel performers are The Blackwood Brothers, the Jordanaires and the Oak Ridge Boys. As in the case of black gospel, the churchgoing audience for white gospel music has not always forgiven its stars, such as the Oak Ridge Boys, who have crossed over to pop music. Other traditional groups, such as The Imperials, helped lead the development of Contemporary Christian Music.

Related Topics:
The Blackwood Brothers - Jordanaires - Oak Ridge Boys - The Imperials - Contemporary Christian Music

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The Gospel Music Association is a major group of gospel artists who maintain a hall of fame covering all aspects of gospel music. The Southern Gospel Music Association (SGMA) focuses on Southern Gospel specifically and has a physical Hall of Fame and Museum located in the Dollywood theme park at Pigeon Forge, TN.

Related Topics:
Gospel Music Association - Southern Gospel Music Association - Pigeon Forge

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