3 hours of gospel music

[TC Chris]

If anybody else likes gospel music as much as I do: tonight's The Juke Joint show on one of our local public radio stations is the annual MLK birthday show, almost all gospel music. The show is almost over but it is archived for two weeks at WCMU radio's web site by some time Monday. Catch it streaming.... Listen carefully and you'll hear the host quoting my e-mail about finally tearing-up while washing the dishes. Pete Seeger came on, that voice filled with joy at making music, and I was dabbing at the eyes. We'd just heard Sam Cooke and Dorothy Love Coates. And that was before we got to Sister Rosetta Tharp. Just three hours of good stuff for music lovers.

https://radio.wcmu.org/

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I have a soft spot for gospel music myself. I used to sing in a gospel quartet in my younger days. Our quartet was a capella. I had a buddy who went to the Pentacostal church where they had a killer church band. They wanted singers, we needed a band, so we would collaborate at each others' churches on occasion.

In my humble opinion, Elvis Presley recorded some of the finest renditions of gospel music there ever was. Accompanied by some of the finest artists in both the country music and gospel music fields, most of his gospel recording are unbeatable. Floyd Cramer, Chet Atkins, JD Sumner and the Stamps Quartet, The Jordanaires, Hovie Lister, Jake Hess and others I failed to mention. Bill Gaither assembled remnants of the old Gospel Singing Jubilee from the 1960's and started the Gaither Gospel Series of recordings. I have a lot of their material.

[TC Chris]

The story goes that Elvis loved to sing gospel music; he'd do it just for the pleasure of it when the tape wasn't running. He was the classic example of a guy trapped by success.

I've never thought it was fair to criticize him for making more money from his version of "Hound Dog" than Big Mama Thornton (cultural appropriation and all that). Elvis just knew how to spot a good song. The song was written by two white guys anyway (Lieber & Stoller). He sang all sorts of music. Country; gospel (white & black); blues; R&B; and a dose of pure crap, too. Duke Ellington said "If it sounds good, it is good." Elvis grasped that. It's just a shame that fame didn't hang lighter on his shoulders.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

I like it in limited doses, as I do bluegrass and other very formulaic styles of music, but regret that so many female singers these days feel like they have to sing in the typical gospel-screaming-shouting style ala Whitney Houston for example. I kind of miss the softer stylings of Rosemanry Clooney, Doris Day, actually most of the classic '30s to '60s chanteuse(s). Nora Jones, Natalie Cole (rip) and a few others, mostly jazz singers, still emulate a more chill way of singing, but less and less these days. Don't get me wrong I love Aretha Franklin etc, but not every female singer can pull it off the way she did, and in my view many shouldn't try.

[electra225]

I am not an Aretha Franklin fan. I don't like screeching and screaming and sliding on and off the note. I like female singers who such in a gut full of air than let it rip, hitting the note sqaurely on the head. Rosie Clooney, Patsy Cline, Connie Francis, Helen O'Connell and Ralna English would be on the top of that list. Carrie Underwood would get honorable mention if she had better material to sing. I heard Carrie Underwood sing "How Great Thou Art" one time, and it was amazing. Modern female singers pitch their material two octaves above their ability. The modern male singers are simply flat. They all sound alike. Perry Como, Bobby Vinton, Ray Price, Jim Reeves and Bob Goulet would be high on the list of the best male singers in my opinion. Eddy Arnold had his moments as well. Dad liked Redd Stewart. He was a good singer, but would have benefited from a better band and stereo recording. Vestal Goodman had an amazing set of pipes as well. Howard Goodman was a rotund gentleman who was one of the best straight-armed three-finger piano players I ever heard. Johnny Minnick joined the Happy Goodman family when Rusty died. Minnick could play exactly like Howard, so he took over that job many years ago. He was a multi-talented guy himself.

[Firedome]

If we're talking gospel and female singers, I'm in general agreement with this list:

"Who is the greatest female gospel singer of all time?
Image result for best female gospel singer of all time
The Giants of Gospel Music: Seminal Female Gospel Singers. ...

Mahalia Jackson, “His Eye is on the Sparrow”, 1958. ...
Aretha Franklin, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”, 1956. ...
Ethel Waters, “His Eye is on the Sparrow”, 1952. ...
Fanny Crosby, Assorted Hymns and Songs from 1864-1915. ...
Doris Akers, “The Sky Pilot Choir” Series, 1960-1965.
Jan 1, 2017"

I like it in limited doses, but greatly prefer the less voluminous stylists of the '30s to '60s, male and female, way too many to mention.

[electra225]

I read an article on Fanny Crosby one time. She was quite the lady, and a icon in gospel music. Lots of church hymns were written by Fanny Crosby.

It's amazing how favorites are acquired. None of my favorites are on your list and none of your favorites are on my list. It's funny how we can hear the same music differently.

How about:
"Mansion On A Hilltop" by Elvis Presley, circa 1958.

"God on the Mountain" by Linda Randle, circa 1995

"My Cathedral" by Jim Reeves, circa 1963

and last, but not least would be Sister Minnie Welch playing "in The Garden" on her big grand piano most any Sunday in church back in the 1950's. Sister Minnie is gone now, and lived most of her life as a simple farmer's wife and mother. But when she touched those ivories, the lady certainly had talent.

[William]

If you Google Fanny Crosby there are a couple of You-tube videos about here. Very interesting to watch. I believe one of them said she wrote 8000 hymns in her life time. Not bad for a person who went blind just six weeks after birth.

Bill

[electra225]

Our song leader at church liked Fanny Crosby's hymns. I thought I read someplace about Fanny Crosby's relationship to the later famous Bob and Bing Crosby. I don't remember what that was and I can't seem to find it on Google.