#GreatAlbums1950s - #SisterRosettaTharpe – Gospel Train (1956). Billboard called Tharpe’s music “rock-and-roll spiritual singing” a decade before Elvis arrived at Sun Records. Her R&B gospel influenced the likes of Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, and her breakout guitar solos anticipated the style of Chuck Berry. This 1956 set features Tharpe still at her peak, rocking the gospel like nobody else on “Jericho, “Up Above My Head” and other classics.
It's 2023, I'm 43, and I'm listening to something Ray Charles recorded in 1957, YEARS before I was even born (hell, the year both my PARENTS were just seven years old each) that has now been uploaded to YouTube for the whole world to hear with just a little typing and a mouse click.
What is the Gospel apart from the promise that God’s truth has entered creation as a historical event whose full meaning can be known only in its entire historical unfolding?
-David Bentley Hart (Tradition and Apocalypse, 104)
Black-American musical expression during enslavement laid the foundation for blues, jazz, country, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, & popular music. Emerging from oppression, it reflected resilience & creativity, becoming anthems for civil rights movements the world over. The emotive force and cultural distinctiveness of those early songs endure, nurturing the ongoing struggle for a more just world.
🎧 #Mood | #Moby's new songs are on release. Love everything I've listened to, and this remake from 2003 ft. #GregoryPorter gives me goose bumps! #Electrogospel?
🎧 Morning, y'all. First Friday music — "Son of a Preacher Man" performed by #ArethaFranklin (1969).
John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins wrote the song in 1968 with Aretha in mind, but #AtlanticRecords boss #JerrtWexler gave it to #DustySpringfield who was recording in #Memphis at the time. That's the version most remember.
Aretha recorded it the next year. I love the song and both interpretations.
🎧 #Mood | "Loveland" by #CharlesWright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band.
1969 | Dad was in Vietnam. Mom, me (12) and 3 sibs were parked in tinytown SC for a year. I listened to the only 2 local AM stations on my new transistor radio. One was Top 40, the other played #Soul and #RnB except on Sundays when it was live Sunday school and preaching, then #Gospel songs. I met "Loveland" there, and bought the 45 at Roses—75¢.