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If the Blues is arguably the most celebrated "root" music of Rock and Roll, Gospel is perhaps the one that most deserves greater celebration. In some times and in some places, pre-Rock and Roll Gospel sounds as much like Rock and Roll as anything that came before Elvis. To this point, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, the man who coined the term "Rhythm and Blues" while working at Billboard Magazine, has said that he wished he had called it not "Rhythm and Blues," but "Rhythm and Gospel."
In this chapter, lesson plans explore a number of issues, covering Gospel from the early part of the 20th century to the years of Soul Music's emergence. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an artist well-loved by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard equally, is looked at as a kind of case study. Vocal groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Dixie Hummingbirds offer a view into the singing and performance styles that would prefigure Rock and Roll. And, lastly, Sam Cooke is studied as an example the "crossover" experience and its paradoxes.
The case of American Gospel music and its place in the development and sound of Rock and Roll remains among popular music's most important stories. Rock and Roll's emotion, its groove, its exchange between performers and between audience and performer: all can be traced back to Gospel's example. But what this all speaks to is perhaps the most engaging aspect of the cultural exchange: the great degree to which the black church left a lasting mark on the mainstream of American life.
lesson:
Gospel Music and the Birth of Soul
How did Gospel influence American popular music?
Video
video:
Integration Report
<p>If the Blues is arguably the most celebrated "root" music of Rock and Roll, Gospel is perhaps the one that most deserves greater celebration. In some times and in some places, pre-Rock and Roll Gospel sounds as much like Rock and Roll as anything that came before Elvis. To this point, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, the man who coined the term "Rhythm and Blues" while working at Billboard Magazine, has said that he wished he had called it not "Rhythm and Blues," but "Rhythm and Gospel."</p> <p>In this chapter, lesson plans explore a number of issues, covering Gospel from the early part of the 20th century to the years of Soul Music's emergence. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an artist well-loved by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard equally, is looked at as a kind of case study. Vocal groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Dixie Hummingbirds offer a view into the singing and performance styles that would prefigure Rock and Roll. And, lastly, Sam Cooke is studied as an example the "crossover" experience and its paradoxes.</p> <p>The case of American Gospel music and its place in the development and sound of Rock and Roll remains among popular music's most important stories. Rock and Roll's emotion, its groove, its exchange between performers and between audience and performer: all can be traced back to Gospel's example. But what this all speaks to is perhaps the most engaging aspect of the cultural exchange: the great degree to which the black church left a lasting mark on the mainstream of American life.</p>
video:
Wonderful
<p>If the Blues is arguably the most celebrated "root" music of Rock and Roll, Gospel is perhaps the one that most deserves greater celebration. In some times and in some places, pre-Rock and Roll Gospel sounds as much like Rock and Roll as anything that came before Elvis. To this point, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, the man who coined the term "Rhythm and Blues" while working at Billboard Magazine, has said that he wished he had called it not "Rhythm and Blues," but "Rhythm and Gospel."</p> <p>In this chapter, lesson plans explore a number of issues, covering Gospel from the early part of the 20th century to the years of Soul Music's emergence. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an artist well-loved by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard equally, is looked at as a kind of case study. Vocal groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Dixie Hummingbirds offer a view into the singing and performance styles that would prefigure Rock and Roll. And, lastly, Sam Cooke is studied as an example the "crossover" experience and its paradoxes.</p> <p>The case of American Gospel music and its place in the development and sound of Rock and Roll remains among popular music's most important stories. Rock and Roll's emotion, its groove, its exchange between performers and between audience and performer: all can be traced back to Gospel's example. But what this all speaks to is perhaps the most engaging aspect of the cultural exchange: the great degree to which the black church left a lasting mark on the mainstream of American life.</p>
video:
Loveable
<p>If the Blues is arguably the most celebrated "root" music of Rock and Roll, Gospel is perhaps the one that most deserves greater celebration. In some times and in some places, pre-Rock and Roll Gospel sounds as much like Rock and Roll as anything that came before Elvis. To this point, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, the man who coined the term "Rhythm and Blues" while working at Billboard Magazine, has said that he wished he had called it not "Rhythm and Blues," but "Rhythm and Gospel."</p> <p>In this chapter, lesson plans explore a number of issues, covering Gospel from the early part of the 20th century to the years of Soul Music's emergence. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an artist well-loved by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard equally, is looked at as a kind of case study. Vocal groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Dixie Hummingbirds offer a view into the singing and performance styles that would prefigure Rock and Roll. And, lastly, Sam Cooke is studied as an example the "crossover" experience and its paradoxes.</p> <p>The case of American Gospel music and its place in the development and sound of Rock and Roll remains among popular music's most important stories. Rock and Roll's emotion, its groove, its exchange between performers and between audience and performer: all can be traced back to Gospel's example. But what this all speaks to is perhaps the most engaging aspect of the cultural exchange: the great degree to which the black church left a lasting mark on the mainstream of American life.</p>
video:
Didn’t It Rain
<p>If the Blues is arguably the most celebrated "root" music of Rock and Roll, Gospel is perhaps the one that most deserves greater celebration. In some times and in some places, pre-Rock and Roll Gospel sounds as much like Rock and Roll as anything that came before Elvis. To this point, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, the man who coined the term "Rhythm and Blues" while working at Billboard Magazine, has said that he wished he had called it not "Rhythm and Blues," but "Rhythm and Gospel."</p> <p>In this chapter, lesson plans explore a number of issues, covering Gospel from the early part of the 20th century to the years of Soul Music's emergence. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an artist well-loved by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard equally, is looked at as a kind of case study. Vocal groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Dixie Hummingbirds offer a view into the singing and performance styles that would prefigure Rock and Roll. And, lastly, Sam Cooke is studied as an example the "crossover" experience and its paradoxes.</p> <p>The case of American Gospel music and its place in the development and sound of Rock and Roll remains among popular music's most important stories. Rock and Roll's emotion, its groove, its exchange between performers and between audience and performer: all can be traced back to Gospel's example. But what this all speaks to is perhaps the most engaging aspect of the cultural exchange: the great degree to which the black church left a lasting mark on the mainstream of American life.</p>
video:
Walk in My Shoes
<p>If the Blues is arguably the most celebrated "root" music of Rock and Roll, Gospel is perhaps the one that most deserves greater celebration. In some times and in some places, pre-Rock and Roll Gospel sounds as much like Rock and Roll as anything that came before Elvis. To this point, Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, the man who coined the term "Rhythm and Blues" while working at Billboard Magazine, has said that he wished he had called it not "Rhythm and Blues," but "Rhythm and Gospel."</p> <p>In this chapter, lesson plans explore a number of issues, covering Gospel from the early part of the 20th century to the years of Soul Music's emergence. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, an artist well-loved by Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard equally, is looked at as a kind of case study. Vocal groups like the Soul Stirrers and the Dixie Hummingbirds offer a view into the singing and performance styles that would prefigure Rock and Roll. And, lastly, Sam Cooke is studied as an example the "crossover" experience and its paradoxes.</p> <p>The case of American Gospel music and its place in the development and sound of Rock and Roll remains among popular music's most important stories. Rock and Roll's emotion, its groove, its exchange between performers and between audience and performer: all can be traced back to Gospel's example. But what this all speaks to is perhaps the most engaging aspect of the cultural exchange: the great degree to which the black church left a lasting mark on the mainstream of American life.</p>
Print Journalism
article:
The Soul Stirrer: Sam Cooke
FEW ENTERTAINERS have fallen quite so far from grace as Sam Cooke did when he died, 30 years ago, at the Hacienda Motel in south-central Los Angeles. Whatever the doubts and suspicions surrounding the shooting – and there are still many – it is hard to see it as a martyr's death. Yet think of Sam Cooke and you think: Grecian good looks, irresistible charm and style, and a voice that rings out like a glorious, golden peal, cooing ‘You Send Me’ down the corridors of eternity. For the best part of 15 years, Cooke was an archangel, a black American...
article:
Gospel: Soul Sources
ON STAGE at the Apollo, Harlem: standing at one microphone, an immaculately dressed man dramatically insists his love. At the second mike, four men bend towards each other, sing a phrase in harmony, step back and spin into an intricate flowing movement as the lead singer takes a line by himself, but comes swooping back in time to echo his last phrase. Behind them, poised, seemingly somehow to control what they do without any obvious signs or instructions, stands the guitarist; near him, the organist and drummer. The scene doesn't change much from week to week. The names and faces are...