You will have to remember that in the colonial days there were not yet medicine shows,
vaudeville, theaters or MTV.  Most music was in the homes and sung at camp meetings.
Many of the songs were old folk songs from across the seas.  Slowly new songs were
written about the times that people were experiencing, laced with these old experiences
of Europe, and stories from the Bible.

During the 1800's, as the church movement grew and there were more and more congre-
gations, revivals and camp meetings, this organized music was probably the number one
place in the new nation to enjoy music.  This fellowship at the camp meetings and revivals
offered folks a place to sing.  Music grew and became a big part of the religious move-
ment and the growth of this country, especially in the south where the blacks brought much
of their culture from west Africa, where singing was a big part of their life.

Religious music was central to the lives of the rural southerners.  It was in the church where
most rural southern folks first learned to sing.  In the early days of the colonies the "British
religious" groups were moving throughout influencing folks and very supportive of music in
their churches.  The Church of England was becoming very established throughout the
Eastern United States.  The Baptists and the Methodists were the dominate religions
moving into the rural areas of the country and promoted the religious music.  It was the
singing that was giving most of these people the good feeling and kept them coming back
to the revivals and camp meetings.

It is said that the music was first called "gospel" in 1875, when Ira Sankey and P.P. Bliss's
Gospel Hymns, was published. The word gospel is defined as the teachings of the
Christian church as originally preached by Jesus Christ and the apostles.  The "gospel" is
said to be any of the first four books of the New Testament, attributed to Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John.  The importance of gospel music was that it moved it listeners and it
contained many of the teachings of religion.  So,  in the early days it was considered church
music, but became more and more popular as years passed by, and as gospel took the
music to the public in more of a commercial format in the form of hymn books and sheet
music its popularity even grew more.

As the times began to very rapidly change in the new world, due to the inventions like the
steam engine, the train and the growth of the religious freedoms that were to be practiced
in this new land,  the music also began to change.  The church and gospel music began to
spread even more with the Pentecostal movement in the south and the huge rise of black
churches  , where the poor and the rural folks would gather together to sing and praise the
Lord.  We were also seeing the music as part of the urban revivals, and sung in organiza-
tions like the YMCA and the Salvation Army.  As this form of music grew, we could say the
market began to grow.  Soon there were Hymn books and everybody was learning the
songs, the published sheet music was beginning to sell and we are seeing the early days
of the business of music.

Sources seem to agree that the Father of gospel music is Thomas A. Dorsey (1899-1993).
It is said that "no one has had a greater influence on gospel singing; no-one has been quite
as prophetic; no-one spans the entire history of gospel music quite like Dorsey."  He wrote
religious music with jazzy rhythms and with blues mixed in.  The churches did not respond
positively to Dorsey's music.  It is said that it was called "devil's music."   His music was in
fact banned from many churches. He went on to write 800 songs that  became popular in
churches throughout the country.  Dorsey sang with Bessie Smith in his early days.  He was
later joined by pioneers singers such as Sallie Martin and Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith,
who help spread his music and the gospel music scene.  In 1932, he founded the National
Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, which is still in existence.

Following Dorsey a gospel great by the name of Mahalia Jackson emerged.  She is con-
sidered to be one of the most famous of gospel singers.  She had big success with
Columbia Records in the 1950's.  Her classics were, "City Called Heaven," "Salvation is
Free," and "What Could I Do?"  James Cleveland is considered to be the King of Gospel.
He won four Grammys and established the largest  gospel convention in the world in 1968.
Looking back there was Angelic Gospel Singers,  the Martin Singers, the Pilgrim Travelers,
the Ward Singers, Five Blind Boys and the Bells of Joy.  Gospel also had famous groups of
quartets. These were popular form the late 1920s through the 1940s. It is said that these
quartets were what most affected American pop culture.  The Swan Silvertones, the Dixie
Hummingbirds, The Mighty Clouds of Joy, and the Fairfield Four.  There were also a few
women groups that were popular such as,  The Davis Sisters, the Harmonettes, and the
Caravans.

You can not tell the story of the history of the music business and the growth and popularity
of the world of music itself, without going down the gospel musical track.  What we think
now as a side track to mainstream music, was in its day mainstream itself.  Most other
music styles fused from, and originated from the music that was being sung at the camp
meeting, revivals and church during the past two hundred years.   Many of the blues, rock
and roll and country music stars today will tell you that they had their first music experiences
and learning in the church.  Jerry Lee Lewis tells the story of when he was a boy he would
sneak up to the window at the churches in the south and listen to the gospel music that the
blacks were singing and rejoicing in.  Little Richard, himself a preacher at one time, says
he grew up being influenced by this style of music in his life.

Aretha Franklin, Della Reese, Ray Charles, Lou Rawls, Rickey Skaggs, Hank Williams,
and many others were influenced by this music.  The music legend Sam Cooke was
greatly influenced by the music and  once  had a very hot gospel group called the Soul
Stirrers,  before he took the mainstream track to pop music.  We could write pages on the
connection between church and gospel music with the country music world of Nashville.
Story goes...In 1892, riverboat captain Thomas Ryman vowed to build a tabernacle for all
denominations after hearing the inspiring preaching of southern evangelist Sam Jones.
Little did Ryman know that 100 plus  years later, that tabernacle would remain as a
thriving entertainment venue.  Known to the old timers of the great traditional era to this
day as The Mother Church, also known as the Ryman Auditorium and in 1943, the Mother
Church became the home of The Grand Ole Opry.  "And now you know, the rest of the
story."

Not only does gospel music stand on its own as a mainline track down the music trail that
this country has been cutting for the past two centuries, but it gave the inspiration that
became country music and rock and roll.  It is the roots of blues and gave a good bit to the
men that became the Jazz greats of this country.  Dick Clark said that, "Music is the
soundtrack  of our lives,"  and back in the 1800's, before the wireless (radio) and the
talking machine (phonograph), before Jimmie Rogers began to sing famous blue yodels,
gospel was as big as any music style known, while at the same time it was giving inspir-
ation to the pioneers of the music industry.

And funny how time comes back around.  Just in the last decade gospel music has seen
new interest and the phenomenon of Kirk Franklin's "Why We Sing," which went platinum,
and the success of William Becton's "Be Encouraged," which has become a mainstay on
Billboard's gospel chart for over 28 weeks, all attest to gospel's growing resurgence in the
last decade of this millennium.  We are also all aware of the success of Amy Grant.  So the
next time you hear ole Willie Nelson singing "Amazing Grace," or the Byrds sing "Jesus Is
Alright With Me," we can be reminded of the incredible influence the music of the church
has had on the music of this Nation that laser beams into a new millennium with the grace
of God.

to be continued

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