Gospel music is a 20th-century African American religious music form.
Evolved in urban cities following the Great Migration from the agrarian South during World Wars I and II.
Musical foundation laid in the early 20th century but gained widespread usage in the 1930s.
Term "gospel music", repertoire, and distinctive performance style gained popularity across denominational lines during this time.
Thomas Dorsey, the "Father of Gospel Music," shifted from blues and jazz to develop gospel music in the 1930s.
Defining Gospel Music
Gospel music is religious music of African Americans that emerged in urban centers in the early 20th century.
Initially, the concept was controversial, with some ministers arguing gospel should be preached, not sung.
Gospel was equated to "good news," limiting it to the message of the New Testament's first four books.
Evolved to be more than mere text, becoming a specific body of composed repertoire and a performance style applied to other genres like spirituals and hymns.
Origin is complex, not attributable to a single individual, denomination, or genre evolution.
Some wrongly interpret gospel as solely derived from hymns, ignoring the folk spiritual influence.
Some analyses attribute its origins exclusively to the Pentecostal Church.
Key figures came from Baptist, Methodist, Spiritualist, and other denominations.
Some view African American gospel as a subset of a broader Black and White genre, which disregards crucial distinctions.
Folk Spirituals
The earliest form of indigenous a cappella religious music created by African Americans during slavery.
The influence of blues on Thomas Dorsey led some to term it "gospel-blues," but this term was not used by practitioners and undermines the genre's religious intent.
The development of gospel music resulted from the intertwined efforts of various people, places, and processes.
Represented shared African American musical values and cultural ideals.
Impact of the Great Migration
From 1920 to 1930, about three million Blacks moved from the rural South to the urban North.
Desire for better social and economic conditions prompted migration.
Transplanted population stimulated the creation of gospel music.
migrants continued to uphold values and behaviors from the rural South, like food, dress, and worship styles.
Most migrants came from Southern rural Black Baptist and Methodist congregations.
Congregations sometimes moved North intact.
The rural folk church transformed into the urban storefront church, a key context for gospel music.
Storefront Churches
Storefront churches were often in converted retail spaces offering a familiar worship style for southern migrants.
Smaller size (averaging 60 members or less) allowed personal connections with the pastor and other worshipers.
Worship was less formal, closely resembling that of rural Southern Black churches.
Sociologists St. Clair Drake and R.H. Cayton documented the experience of a woman longing for a familiar style of worship.
Migrants needed to comprehend the sermon content for worship to be meaningful.
Congregations were known for spirited, demonstrative worship, especially in Holiness and Baptist churches.
Storefront churches emphasized participation and gave rise to a new body of gospel music.
Preachers used a relatable, straightforward language.
During the migratory transition, some large Baptist and Methodist churches were "shouting churches" (highly energized worship).
Some Holiness and Spiritualist churches also had large congregations with emotive worship styles.
The music of urban storefront churches in the 1930s was defined by its delivery and aesthetic features.
Mirrored the worship style and preaching of Black independent churches in the rural South.
Repertoire included Protestant hymns and a new genre called gospel hymns or jazz hymns.
Use of musical instruments (previously associated with secular music) marked this new religious music expression.
Crisis magazine (NAACP publication) described storefront worship music as a "syncopated rhythmic mess" with guitars, tambourines, shrieks, and stamping feet.
Holiness and Pentecostal denominations expanded musical expression in the African American church.
Church of God in Christ (COGIC)
Charles H. Mason founded COGIC in 1897 after separating from the Baptist Church due to Holiness theological tenets.
COGIC was considered a divinely inspired denomination; members were seen as "saved and sanctified saints."
Mason attended the Azuza Street Revival in Los Angeles (1906-08) and spoke in tongues, leading to the rapid spread of COGIC.
Speaking in tongues (glossolalia) defined storefront churches in Black Chicago in the 1920s.
Arizona Dranes and Rev. Ford Washington McGee
Texas-born, blind COGIC evangelist Arizona Dranes (c.1905–c.1960) captured her artistry on OKeh recordings from 1926-1928.
Her percussive piano style resembled ragtime.
Her singing was characterized by short, intense, shouted phrases.
voice was untrained but full of fervor and spiritual conviction.
Dranes collaborated with Rev. Ford Washington McGee, who established a COGIC church (McGee’s Temple) in Chicago in 1925.
McGee recorded forty-six sides for Victor with various instrumental combinations (piano, cornet, drums, bass, guitar, tambourine, violin, trombone, and trumpet).
The repertoire featured new compositions reflecting denominational beliefs, Protestant hymns, spirituals, and songs traversing denominational boundaries.
Musical Style and Structure
Call–response was integrated into simple verse–chorus structures.
Singers and instrumentalists performed in a repetitive, improvisational style.
Harmony was intermittent, alternating with heterophonic textures from folk spirituals.
Black urban religious music in the Pentecostal denomination resembled folk spirituals, except for instrumental accompaniment.
Both were based on call–response, demonstrative delivery with handclapping and dancing, and were sung in heterophony.
Thomas Dorsey's Role
Thomas A. Dorsey (1899–1993) moved gospel music from the margins to the mainstream.
Migrated to Chicago from Georgia in 1916.
Son of an itinerant Baptist preacher, he played organ in church and was exposed to blues performers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith.
Developed a reputation as a blues piano player and was known as Barrelhouse Tom and Georgia Tom.
Moved to Chicago seeking a better life.
Inspired by A.W. Nix singing “I Do, Don’t You” at the National Baptist Convention in 1921, he began writing gospel music.
Joined New Hope Baptist Church, became director of music, and wrote his first gospel song, “If I Don’t Get There.”
Connecting with Gospel Pearls
Gospel Pearls was designed to meet the demand for inspiring music in various religious gatherings.
Included old and new songs, adapted for soul-winning, spirituals, and jubilee songs.
Dorsey’s “If I Don’t Get There” was among the recent compositions in Gospel Pearls.
Compilation included six works by Charles Albert Tindley, who influenced Dorsey’s compositional style.
Dorsey aimed to further what Tindley started in gospel music.
Ethnomusicologist George Robinson Ricks suggested that Tindley also inspired the music of new Holiness and Pentecostal churches in Chicago.
Transitional Gospel Music: Tindley Style
Rev. C.A. Tindley (1851–1933) was a prominent figure in the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Known for dynamic preaching, he grew his church membership to over ten thousand in the 1920s.
Music was a key part of worship; Tindley punctuated sermons with his songs.
Influenced by the Methodist-led Holiness movement, services at Tindley Temple included prayer, singing, and shouting.
Services could last all night.
Described as not being a traditional preacher, rather, a Methodist aligned with Baptist or Pentecostal values.
The C.A. Tindley Gospel Chorus
Around 1922, the C.A. Tindley Gospel Chorus was formed, featuring ten singers and a pianist.
Tindley’s son Elbert, known for his robust tenor voice, was a main soloist and would use gestures to emphasize his singing.
Chorus's success led to a professional double quartet performing recitals nationally.
Tindley’s compositions were published starting in 1901, with 46 songs published by 1923, including enduring works like “We’ll Understand It Better By and By,” “Stand by Me,” and “The Storm Is Passing Over.”
Tindley's Impact and Style
Analysts highlight the profound lyrics that spoke to the working-class congregation.
Tindley lacked formal education and musical training and relied on arrangers and standard I, IV, V harmonies in his works ( I, IV, V ).
*“Leave It There,” published in 1916, conveyed triumph over adversity and was relatable to his congregation.
His verse employed a spirit of triumph over adversity, content with which his members would surely identify. The text reflected musical values from the folk spiritual tradition.
The refrain, "Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there," was repeated in both the verse and chorus, aiding memorization for congregational singing.
Tindley taught songs during services, using repetition to facilitate rote learning.
Call–response was integrated into the chorus, encouraging participation.
Horace Boyer noted that Tindley’s songs, like spirituals, came alive during performance.
Dorsey's Early Influences
In 1921, Thomas Dorsey found a rich Black religious music scene in Chicago.
Storefront churches represented a minority but their style influenced larger congregations.
Dorsey was struck by music at the National Baptist Convention and acknowledged the impact of C.A. Tindley’s work nationwide.