Gospel
190 articles
Clara Ward et al: New Fields Found By Gospel Singers
Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 18 February 1962
Music Meeting Success in Night Clubs and Theatres ...
Della Reese In London: Gospel Is Very Big Business
Profile and Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 28 July 1962
MOST PEOPLE in Britain think of DELLA REESE as a Gospel singer. But the truth is that she'll sing ANYTHING, working on the theory: "If ...
Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 8 September 1962
GOSPEL FESTIVAL GETS UNDER WAY 3-Day Event Set for Randalls Island Begins a Little Late ...
Marion Williams: Just keep on clapping — it's Miss Williams
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 2 March 1963
CHRIS BARBER, they tell me, has been to see her twenty times. Humphrey Lyttelton cannot keep away. ...
Pete Seeger: Rights Song Has Own History of Integration
Retrospective by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 23 July 1963
Theme Well-Known Despite Lack of A Single Disk ...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: How Sister Rosetta gets them rolling
Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 9 May 1964
THEY CALL her the Holy Roller. Sister Rosetta Tharpe is indeed a holy lady but she does roll in a way that would do credit ...
Inez Andrews, The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Bishop Samuel Kelsey: From Church To Concert Hall
Report by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 2 January 1965
MAX JONES PREVIEWS THE SPIRITUAL AND GOSPEL PACKAGE ...
Live Review by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 22 January 1966
Gospel joy at Fairfield ...
Mahalia Jackson: I Believe (GGL0367)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 9 July 1966
SEVERAL OF Mahalia Jackson's earliest Apollo recordings — and that means some of her most impressive singing — are included in the new Golden Guinea ...
Duke Ellington: Concert Of Sacred Music (RCA)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 31 December 1966
Hot jazz and religion in a ducal mixture ...
Reverend Gary Davis: Say No To The Devil (Xtra 5014)
Review by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 7 January 1967
THERE CAN be no doubting the emotional force of Gary Davis's music or the variety and strength of his guitar playing. He is among the ...
Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 15 April 1967
Remarkable sincerity on El's How Great Thou Art album. ...
Wilson Pickett: The Humor of… Wilson Pickett
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, November 1967
WILSON PICKETT started his singing career in the spiritual field in the city of Detroit. He and his family moved there when Wilson was in ...
Aretha Franklin: Alan Smith Discovers That Aretha (26) Feels She's A Lot Older
Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 7 September 1968
...because she's lived such a hard life ...
Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 22 September 1968
Still Undiscovered: Gospel Truth ...
Live Review by Ian Dove, Billboard, 5 October 1968
Traffic Travel on Bumpy And Separate Musical Road ...
Live Review by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 2 November 1968
Swinging down the aisles ...
Mahalia Jackson: Why Mahalia's Still In The Book
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 31 May 1969
AFTER HER extravagantly successful Albert Hall concert the other Sunday, Mahalia Jackson sat back in her dressing-room chair looking pretty flaked. ...
Aretha Franklin's Gospel Background
Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, June 1969
HP: How old were you when you started singing? Aretha: I started singing when I was twelve years old. ...
Billy Preston: Billy's a Natural
Profile by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 12 July 1969
IF EVER there was a "natural" for the charts, Billy Preston's 'That's The Way God Planned It' — which enters this week at No. 19 ...
Report by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 16 August 1969
GOSPEL MUSIC, songs with lyrics derived from the Old and New Testaments, a music with its roots in church choirs, is one of the oldest ...
Overview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 30 August 1969
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 ...
Live Review by Jerry Gilbert, Melody Maker, 8 November 1969
JOHN LEE HOOKER'S absence from the American Folk, Blues & Gospel Festival was without the consequence that at first seemed likely when the tour opened ...
Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 5 January 1970
A Bright Light in Oakland ...
The Voices of East Harlem: At Play With the Voices of E. Harlem
Profile and Interview by Lenny Kaye, Rolling Stone, 19 March 1970
NEW YORK — It was just an old red and white striped stuffed dog, but at least for now, it held the center of attention. ...
The Edwin Hawkins Singers: Edwin Hawkins
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 20 November 1970
EVERY NOW and then, a true phenomenon occurs in the world of popular music. The 60's was a period when at least one unusual occurrence ...
The Edwin Hawkins Singers/Blue Mink: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 18 December 1970
IN PRACTICALLY every biography written about today's soul singers, mention is made of how he or she began singing in church; so much so that ...
Review by Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 7 January 1971
BILLY PRESTON'S first album, That's the Way God Planned It, was almost all gospel-oriented, and the second side was generally good. But the material that ...
The Staple Singers: The Staple Swingers (Stax 2034)
Review by Gary Kenton, Fusion, 14 May 1971
IT'S ALL A bad idea except for the music. It's The Staple Singers — you know them — they couldn't make lousy music if they ...
Reverend Gary Davis: Rev. Gary Davis: Song of a Preacher Man
Report and Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 21 August 1971
MANY BLACK SINGERS draw an artificial distinction between holy music — gospel — and sinful music — the blues. ...
Billy Preston: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 9 December 1971
Billy Preston Show Opens at Troubadour ...
Doris Troy, The Roy Young Band: Doris Troy, Roy Young Band: Rainbow Theatre, London
Live Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 7 January 1972
Mother Soul at the Rainbow ...
Billy Preston: I Wrote A Simple Song (A&M AMLH 63507, £2.29)
Review by David Hancock, Disc, 15 January 1972
SOLO BILLY AT HIS FUNKIEST ...
The Staple Singers: A Staple Diet
Interview by Phil Symes, Disc, 6 May 1972
IT ALL seems to be happening at once for Stax Records, the soul record company in Memphis, Tennessee. At present they hold American chart positions ...
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 30 June 1972
THREE YEARS ago, George Perkins' debut single, 'Crying In The Streets', gave him a No. 1 R&B record. Now comes the belated follow-up and a ...
Interview by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 29 July 1972
THE FORMIDABLE hand of fate has moved in to give Billy Preston his first American No. 1 hit — something he's clamoured for since turning ...
Review by Ian MacDonald, New Musical Express, 19 August 1972
Aretha at her greatest ...
Review by Andrew Tyler, Disc, 26 August 1972
ARETHA MOVING AT SNAIL'S PACE ...
Rev. James Cleveland, Aretha Franklin: Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace (Atlantic)
Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 26 August 1972
THOUGH IT HAS received wide critical accalim Aretha Franklin's latest album, the double set Amazing Grace, is far and away the least commercially orientated she ...
Aretha Franklin: Amazing Grace (Atlantic)
Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 8 September 1972
WHEN I WAS first privileged to hear some of Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace album when John Abbey brought back from the States several cassettes'-worth of ...
Doris Troy: Soul/Gospel on T.V.
Film/DVD/TV Review by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 22 September 1972
ONE COULD quite justifiably be forgiven for assuming that the week of the recent Bank Holiday was television's 'National Doris Troy Week' for the lady ...
The Staple Singers: Pop Staples Looks Back
Retrospective and Interview by Bob Merlis, Words & Music, November 1972
THE STAPLE Singers will occupy a unique spot in American musical history, when that work is finally written. Their combination of those antithetical forms of ...
Various Artists: The Gospel Sound
Review by Tony Russell, Cream, November 1972
YOU READ it here, you read it there: gospel is close to the heart of blues and rock. But where do you hear what that ...
Rev. James Cleveland, Aretha Franklin: Rev James Cleveland
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 1 December 1972
IT'S REALLY quite a sad commentary on life that it took a pupil to bring the master to the attention of the world. But that's ...
The Staple Singers: Be What You Are
Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 31 August 1973
AN IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF THEIR NEW ALBUM BE WHAT YOU ARE ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 7 December 1973
J.W. is the man who took Sam Cooke from his gospel background and helped mould him into the very first Soul superstar. He performed a ...
The Staple Singers, Pops Staples: MM Staple Singers special: Top of the Pops!
Interview by Max Jones, Melody Maker, 2 February 1974
THE STAPLE SINGERS, who gave one charging show in London on Friday, are one of America's most justly famed gospel groups. They have come a ...
The Staple Singers: From Gospel to Protest
Interview by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 2 February 1974
IT'S A LONG, long way in space and time, from Drew, Mississippi to the 23rd Floor of the London Hilton. Fourteen years of singing and ...
Linda Lewis, The Staple Singers: The Staple Singers, Linda Lewis: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Tony Cummings, Black Music, March 1974
IT WAS great, but then we knew it would be. Linda Lewis won the cool crowd first, soft and gentle, then hard and funky, a ...
The Staple Singers: The Staples Story
Retrospective and Interview by Tony Cummings, Black Music, March 1974
IT ISN'T hard to imagine. A concert hall staging an "Authentic Blues Festival". Paul Oliver would make the introduction for the adoring crowd of earnest ...
Interview by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, 27 February 1975
LOS ANGELES – "I've never asked anyone to help me or give me a break," declared Billy Preston adamantly. "Whatever I don't have now I ...
The Mighty Clouds of Joy: Hey You, Get Onto The Mighty Clouds Of Joy…
Comment by Bob Fisher, New Musical Express, 29 March 1975
...and discover the undiluted gospel fervour and emotional commitment you thought black music had lost. ...
Obituary by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 31 July 1975
HOUSTON — DON D. Robey, a leading figure in rhythm & blues and gospel recordings in the Fifties and Sixties, died early Monday, June 16th, ...
Rance Allen Group: Sanctified (Stax)
Review by Tony Cummings, Black Music, September 1975
THERE DOESN'T exist the vocabulary to do justice to this album. In an age when soul's countless sub-divisions (sweet soul, sophistisoul, disco music and pop ...
The Mighty Clouds Of Joy: Hey, you, get into these Clouds
Profile and Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 16 March 1976
HALF A Million Hustlers Can't Be Wrong. That's how many buyers Eddie Drennon attracted for 'Let's Do The Latin Hustle' – in the States alone. ...
Live Review by John Swenson, Sounds, 27 March 1976
YOU WON'T find a better textbook example of what's gone wrong with R&B over the past few years. Ticket prices, scaled from $10.00 down, were ...
Leon Russell: Leon and Mary Russell: Nassau Coliseum
Live Review by Wesley Strick, Blast, October 1976
ISAAC HAYES may be Black Moses, but Leon Russell is goddamm Charlton Heston himself! Remember the way Heston looked, coming down off Sinai? The cat ...
Choralerna, Andraé Crouch: Andrae Crouch, Choralerna: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977
ANDRAE CROUCH is a smoother character than the gospel stars who turned our heads around in the Forties and Fifties, his music being as rooted ...
Valerie Wilmer: "Art is a luxury. Music is a functional thing."
Interview by Brian Case, New Musical Express, 7 May 1977
Photographer-writer VALERIE WILMER opts for unlearning and the sovereignty of the heart ...
Thomas A Dorsey: The Father Of Gospel: Thomas A. Dorsey
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Melody Maker, 14 May 1977
He likes his stories does Thomas A. Dorsey, and with a 77-year-old mind in charge of the telling, they do tend to crop up more ...
Shirley Caesar: The First Lady of Gospel
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 17 January 1978
IT'S LONG been acknowledged that some of the very finest black performers around today have their roots squarely and firmly in the gospel field. Everyone ...
Cissy Houston In Her Own Right
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 31 January 1978
Cissy has sung behind countless superstars, from Elvis to Aretha, particularly during her stint as leader of the Sweet Inspirations. She's now out front again ...
Cissy Houston, Singers' Singer, Steps Out
Profile and Interview by Joe McEwen, Rolling Stone, 29 June 1978
Legendary background vocalist ...
Jessy Dixon, Paul Simon: Dixon Spreading the Gospel with Paul Simon
Profile and Interview by Steve Turner, Melody Maker, 19 August 1978
Jessy Dixon, who plays London's Rainbow on September 2, talks to Steve Turner ...
Rev. James Cleveland: Savoy Delivers the Gospel
Interview by Joe McEwen, Rolling Stone, 21 September 1978
ELIZABETH, N.J. — Fred Mendelsohn likes to tell a story. "I was at an Arista convention in New Orleans," he says, inching forward in his ...
Timmy Thomas: The Gospel Freak
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 7 November 1978
The 'Why Can't We Live Together' man now has a dual role – as head of TK's Gospel division and leader of the Freak dancefloor ...
Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 27 February 1979
THE RELEASE of Straight From The Heart marks the return home of the Rance Allen Group. After a gap of four years – during which ...
The Dixie Hummingbirds: Flyin' High
Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 27 February 1979
THERE HAS been a whole lot of publicity about the fact that fifty years ago, Walt Disney was introducing Mickey Mouse to the world over ...
Bob Dylan: Slow Train Coming (CBS)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 August 1979
THE RELATIONSHIP between rock and religion has always been fraught and filled with tension: back at its Southern rural roots, there was always a serious ...
Rev. James Cleveland: Pastor Cleveland, Superstar
Report by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 24 December 1980
Well manicured and mohair-suited, America's most successful gospel performer leads an hour of electrifying Worship on ITV this Sunday. Mick Brown reports ...
Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 14 June 1981
ON SATURDAY nights in 1956, transistor radios in the hands of eager teenagers all over America shuddered with the sensual sound of Elvis Presley's 'Hound ...
Al Green: The Lord Will Make a Way (Myrrh) **
Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 23 July 1981
ONE NIGHT, after listening intensively to the grand and ancient gospel groups (pre-psychobabble Staples Singers, the Soul Stirrers with and without Sam Cooke, Dorothy Love ...
Rev. James Cleveland: James Cleveland: The Preacher Teacher of Gospel
Report and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 24 September 1981
James Cleveland: Bridging the Gap Between the Sacred And the Secular ...
Al Green: In God He Trusts: Al Green reaches higher
Comment by James Hunter, The Boston Phoenix, 12 January 1982
IN THE '70s, in Memphis, Al Green and producer Willie Mitchell made quietly unstoppable soul music the world still hasn't gotten over. If at first ...
Al Green: Higher Plane (Hi/PRT)
Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 3 April 1982
OH, HAPPY man...You can tell Al Green is truly saved from a quick glance at the cover, from the way his Daz-white shirt blue-airbrushes its ...
Shirley Caesar: Thanksgiving Gospel Caravan, Olympic Auditorium, Los Angeles CA
Live Review by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 16 December 1982
GOSPEL MUSIC, that great conveyer of soul that expresses every emotion as a joyous affirmation, has come to my rescue. Many's the time I've yearned ...
Al Green: Sanctity & Sexuality on a Higher Plane
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, April 1983
LISTENING TO Al Green's three gospel albums for Myrrh Records is a disorienting experience. The songs are traditional hymns that have been sung in black ...
Labelle, Patti LaBelle: Labelle: Girl Group to Gospel
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 8 May 1983
THE 18 CHORUS members of Your Arms Too Short to Box With God were assembled like a church choir in their red and white gowns ...
The Clark Sisters: Is The Lord Bored With Disco?
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 27 August 1983
GOD MUST be tired of pop music. The most popular female gospel act in America, Detroit's Clark Sisters, have the first gospel record in a ...
The Mighty Clouds of Joy: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 17 September 1983
SANCTIFIED! ...
Al Green: "There are riders approaching"
Interview by James Hunter, Record, December 1983
THE CONTINUING TRANSFORMATION OF AL GREEN, MAN OF GOD ...
Viv Broughton: Black Gospel: An Illustrated History Of The Gospel Sound (Blandford Press)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1984
IT’S ONLY TOO easy to take that vicarious pleasure in the religious antics of folk who are not of one's own race, nationality or (non-) ...
The Clark Sisters: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Guardian, 3 September 1984
GUIDING GOSPEL music into the Eighties has not been without its hazards for Detroit's Five Clark Sisters. When last year their gorgeous 'You Brought The ...
The Clark Sisters: Dominion Theatre, London
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 15 September 1984
WE WATCHED two of London's larger choirs and remained cold. Mattie Moss Clark, the sister's mama and musical director of the huge Church of God ...
Get Right With God: Gospel Truth
Review by James Hunter, The Boston Phoenix, 18 September 1984
A SMOKY, finger-snapping cavalcade of bold quartets, plainspoken guitarists/vocalists, and feverish singing preachers. Get Right with God: Hot Gospel 1947–1953 (Krazy Kat, UK import) is ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 20 September 1984
The great soul man looks back at his illustrious career: the Valentinos; his mentor Sam Cooke; playing gospel and on the gospel greats; his own recordings and being in the studios with many others; songwriting and much more.
File format: mp3; file size: 58.7mb, interview length: 1h 04' 04" sound quality: **/***
Al Green: The Gospel According To Al Green
Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, January 1985
Al GREEN was the hottest soul singer this side of Stevie Wonder in the early '70s but don't expect to hear old hits like 'Tired ...
Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 5 January 1985
OEDIPUS — SING TO YOUR MUM ...
Al Green: Trust In God (Demon/Hi)****
Review by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 16 February 1985
F*** GOD (Brando's first two words in Last Tango, actually), we're talking AL GREEN here. Quite simply, the best voice ever to co-exist with anything ...
Little Richard (1985) [transcript]
Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 5 March 1985
This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Little Richard. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Philip Bailey, Phil Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire: Philip Bailey: Labours of Love Made Easy
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 6 April 1985
PHILIP BAILEY used to sing with Earth Wind And Fire. Now he's teamed up alongside Phil Collins to reach Number One with 'Easy Lover'. SIMON ...
Wanda Jackson: Where Are They Now: Wanda Jackson
Interview by Ira Robbins, Rolling Stone, 12 September 1985
The original 'Fujiyama Mama' wailed to the rockabilly beat — but now she's moved by a stronger power ...
The Five Blind Boys of Alabama: Fountain, Five Blind Boys Spout The Gospel
Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 14 December 1985
"ACTING? IT'S nothing complicated. All you have to do is remember your lines," Clarence Fountain was saying. "I can talk — that's my job, talkin', ...
The Soul Stirrers: Various Artists: Father And Sons (Spirit Feel)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 1986
IF YOU'VE any interest in gospel music at all, this should be an essential purchase. Compiled by Anthony Heilbut, author of seminal tome The ...
Al Green: He Is The Light (A&M)
Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, January 1986
AL GREEN'S gospel recordings never really turned on his pop following, in part due to their uneven quality, but also because hosannas, no matter how ...
The Winans: The Divine Music Of Protest…
Profile and Interview by Simon Witter, New Musical Express, 18 January 1986
SIMON WITTER has a new calling – to spread the word about THE WINANS, a hot Gospel sound that just won't let go. ...
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, February 1986
They may look like everybody's image of bouncers but they are America's hottest gospel act ...
Sweet Honey in the Rock: Sting in the Tale
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 19 April 1986
SEAN O'HAGAN makes a journey to the land of SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK where heavenly voices have their say. ...
Sweet Honey In The Rock: B&S talks to Bernice Reagon — a lady with a mission...
Interview by Roger St. Pierre, Blues & Soul, 22 April 1986
Her mission is to get black music the recognition it is due from the world at large and, equally important, to persuade America's black population ...
The Swan Silvertones: Pet Sounds: Get Right With the Swan Silvertones (Archives Alive/Rhino)
Review by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 18 August 1986
GOSPEL MUSIC GENERALLY gets much lip service as an influence on R&B (and indirectly rock) vocalists but short thrift when it comes to re-issues of ...
Jimmy Swaggart: The Best of Jimmy Swaggart (Jim Records)
Review by Glenn O'Brien, Spin, April 1987
A LOT OF fundamentalists today preach against the evils of rock 'n' roll, but TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart has gone and done something about the ...
Sweet Honey In The Rock: Royal Festival Hall, London
Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 23 May 1987
VOX NECTAR ...
Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 12 December 1987
Aretha Franklin has returned to her gospel roots. Richard Williams hears the result ...
Review by Chuck Eddy, Creem, April 1988
GOD: THE ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ...
Audio transcript of interview by Simon Witter, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1 May 1988
This is a transcript of Simon's interview. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...
Review by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 16 June 1988
THIS YEAR'S award for Best Gospel Adaptation of a Greek Tragedy will surely go to The Gospel at Colonus, the Broadway musical that presents Sophocles' ...
Interview by Jon Wilde, Blitz, September 1988
Al Green believes in the power of love. But most of all, he believes in the power of God. ...
The Five Blind Boys of Alabama: Critic's Choice: The Five Blind Boys of Alabama
Report by Kirk Silsbee, Los Angeles Reader, 13 January 1989
THREE YEARS AGO, the extraordinary musical The Gospel at Colonus stormed Broadway. It brilliantly reimagined the Sophocles tragedy Oedipus at Colonus by telling the story through ...
Interview by Nick Coleman, Time Out, June 1989
"Sometimes I wonder if you love me the way you say you do... Sometimes I just fold my arms and say... weeeee-eeeeh awooooah!" ...
Prince, Mavis Staples: Mavis Staples: My Prince Has Come
Interview by Paolo Hewitt, New Musical Express, 5 August 1989
After years in the doldrums MAVIS STAPLES, one of the female voices is back. A phone call from Prince resulted in a new album Time ...
Amina Claudine Myers: In Touch (Novus/RCA)
Review by Don Snowden, L.A. Weekly, 31 August 1989
INSTANT DANGER signal: the word that a musician associated with the freewheeling end of the jazz spectrum is messing with things like pop-song structures and ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 8 February 1990
STARS OF the Gospel Highway traces the exuberant rise of black gospel in America. The third in a series coordinated by Anthony Heilbut, a chronicler ...
Marion Williams: Surely God Is Able (SpiritFeel/Shanachie)
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 20 September 1990
COMMENTATORS OFTEN place the Olympian gospel singer Marion Williams, a thriving veteran who got her start singing with the Ward Sisters during the late Forties, ...
Sounds of Blackness: S.O.B. Story!
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 16 June 1992
Gospel soul aggregation Sounds Of Blackness, having secured two major awards in the B&S Poll, intend to keep their music and their beliefs in harmony ...
Johnny Cash: The Gospel Collection
Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Sony, July 1992
ONE NIGHT in August 1957, after an appearance on Town Hall Party in Compton, California, Johnny Cash went to the home of Lawrence and Hazel ...
Book Review by Anthony Heilbut, The New York Times, 2 August 1992
THE RISE OF GOSPEL BLUES ...
Review by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 1 December 1992
A SOUNDS OF Blackness album really is something of a musical adventure. This, as with the first is an exploration into the history and development ...
Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 4 February 1993
RATHER THAN preaching or hectoring, the Five Blind Boys of Alabama featuring the great Clarence Fountain just demonstrate their beliefs through the medium of music. ...
Sounds of Blackness: The Sounds of Blackness: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 29 April 1993
IT WAS hard to believe that a gospel choir spawned the lubricious soulster, Alexander O'Neal, until you saw the ensemble in question. Minneapolis's 40-piece Sounds ...
Prince, Mavis Staples: Mavis Staples: A Voice Like No Other...
Interview by David Nathan, Blues & Soul, 28 September 1993
Times were tough for Mavis Staples in the years when she and her family didn't have a deal... and then along came Prince and signed ...
Live Review by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 28 September 1993
THE MAN KNOWS no bounds. Having already performed a half hour show for the BBC that morning, Prince was intent on ending his European tour ...
Marion Williams: The Genius of Marion Williams: My Soul Looks Back
Sleeve notes by Anthony Heilbut, Spirit Feel/Shanachie, 1994
IN RETROSPECT, Marion Williams' last year assumes an almost mythic shape. She finally received the worldly honours and material goods long denied her: the rush ...
Des'ree, Sounds of Blackness: Sounds of Blackness, Des'ree: Apollo, Hammersmith
Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 25 April 1994
Songs of praise and passion ...
Candi Staton: Journey From Sensuality to Salvation
Discography by Bill Carpenter, Goldmine, 17 March 1995
When you get that old yearningTo come around knocking on my doorYou know I'm gonna let you inBaby just as sure as sin, as sure ...
Al Green: Still Spreading The Good Word
Interview by Amy Linden, New York Daily News, 31 October 1995
THE REVEREND Al Green is explaining why, after 18 years of singing sacred music, his gospel fans will understand why he has re-entered the world ...
The Gospel according to Anthony Heilbut
Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Independent, 24 June 1996
From Mahalia Jackson to Death in Venice might seem a long journey. But for Anthony Heilbut, the renowned gospel expert and author of a new ...
The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples, Pops Staples: The Staple Singers: God's Greatest Hitmakers
Retrospective and Interview by Bill Carpenter, Goldmine, 30 August 1996
THERE'S NO question about it. Forget the Winans or the Hawkins Family, the Staple Singers are the most widely known, best-selling gospel group of all ...
Mavis Staples, Pop Staples: Pops Staples
Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Oxford American, July 1998
THE STAPLE Singers didn't get started until ten years after the family patriarch, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, moved the clan from Winona, Mississippi, to Chicago in ...
Aretha Franklin: The 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time: #1 Aretha Franklin
Retrospective and Interview by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, October 1998
"She has all the Olympian leaps and trills, plus what's so often missing from others — believability." Eddi Reader "The essence of human spirit." Vic Chesnutt "I'm ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Dellareese Taliaferro, 6 July 1932, Detroit, Michigan, USA ...
Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001
b. Rosetta Nubin, 20 March 1915, Cotton Plant, Arkansas, USA, d. 9 October 1973, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ...
Interview by Jason Gross, Perfect Sound Forever, January 2001
WHILE TROLLING AROUND an MP3 newsgroup one day, I saw the name 'Delta Rhythm Boys.' I had no idea who they were but the name ...
The Staple Singers: I'll Take You There: The Everlasting Legacy of the Staple Singers
Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2001
THE DRIVE FROM Memphis to Drew, Mississippi, is a treacherous one even today. Highway 61 will take you as far south as Clarksdale, before you ...
Blind Boys of Alabama: The Backpages Interview: Clarence Fountain of the Blind Boys of Alabama
Interview by Jason Gross, Rock's Backpages, 23 June 2001
A sixty-plus-year-old gospel group that covers Tom Waits and the Rolling Stones songs for Peter Gabriel’s label? Is it possible? When most groups struggle to ...
Al Green: Higher Ground: Al Green Blends His Sacred and Secular Instincts When He Steps Onstage
Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 17 July 2002
ALBUMS ARE NOT the only means of making great music any more than movies are the only means of doing great acting. Every time a ...
Book Review by Gene Santoro, The New York Times Book Review, 16 February 2003
THE ''GOSPEL HIGHWAY,'' the church-based circuit toured by black preachers and religious entertainers, was paved largely by segregation, but it also meant to bypass the ...
The Holmes Brothers, Joan Osborne: Fest Focus: Holmes Brothers
Interview by John Swenson, Offbeat, 1 May 2003
NOT ALL THE gospel music at Jazz Fest takes place in the Gospel Tent, a fact that will be brought home with great spirit by ...
Review by Todd L. Burns, Stylus, 1 September 2003
NOW, I DON'T HATE MOBY because he uses the same synth string sound in each song, a sound that feels like it needs something. I ...
Various Artists: Goodbye Babylon (Dust-to-Digital/Cargo)
Review by Charles Shaar Murray, MOJO, February 2004
A wonderful digest of the first three decades of recorded rural gospel music, black and white, collected on six CDs, exquisitely packaged and exhaustively annotated. ...
Al Green, Willie Mitchell: Al Green: Soul Searching
Profile and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2004
In the late '70s, Al Green was a troubled superstar who abandoned the stage in favour of the pulpit. Then last winter, after 25 years, ...
Retrospective by Tom Graves, Memphis Flyer, 2 July 2004
Note: The following article of mine appeared in the July 2 special issue of the Memphis Flyer that celebrated the 50th anniversary of the birth ...
Mavis Staples: The Long and Winding Road
Retrospective and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 16 July 2004
From the civil rights movement to a collaboration with Prince, former Stax artist Mavis Staples has taken us there. ...
Aretha Franklin Getting Plenty Of Respect
Interview by Fred Shuster, Los Angeles Daily News, 9 September 2004
Soul Survivor On Her First Tour In 21 Years ...
The Staple Singers: A Family Affair 1955 - 1984
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2004
The greatest gospel group of all time? Lordy, yes! ...
Elvis Presley: He Touched Me – The Gospel Music Of Elvis Presley
Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, October 2005
THE ONLY Grammys Presley won in his lifetime were for gospel records, and for a long spell in the '60s his songs of praise were ...
Retrospective and Interview by Lois Wilson, Record Collector, January 2006
Lois Wilson celebrates the career of Motown diva Kim Weston ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 25 January 2006
The gospel-soul songthrush talks about her new album, His Hands; on her move from gospel to soul in the '60s; her memories of ex-husband Clarence Carter; how 'Young Hearts Run Free' was so personal to her; on her struggle with alcohol and return to the church, and on her surprise hit 'You Got The Love'.
File format: mp3; File size: 36.2mb, interview length: 37' 42" sound quality: ** (phoner)
The Swan Silvertones: Various Artists: Gospel Music
Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 28 February 2006
COMPILED BY veteran producer Joel Dorn and veteran photographer Lee Friedlander, this is the kind of album every music fan fantasizes about producing, just as ...
Candi Staton: "I was so drunk I fell on to the stage"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 24 March 2006
DISCO DIVA CANDI STATON lost everything to alcohol and abuse, but the song she recorded for a diet video saved her. Now, at 66, she's ...
Candi Staton's Dandy, Liquor's Licked
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, The Times, 24 March 2006
THERE ARE TIMELESS songs, and then there are timeless songs, those that chart across time itself. Take the Righteous Brothers' revered 'You've Lost That Lovin' ...
Outward Is Heavenward: Modern Gospel
Report by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 3 July 2006
THERE'S SO MUCH going on in gospel music today that you may have missed when Kirk Franklin paused from promoting Hero, his latest chart-topping CD, ...
Beverley Knight, Candi Staton: In Praise of Gospel Music
Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 23 July 2007
IN THE BOWELS of the BBC's Maida Vale studios, a spirit is stirring. Spread around the large room, a band, choir and two singers are ...
Al Green: The Everlasting Great Soul Man
Retrospective and Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, August 2007
On the eve of his current UK tour, and with a new album due later this year, Al Green continues to spread the message of ...
Profile by Jon Stewart, Guitarist, June 2008
SISTER ROSETTA Tharpe was born in a Mississippi delta cotton farm in 1915. ...
The Rev. Claude Jeter, The Swan Silvertones: Claude Jeter, 1914-2009
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 12 March 2009
CLAUDE JETER, who has died aged 94, pioneered the technique of falsetto singing in African American music, as leader of the gospel group the Swan ...
Ruby Turner: The Gospel according to Ruby
Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, October 2009
"THEY CAN KEEP their big record deals. Gone are the days when I'm going to be told what to do. I can go to bed ...
Sleeve notes by Anthony Heilbut, Shanachie Records, 2010
"You know, friends, they got this new music ... this rocking and roll. And I'd just like to say that it gets its beat... its ...
Eli "Paperboy" Reed: The Soul Evangelist
Profile and Interview by Lois Wilson, MOJO, January 2010
THE MOST FEROCIOUS BLUE-EYED-SOUL BELTER OF HIS GENERATION FORGED HIS EXULTANT VOCAL STYLE IN A BLACK CHURCH ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO. ELI "PAPERBOY" ...
Solomon Burke: Brother Solomon Burke
Obituary by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 11 October 2010
THE ROLLING STONES introduced me to Solomon Burke when they covered his classic, 'Everybody Needs Somebody To Love', on their third album, released in the ...
Mavis Staples Is for the Children
Report and Interview by Amy Linden, The Village Voice, 12 January 2011
MAVIS STAPLES digs her some younger men, but she'd rather lead them to the studio than the bedroom. "I think it really makes for a ...
Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 24 March 2011
Her voice made 'Ride on Time' a smash hit in 1989 ...
Mahalia Jackson: A Centennial Celebration Of Mahalia Jackson
Comment by Paul Yamada, JazzGram, July 2011
THE CHICAGO JAZZ ENSEMBLE wound down its season paying tribute to Mahalia Jackson, who was born October 26, 1911 in New Orleans, and who came ...
Book Excerpt by Anthony Heilbut, 'The Fan Who Knew Too Much' (Knopf), June 2012
AMONG THE SEVERAL MYTHS Aretha's father Reverend C. L. Franklin incarnated was a familiar type, Reverend Eatemup, the man with pastoral appetites in food and ...
Live Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 4 June 2012
Better Than: Being sad that Alice Coltrane and Cesaria Evora are dead and that Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill don't make albums together. ...
Obituary by John Lewis, The Guardian, 5 February 2013
CECIL WOMACK, who has died aged 65, saw his role as one of R&B's backroom boys — a songwriter, producer, arranger and session singer for ...
Wynton Marsalis Toots His Own Horn
Interview by Miles Marshall Lewis, Ebony, 8 October 2013
YES, WYNTON Marsalis has soul. The knee-jerk criticism of the 51-year-old jazz trumpeter ever since his self-titled 1981 album has been that, while always technically ...
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Blues, April 2014
LEGEND HOLDS that on October 22, 1962, a van set out from London, headed north. In that van were Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian ...
Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 27 February 2015
THE LAST RECORDED testament of Roebuck "Pops" Staples, Don't Lose This remained a private family secret until his daughter Mavis remembered her father's instruction, one ...
Mavis Staples: The music doc Mavis! lets the powerful performances do the talking
Film/DVD/TV Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 16 March 2015
LIKE THE MARYLAND Film Festival, the South by Southwest Film Festival follows each screening by a discussion with the movie's creative team. After SXSW presented ...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock'n'Roll
Retrospective by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 18 March 2015
She could outplay Chuck. She could outsing Aretha. And she influenced everyone from Elvis to Rod. Richard Williams revisits the songs and sufferings of the ...
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 1 October 2015
LEGENDARY AMERICAN producer Bob Johnston once suggested of Bob Dylan that he was "filled with the holy spirit". The same could have been said of ...
Black Gospel Music: A white fan considers a hundred-year musical history
Memoir by Tony Cummings, Contemporary Musicians, 25 February 2016
White journalist Tony Cummings muses on his decades-long fascination with black gospel music. ...
Kanye West: The Life Of Pablo (GOOD Music/Def Jam)
Review by Simon Reynolds, The Wire, April 2016
The seventh album by Kanye West dismantles the traditional concept of the album while laying bare its author's inner conflicts. ...
Emeli Sandé: Òran Mór, Glasgow
Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 4 October 2016
The Scottish singer was on spellbinding form, singing a cappella and reworking old hits and new into a spectacular show ...
The Staple Singers: Working for the Lord
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Vintage Rock, March 2017
THE STAPLE SINGERS were Americana before the term was even coined. They may have emerged from the gospel tradition, but the Chicago family – father ...
Lavine Hudson: The life and death of a British gospel diva
Obituary by Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, 15 April 2017
Tony Cummings pays tribute to gospel and R&B singer Lavine Hudson ...
Various Artists: Jesus Rocked the Jukebox – Small Group Black Gospel (1951-1965) (Craft Recordings)
Review by Jon Young, Mother Jones, 25 September 2017
IF YOU WANT to know how James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and a host of other great singers first became inspired, check out Jesus ...
Little Richard: Great Gosh A'Mighty
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2018
THE FIRST SIGN appeared on a flight from Melbourne to Sydney in 1957. Little Richard was travelling up country as part of a touring bill ...
Sister Rosetta Tharpe: Hymn to Her
Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, May 2018
THE GODMOTHER of Rock'n'Roll, the Original Soul Sister, the First Lady of Rock are just some of the epithets posthumously bestowed on Sister Rosetta Tharpe ...
Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 16 August 2018
Queen of soul whose voice could scald or soothe, and whose talent drew on both sacred and secular traditions ...
Obituary by Caryn Rose, salon.com, 16 August 2018
The following is a chapter from Women Who Rock: Bessie to Beyoncé, Girl Groups to Riot Grrrl (Black Dog & Leventhal, 2018), edited by Evelyn ...
Aretha Franklin: Aretha: The Voice of America
Obituary by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 17 August 2018
IT MAY BE difficult for anyone born after 1980 to fully grasp how important Aretha Franklin has been to America. There is simply no longer ...
Candi Staton: The Godmother of Pop: Candi Staton
Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, Classic Pop, September 2018
CANDI STATON is set to release Unstoppable, her 30th album of a 50-year career, and hoping to score a sixth hit in as many decades. ...
Prince: Piano & a Microphone 1983 — revelatory listen from a colossal talent
Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 21 September 2018
THE RECORDINGS on this posthumous Prince album weren't originally intended for release. But they capture Prince Rogers Nelson at the peak of his powers, alone ...
Obituary by Tony Burke, Record Collector, October 2018
STAN LEWIS, (aka "Stan the Record Man"), died in Ruston, Louisiana, on July 14th, aged 91. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1927, he worked at his ...
Retrospective and Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, 29 April 2019
IT MIGHT SEEM odd to suggest that the most enthralling film you are likely to see this year is not a thriller, a love story ...
Guide by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2020
LAST WEEK, A STORY appeared in the New York Times that predicted that live music would not return to the world's stages until the autumn ...
Aretha Franklin: Preacher's Daughter
Book Excerpt by Tony Scherman, PopMatters, 12 March 2021
Our recent glimpse of Tony Scherman's biography in progress, I Gave My Heart and Soul to You: The Triumph of Aretha Franklin, told the story ...
Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Roy Milton, Billy Vera: Specialty Records: An Interview with Billy Vera
Interview by Tony Burke, Record Collector, September 2021
As the Specialty label celebrates 75 years, Tony Burke talks to Billy Vera – singer, songwriter, and the author of Rip it Up: The Specialty ...
Retrospective by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 26 November 2021
The revered keyboardist saved Let It Be and put his fingerprints on countless rock classics. But he kept his true self hidden to the end. ...
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