Resources
Recommended Books on Gospel Music & History
The Golden Age of Gospel: Music in American Life by Horace Clarence Boyer (2000, First Illinois Press)
Uncloudy Day: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia by Bil Carpenter
People Get Ready: A New History of Black Gospel Music by Robert Darden (2004, Continuum International Publishing Group)
Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit: 101 Best-Loved Psalms, Gospel Hymns And Spiritual Songs Of The African American Church by Gwendolin Sims Warren (1997, Henry Holt)
Slave Songs of the United States, compiled by William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, and Lucy McKim Garrison (originally published in 1867; reprinted by Applewood Books--interestingly, the cover photo is from the New Hampshire Historical Society, an indication that gospel music does have a history in New England)
Recommended Gospel CDs
The Essential Mahalia Jackson (Columbia/Legacy)
Great Gospel Women, Volumes 1 and 2 (Shanachie)
When Gospel Was Gospel (Shanachie)
Have a Little Faith, Mavis Staples (Alligator)
Atom Bomb, The Blind Boys of Alabama (Real World)
Heaven Bound: The Best of Bluegrass Gospel (Time Warner)
The Davis Sisters, 1949–1952
O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack (Mercury)
The Ladykillers soundtrack (Sony)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Decca)
Precious Lord: The Great Gospel Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (Columbia/Legacy)
Amazing Grace, Aretha Franklin (Atlantic)
The Best of the Dixie Hummingbirds (20th Century Masters Millenium Collection)
Recommended Web Sites
www.negrospirituals.com -- a comprehensive site dedicated to the history and musicology of the Negro spiritual.
www.gmwa.org -- the Gospel Music Workshop of America, founded by James Cleveland