Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments

KWBU

Author and Baylor University professor Robert Darden tells stories - and plays recordings - from the Baylor University Libraries' Black Gospel Music Restoration Project in an on-going weekly series of two-minute segments. Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments explores the distinctly African-American sound of the "Golden Age of Gospel" (1945-1975). The series celebrates this fertile musical period in American history, presenting cultural snapshots that reveal the depth of a people, their community, and the influence they have had on the rest of American music.

  • 3 minutes 1 second
    SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Cross, No Crown" by Brooklyn All Stars
    The Brooklyn All Stars were New York’s best-known gospel group, singing hits like the slow and stately “No Cross, No Crown.”
    18 January 2026, 2:40 pm
  • 3 minutes
    SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Coward Soldiers" by The Caravans
    The Caravans ruled the Gospel Highway in the 1950s and ‘60s with songs like the upbeat “No Coward Soldiers.”
    11 January 2026, 2:45 pm
  • 3 minutes
    SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Jericho March" by Grace Emmanuel Singers
    The music of Daddy Grace’s United House of Prayer for All People is an ecstatic rave-up, fueled by a dozen honking trombones!
    4 January 2026, 2:35 pm
  • 3 minutes
    SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Blackberry Records
    The Williams Family and the legendary Canton Spirituals combine for one of the funkiest Christmas songs of all time, “Down Home in Mississippi".
    8 December 2025, 3:43 pm
  • 3 minutes
    Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments - "I Can Feel Him" by The Rev. H.B. Crum and His Mighty Golden Keys
    The Rev. H.B. Crum and His Mighty Golden Keys, “I Can Feel Him” is an exciting example of gospel’s transition from traditional doo-wop harmonies to a more soulful sound.
    23 November 2025, 2:40 pm
  • 3 minutes
    SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - I Came to Preach a Sermon by Rev. Johnny "The Hurricane" Jones
    The Rev. Johnny “The Hurricane” Jones preached and sang at Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta for nearly 60 years!
    16 November 2025, 2:40 pm
  • 3 minutes
    Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments - 'I Call Jesus My Rock' by Willie Webb Singers
    The Willie Webb Singers showcased Willie’s amazing keyboards, vocals and songwriting.
    9 November 2025, 2:50 pm
  • 3 minutes
    Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments - 'A City Called Heaven' by Mahalia Jackson
    Mahalia Jackson’s majestic, magnificent version of “City Called Heaven” is one of the great powerhouse vocals in gospel music history.
    2 November 2025, 2:50 pm
  • 2 minutes
    Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments - Eddie Williams and the Crusaders
    The powerhouse vocals of Christine Clark dominate Evangelist Eddie Williams and the Crusader’s arrangement of “Abraham, Martin & John.”
    26 October 2025, 12:00 pm
  • 2 minutes
    Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments - Sister Jessie Mae Renfro
    Sister Jessie Mae Renfro excelled at the kind of slow, bluesy gospel surge song, like this one – “He’s So Wonderful.”
    19 October 2025, 12:00 pm
  • 2 minutes
    Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Famous Blue Jay Singers
    The Famous Blue Jay Singers novelty release “Clanka Lanka” celebrates one of the most famous phrases in gospel quartet singing history.
    12 October 2025, 12:00 pm
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