DISCLAIMER: I apologize for being so tardy with this offering this month. Real life sometimes gets in the way of things we’d like to do, and I would like to thank Deon and Susan Unthank, as well as all the loyal SGN readers for their patience and forbearance in waiting for this article to be completed.
This month, I would like to depart slightly from my regular format here, and provide a historical perspective on a topic of current interest. At least it is if my perusal of current topics of discussion on southern gospel websites and blogs is accurate.
Of late there has been quite a bit of discussion about the term “southern gospel” to describe the particular part of gospel music that we specialize in discussing at Southern Gospel News, regarding precisely what the genre is and whether or not the term “southern gospel” is the best term to apply to it. I will try here to refrain as much from editorializing as I can while applying a historical analysis to answer the questions posed.
But I can’t help but from the outset declare my own aversion to using the term “southern gospel” to describe the genre.. This is not only because I am accustomed to using the broad general term gospel music to describe the genre(based on what it was always called in my youth during the 1960s and 1970s when I first became familiar with the music), but because I thought “southern” gospel was an inadequate description of the kind of music being discussed. While going through my thought processes in preparation for this article, however, I am slowly coming to realize that even if “southern” gospel is not the most precise term for the genre, I’m hard pressed to come up with a better general word to differentiate this particular genre of gospel music from others, and from other kinds of music.
I will try to illustrate that conclusion further by means of comparison to other kinds of music, which really aren’t that descriptive, either. By article’s end, I hope to show how, when, and why “southern” gospel came to be known as the most widely accepted form of description for this particular part of gospel music.
As most followers of the genre are aware, the music known to us today as “southern” gospel came to be around the turn of the 20th century in the southeast part of the United States, originating there out of the church traditions and the social and religious folkways of that time period. It was a more casual(but no less sincere or reverent)alternative to the grand hymns of the church, many of which were composed a century or two before this time period.
A noteworthy musical feature of this developing genre was the use of vocal harmony in group singing, as opposed to mere unison singing.. Since four-part harmony was the basis for most vocal music in group settings, this kind of gospel music eventually was sung primarily by four-part groups, or quartets…some composed of both males and females, and others of only one gender. In time the most popular form of this kind of singing was four-part male harmony, so when this kind of music began to be written down and published, it was written for quartets…and since male quartets were more popularly accepted as performing ensembles, it was male quartets that were formed by those publishing companies to perform far and wide to help sales of those songbooks throughout the American South(and eventually beyond as well).
The quartets achieved quite a bit of popularity, in part because of the quality of the songs they sang to the churches they performed at, and also in part because the quartets themselves were good performers who performed the songs in a style people enjoyed. Consequently an industry developed around the art form of the gospel singing in this kind of music, and gospel quartets became some of the most popular performers of ANY kind of music. By the 1940s, such quartets as the Rangers, the Blackwood Brothers, the Chuck Wagon Gang, and the Statesmen were among the most well-known vocal groups in the United States.
And like the other kinds of music that had originated from the American Southeast(e.g., jazz, country and western, and rhythm and blues), there was quite a bit of interaction between the white and black races, and it only followed that both white and black gospel quartets emerged side by side, and gained popular acceptance in the brand-new recording industry, along with appearing in concerts and on radio together. In fact, until the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision handed down in 1954, it was not uncommon for black and white gospel quartets to appear together in concert, despite the lingering post-Civil War racial tension that still persists to some extent today.
And with the rise of rock and roll to the prominent genre in American popular music after that Court decision, all the genres of music that originated in the South(including rock and roll)became prominent in the culture of the United States.
But, as noted music historian and sociologist Charlie Gillett pointed out in his 1970s book “The Sound Of The City”, rock and roll did not last that long. It began to wane in popularity and influence after 1959, only appearing occasionally in a nostalgic manner on the American and worldwide pop charts. But since the music it spawned was so profoundly different from what it replaced, one couldn’t go back and simply call the popular post rock and roll music mere “pop” music. A new name needed to be given that genre of music. So, for lack of a better, more specific term, the term “rock music” was coined, and gradually gained acceptance as the standard title for the new genre of the predominant popular music.
Similarly, there were increasing sub-genres of jazz music during the mid-20th century as well. From the swing music popular in the 1930s, there emerged the bebop movement of the 1940s, the almost symphonic approach of Stan Kenton(also in the 1940s), and finally, the more avant-garde jazz recorded by the likes of Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, and Ornette Coleman in the 1950s. Clearly, with that much stylistic variety, it couldn’t be just “jazz” anymore. So jazz has persisted down the years through a number of sub-categories.
And the same thing happened to what was known as country-western music through the 1960s. There were always disparate styles within that genre as well, from the rural country music of the 1920s and 1930s to the more sophisticated and urbane western swing of the 1940s.. And bluegrass music and white gospel quartet music were always on the edges of the C&W genre as well. Finally, with the overwhelming impact of the “rock” music on the overall pop culture, the country genre incorporated some aspects of the rock culture into its’ music, and the “western” portion of the genre was relegated to a spot on the periphery of the genre. Today, “modern” country music attempts to be as inclusive as it can be, trying to fit all those old and new disparate styles under the one umbrella.
So OK, John, what has all that to do with southern gospel music?
Well, as all these other musical genres began to interact and influence each other, and even absorb aspects of each other, the white gospel quartet field began to feel it had to adapt to those influences to at least a certain degree to maintain its’ viability(and to attract newer, younger audiences as well). So it began to cautiously incorporate those outside musical influences into its’ own sound. This trend was responsible for the music of groups like the Imperials, Oak Ridge Boys, and the Stamps Quartet, among others.
Not every gospel quartet embraced these influences. Groups like the Inspirations, Florida Boys, and the Kingsmen feared alienating their loyal core audiences, and resisted many of the changes incorporated by the groups mentioned in the preceding paragraph(although the Kingsmen DID hire a full band of musicians, like the Oaks, etc.). And the black quartets resisted most all of those influences, and stayed on the historical path of development they had been following for decades(although even some of them, after influencing the popular R&B vocal groups of their time, were in turn influenced by those groups as well).
And with the development of what came to be known as Contemporary Christian Music(i.e., Christian pop and rock music)during the late 1960s, the spectrum of Christian music became wider and more all-encompassing than ever, with groups from the CCM field influencing(and being influenced in return)by the more pop-leaning groups from the gospel quartet circuit, many in the latter field feared being swallowed whole in a competitive market sense by all the newer Christian music. How would they preserve their musical uniqueness and viability?
Although some quartets preferred to “stay the course”, others saw the greater variety of styles all around them even inside the genre, and during the 1980s began to increasasingly refer to their genre as “southern” gospel music, to (1)trace their heritage to their gospel quartet forefathers, and (2)to allow for more stylistic diversity within the genre, and to at least appear more inclusive.
Thus, by the end of the 1980s, “southern” gospel became the accepted industry term for the gospel music originating from the gospel quartet tradition of the past.
Granted, it may not be the most precise definition of what comprises the genre, but it would appear that most Christians and music fans familiar with the genre would readily recognize it if they heard it. And like the many other slightly imprecise terms that we have in society today, if we can readily identify the terms used, then they can be of use to us as we try to explain and define what we like so much.
It is the hope of the writer that this historical analysis can help shed some light on what “southern” gospel is, and why it’s called "southern" gospel today.
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 08/06/2009
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Category: SG History 101
Comments: 5
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I think that's about the best description and identification of "southern gospel" as I've ever heard or read, John. Good job!!
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This article was well worth the wait! Your articles never disappoint and are always educational -- and this was no exception. Keep up the good work. Incidentally, I vote to keep the term "southern gospel" in use!
John,
Thanks for another excellent article. Keep up the good work!
Jerry Butler
Another good article, John.
That was a great article,keep up the good work.
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