Soul Gospel
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Gospel sung in the idiom of 1960s and 70s soul music: churchy lead vocals full of melisma, moans and shouts set over Stax/Motown-style rhythm sections of electric guitar, bass, drums, piano and horns. Grooves swing between slow-burning ballads and gritty mid-tempo shuffles, with the sacred message carried by the same raw, impassioned singing that powered secular soul. The line between gospel and soul is deliberately thin, since most soul singers trained in church. The mood is fervent, earthy and emotionally direct.
History
Soul gospel is the sacred counterpart to the soul explosion, as the vocal techniques Ray Charles and Sam Cooke carried from church into pop flowed back into gospel through artists who kept a foot in both worlds. The Staple Singers moved from Delta gospel into socially conscious soul, Aretha Franklin returned to her roots on the landmark live album 'Amazing Grace' (1972), and the Mighty Clouds of Joy modernized quartet gospel with funk and soul arrangements. The Rance Allen Group recorded sanctified soul for Stax's Gospel Truth imprint, and Andraé Crouch and Walter Hawkins fused West Coast soul with the choir, laying groundwork for contemporary gospel. The style's DNA runs through every later soul-inflected gospel current.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Amazing Grace(1972) — Aretha FranklinSpotifyYouTube
- Mary, Don't You Weep(1972) — Aretha FranklinSpotifyYouTube
- Uncloudy Day(1959) — The Staple SingersSpotifyYouTube
- Mighty High(1975) — The Mighty Clouds of JoySpotifyYouTube
- Ain't No Need of Crying(1979) — Rance Allen GroupSpotifyYouTube
- Take Me Back(1975) — Andraé CrouchSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Anthony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound (1971)
- Robert Darden, People Get Ready! (2004)
- Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music (1986)