Southern Gospel Revival
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Southern Gospel Revival captures the fervent, high-energy style of the tent revival and camp meeting: driving, up-tempo 'shout' songs, exuberant hand-clapping, spirited piano, and call-to-repentance lyrics meant to stir emotion and prompt altar response. Arrangements build to ecstatic climaxes with repeated choruses and shout choruses. Vocals are impassioned and rousing, aiming for spiritual heat rather than restraint. The mood is electric, emotional, and evangelistic, tied to old-time revival worship.
History
Revival-style Southern gospel grew from the camp-meeting and tent-revival culture of the rural South, where groups like the Happy Goodman Family, the Hemphills, and the Rambos brought Pentecostal fervor and rousing shout numbers to the platform. Vestal Goodman's soaring, revivalistic delivery epitomized the style through the 1960s-80s, and the Gaither Homecoming stage preserved its emotional, altar-call energy. It emphasizes the genre's Pentecostal and revival roots over polished restraint.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- James R. Goff Jr., Close Harmony: A History of Southern Gospel (UNC Press, 2002)
- W.K. McNeil (ed.), Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music (Routledge, 2005)
- SGHistory.com and Singing News magazine