People Get Ready!: A New History of Gospel Music

Author:   Robert Darden
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:  

9780826414366


Pages:   320
Publication Date:   01 November 2004
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained


Our Price $65.87 Quantity:  
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People Get Ready!: A New History of Gospel Music


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Overview

In addition to the more familiar stories of Thomas A. Dorsey and Mahalia Jackson, the book offers intriguing new insights into the often forgotten era between the Civil War and the rise of jubilee - that most intriguing blend of minstrel music, barbershop harmonies, and the spiritual. Also chronicled are the connections between some of gospel's precursors (Blind Willie Johnson, Arizona Dranes and Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and modern gospel stars, including Andrae Crouch and Clare Ward. Robert Darden knits together a number of narratives, and combines history, musicology and spirituality into a coherent whole, stitched together by the stories of dozens of famous and forgotten musical geniuses.

Full Product Details

Author:   Robert Darden
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd.
Dimensions:   Width: 15.30cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.717kg
ISBN:  

9780826414366


ISBN 10:   0826414362
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   01 November 2004
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Awaiting stock   Availability explained

Table of Contents

Preface; Chapter 1 - Why Gospel Music?; Chapter 2 - Gospel's African Roots; Chapter 3 - The Rise of Spirituals in North America; Chapter 4 - What Spirituals Are, What Spirituals Mean; Chapter 5 - The American Civil War; Chapter 6 - Reconstruction, The Jubilee Singers, and Minstrelsy; Chapter 7 - The Foundations of Gospel - The Black Exodus, Barbershop; Quartets, the Pentecostals, and Jack-Leg Preachers; Chapter 8 - The Fathers of Gospel - William H. Sherwood, Charles A; Tindley, and Thomas A. Dorsey; Chapter 9 - Chicago and the Rise of Gospel Music; Chapter 10 - Three Divas - Rosetta Tharpe, Clara Ward, and Mahalia Jackson; Chapter 11 - The Great Gospel Groups - Five Unforgettable Voices; Chapter 12 - Gospel on the Freedom Highway; Chapter 13 - Gospel's Evolution - From Alex Bradford to James; Cleveland to Andrae Crouch; Chapter 14 - The Last Great Male Quartets; Chapter 15 - Contemporary Gospel - Six Defining Voices; Discography; Index

Reviews

With a thorough discography, notes and references, this is an essential read for those faithful to American religion, rhythm, or both. Charleston.net (The Post and Courier), 1/30/05 an impassioned and mostly comprehensive overview from the former Gospel editor at Billboard. Observer (Music Monthly), 2/20/05 a scholarly yet extremely readable book Morning Star, David Horsley, 2/19/05 offers a carefully researched chronology of the music that is so much a part of black American culture. The Onion, 3/3/05 Interview with the author Wittenburg Door, March/April 2005 The book is a passionate chronology of the history of black gospel music. It takes the reader from the roots of gospel, starting in Africa to modern-day voices. Baylor University Newsletter, 2/25/05 The book is a passionate chronolgy of the history of black gospel music. It takes the reader from the roots of gospel, starting in Africa to modern-day voices. -Baylor Alumni Darden follows gospel's development through the stories of Thomas A Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson and Chicago's South Side 'Broneville, ' seething with musical creativity in the early decades of the 20th century. His passion keeps the words flowing through sections on styles and social movements, as well as personal narrativesw and musical analyses .With a thorough discography, notes and references, this is an essential read for those faithful to American religion, rhythm, or both. Charleston Post and Courier, 1/30/05 Robert Darden admits that his new book is not an exhaustive study of gospel music. 'What I really wanted to do, ' he writes, 'was somehow put it all in order, find the connections, and tell the stories of some of the most fascinating people on the planet.' An assistant professor of English at Baylor, Darden '76 makes good on that promise by tracing gospel music to its African roots, following its evolution from spirituals to minstrel songs to contemporary classics. Along the way, he tells of the singers and performers who defined a musical genre Harriet Tubman, who may have authored 'Go Down, Moses'; Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, who faced severe discrimination as African-American women; and the Staple Singers, who bridged the gap between gospel and soul. With thirty-six photographs and a comprehensive discography, Darden examines a music that is both sacred and secular, African American and ethnically diverse. He concludes that the great gospel artists 'create something new, something wonderful, something transcendent.' Baylor Line: Magazine of the Alumni Association, Winter 2005 Ambitious in scope, People Get Ready! Finds the source of black gospel in African cultures where music and spirituality infused all of life. Carl Hoover, Waco Tribune-Herald, Dec. 17, 2004 Robert Darden has a passion for black gospel music that will be evident to every reader of this volume. He is, however, much more than an enthusiastic fan; he is also a good writer and careful historian whose sharply etched portraits of gospel music personalities make People Get Ready! A valuable addition to the growing body of literature on black gospel music. W.K. McNeil, editor of The Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music From Dr. Watts to Yolanda Adams, Robert Darden has written a long overdue, solidly researched, and eminently readable overview of African-American religious music from the 17th through the early 21st century. Kip Lornell, author of Happy in the Service of the Lord: Afro-American Gospel Quartets in Memphis In People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music, Robert Darden traces the evolution of America's Black music from the first spirituals that were created by the displaced African slaves to the Gospel music industry as it exists at the beginnning of the twenty-first century. He demonstrates how the songs, which expressed a codified secret language, survived because they were so essential to the race's continued existence. Rev. Bob Gersztyn, Blueswax.com, January 2005 '...A remarkable study...Darden's study...is exemplary in its attempt to capture something of how theology and ecclesiology are'--, Church Times


'...A remarkable study...Darden's study...is exemplary in its attempt to capture something of how theology and ecclesiology are'--, Church Times


Author Information

Robert Darden is Assistant Professor of English at Baylor University, and Senior Editor of The Door magazine. He was gospel music editor for Billboard magazine for 10 years and he has written about religious music for most of his adult life. He lives in Waco.

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