Gospel 101

Find out what gospel’s all about right here, as we break it down to the building blocks. Prepare to be surrounded by the sound a soul makes when it’s filled to bursting with faith, and all that praise comes pouring out in songs of the Spirit. Mahalia Jackson was one of gospel’s first superstars, and you’ll understand why the moment you hear her belting out “Amazing Grace,” offering up to the world all of God’s power and glory. The Edwin Hawkins Singers brought spiritual power to the Pop charts in 1969 by putting some R&B sway into the 18th-century hymn “Oh Happy Day” and letting their soulful shout come shining through. Just three years later, family band the Staple Singers took that soulful slant and ran with it all the way to #1, putting a downright sultry strut on their song of salvation “I’ll Take You There.”

In Next Steps, God puts His finger on the fast-forward button with help from some bumpin’ R&B beats.

The seeds sown by the soul-gospel pioneers of the ’60s and ’70s bore sweet, sanctified fruit for decades to come. When Take 6 bounced their jaw-dropping jazz harmonies off jumpin’ New Jack Swing grooves on “I L-O-V-E U,” it wasn’t a boy-girl crush they were crooning about, but the covenant between humanity and God. Big, fat synth riffs and percolating drum-machine beats come bounding out of BeBe & CeCe Winans’ all-I-need-is-Him offering “Addictive Love,” an R&B chart ruler in 1991. But all these big, bold voices would probably never have blended together in praise of the Lord if not for the sound laid down by classic harmony quartets like the Swan Silvertones, who bring down the house by shouting, moaning, and wailing with all the strength inside them to glorify God on “Well, Well, Well.”

Follow the song of the spirit from Memphis soul to super-smooth slow jams and beyond, in Deep Cuts.

The greatest gospel cuts have always been the ones that focus on feeling, not format. That can mean Reverend Al Green putting a little hip-shaking Memphis mojo on “Be With Me Jesus.” It can mean the gals of Trin-I-Tee 5:7 cooing cool and sweet in classic slow-jam style, telling the world all about “God’s Grace.” It can even mean bluesman Blind Willie Johnson putting his slashing slide guitar and rough-edged voice to the service of the Lord for “God Moves On the Water.” Down through the years, they’ve all spread the word in voices as different as they are determined to make sure their faith is felt.

If you want to take a walk into the house that gospel built, you’ve got to get to know the architecture from the ground up. These are the bricks that set a firm foundation for all those who sing straight from their souls, touching anyone who’s ready to be moved by the sound of the Spirit. Over the years, their message has moved in so many different directions, only the Lord Himself could keep track of them all. But from the Shakespeare of spirituals, Thomas A. Dorsey, to the blues-belting, guitar-slinging Sister Rosetta Tharpe, all the way up to Kirk Franklin, who found new ways to worship by bringing an R&B groove and a hip-hop heart into the mix, here are all the crucial cuts that make the music matter.