Tag: gospel

699. Harry Belafonte

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(December 2025) Episode 699 of the “opus project” is HARRY BELAFONTE. In music, he is primarily known for popularizing calypso music with songs like “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” and “Jump in the Line,” although he successfully applied his silky voice to a range of styles including standards, show tunes, gospel, pop and Christmas. Calypso is evocative of a time and place, and I still chuckle that some predicted it would become the New Thing instead of rock-and-roll. Otherwise a lot of his recordings are in that 50s-60s saccharine pop style that I’m not a fan of. But much of his stature comes beyond music — acting in films, organizing within the civil rights and anti-Apartheid movements, and his social justice and humanitarian work.

Favorite album: Swing Dat Hammer

Favorite song: Jamaica Farewell

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: The albums Calypso and Jump Up Calypso cover that style, but I prefer him singing blues, folk, and gospel, such as on Swing Dat Hammer and Ballads Blues and Boasters

477. Mahalia Jackson

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(February 2023) Episode 477 is MAHALIA JACKSON. I’m not into the gospel message but I appreciate gospel blues as a quintessentially American art form and sibling to the blues and soul. As Aretha is the Queen of Soul, Mahalia is the Queen of Gospel.  Her powerful voice and blues-inflected style helped popularize gospel and bring it to a wider audience. And it appears she lived her message as a kind and charitable person.

Favorite song: Walking in Jerusalem

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: “The Essential Mahalia Jackson” is a good compilation

434. The Staple Singers and Mavis Staples

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(September 2022) Episode 434 is the STAPLE SINGERS and MAVIS STAPLES.  This family (patriarch “Pops” plus four siblings, including Mavis) is proof that blues, gospel and soul all share the same DNA. They began as a gospel group, but with a restrained, down to earth feel in contrast to normal gospel fare, grounded in Pops’ Mississippi blues guitar. They transitioned into soul and later funk. Mavis, already an accomplished solo artist, has had a revival in her golden years, with her best albums coming in the last decade.

Favorite Staple Singers album: Freedom Highway

Favorite Mavis album: One True Vine

Favorite Staple Singers song: John Brown

Favorite Mavis song: Can You Get To That

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: try the mid-60s albums for some good soul and sweet harmonies

394. Reverend Gary Davis

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(March 2022) Episode 394 is REVEREND GARY DAVIS. Also known as Blind Gary Davis, he was one of the great finger-picking blues guitarists from the Piedmont tradition, as well as in a ragtime style. He became a minister and moved to New York City, so much of his songs have gospel themes.     

Favorite album: Harlem Street Singer, Trying to Get Home

Favorite instrumental album: The Guitar & Banjo of Reverend Gary Davis

Favorite song: Samson and Delilah (If I Had My Way)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: a quality way to listen to the blues

377. Sister Rosetta Tharpe

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(January 2022) Episode 377 is SISTER ROSETTA THARPE. I’m not into the gospel message but the music can have a certain power, and is worth studying for its common roots with blues, rock, R&B and soul. Tharpe played an influential role in that history by putting her bluesy electric guitar out front and bringing the music into secular venues.

Favorite album: Gospel Songs

Favorite song: Strange Things Happening Every Day

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: for students of the history of rock and soul

372. Al Green

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(December 2021) Episode 372 is AL GREEN. Simply one of the best soul voices ever.  His early 1970s albums are canon for soul music. He later moved on into religious music which is not my cup of tea. 

Favorite album: I’m Still in Love with You

Favorite song: Take Me To The River

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: early 70s are a must for any soul review

342. Elvis Presley

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(July 2021) Episode 342 is ELVIS PRESLEY. There’s a reason I listened to 341 artists before I got to the “King.”  Was never a fan, and this episode did not make me one. His influence on 20th century music is hard to overstate (even if it is tainted by whitewashing which I hold against the system, not Elvis personally). And his early rock-n-roll hits are catchy even if completely oversaturating. But I can’t stand his cloying, syrupy voice which, along with his act, have become a parody unto itself. This voice fits best in his countrypolitan sound of the 1970s, which says something.

Favorite album: Elvis Presley (you know, the one whose cover the Clash mimicked)

Favorite song:  Hound Dog

Best compilation of early hits if you feel that you must: Elvis’ Golden Records

Compared to expectations: same

328. Sam Cooke

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(April 2021) Episode 328 is SAM COOKE. There’s a reason they call him the King of Soul. It starts with that glorious voice, and continues with catchy tunes that bridged appeal across Black and White audiences (not to mention his civil rights activism). It’s a tragedy that we never got to see what he could do as soul music got more gritty, socially-conscious and funky in the later 1960s. 

Favorite album: Night Beat

Favorite song: Lost and Lookin’

Compared to expectations: same

304. Ralph Stanley and the Stanley Brothers

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(December 2020) Episode 304 is RALPH STANLEY and the STANLEY BROTHERS. Bill Monroe is the Father of Bluegrass, but the Stanleys are no less essential to the definition and popularization of this distinctively American musical style.  It’s hard to imagine a figure more beloved within his musical tradition than Dr. Ralph.

Favorite album: Hard Times

Favorite song: I’m A Man of Constant Sorrow

Favorite instrumental: Hard Times

Best compilation if you want the best of: Old Songs and Ballads (vols 1 and 2)

Compared to expectations: same

300. Aretha Franklin

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(November 2020) Episode 300 is ARETHA FRANKLIN. If there were a Mount Rushmore of American Voices, the Queen of Soul would surely be on it.  And yet, at risk of sacrilege, I find her voice to be too overpowering at times, dominating songs and even entire albums that would benefit from a little modulation. Her 60s classics are essential (also providing a soundtrack to the civil rights era) and her talents defined soul through the 70s, but avoid anything from the late 70s and 80s.   

Favorite album: Lady Soul

Favorite song: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman

Favorite song written by Aretha: Think

Worst album: La Diva

Compared to expectations: ↓