Guy Hughes Carawan Jr. was an American folk musician and musicologist. He served as music director and song leader for the Highlander Research and Education Center in New Market, Tennessee.
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm and blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of rock and roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians including Little Richard, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, and also later guitarists, such as Eric Clapton.
John William "Long John" Baldry was an English musician and actor. In the 1960s, he was one of the first British vocalists to sing the blues in clubs and shared the stage with many British musicians including the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. Before achieving stardom, Rod Stewart and Elton John were members of bands led by Baldry. He enjoyed pop success in 1967 when "Let the Heartaches Begin" reached No. 1 in the UK, and in Australia where his duet with Kathi McDonald "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" reached No. 2 in 1980.
Phoebe Snow was an American roots music singer-songwriter and guitarist, known for her hit 1974 and 1975 songs "Poetry Man" and "Harpo's Blues", and her credited guest vocals backing Paul Simon on "Gone at Last". She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves". Snow also sang numerous commercial jingles for many U.S. products during the 1980s and 1990s, including General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, and Stouffer's. Snow experienced success in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s with five top 100 albums in that territory. In 1995 she recorded a gospel album with Sisters of Glory.
"Precious Memories" is a traditional gospel song credited to J. B. F. Wright in 1925. Wright was born in Tennessee on February 21, 1877. The hymn was first recorded by The Turkey Mountain Singers in 1928.
"Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" is a traditional spiritual first noted during the American Civil War at St. Helena Island, one of the Sea Islands of South Carolina. The best-known recording was released in 1960 by the U.S. folk band The Highwaymen; that version briefly reached number-one hit status as a single.
"If I Were Your Woman" is a song recorded by American family group Gladys Knight & the Pips. It was written by Pam Sawyer, Clay McMurray, and Gloria Jones, produced by McMurray and arranged by Paul Riser. Released in late 1970 from the album of the same title, it spent one week at number 1 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart in January 1971. It was also successful on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, peaking at number 9.
Glory Train: Songs of Faith, Worship, and Praise is the seventeenth studio album released by American country music artist Randy Travis. It is his fifth album of gospel music and his fifth release for Word Records. The album comprises nineteen covers of traditional and contemporary gospel songs. No singles were released from it.
"The Lonesome Road" is a 1927 song with music by Nathaniel Shilkret and lyrics by Gene Austin, alternately titled "Lonesome Road", "Look Down that Lonesome Road" and "Lonesome Road Blues." It was written in the style of an African American folk song.
Marie Knight was an American gospel and R&B singer.
"Down by the Riverside" is an African-American spiritual. Its roots date back to before the American Civil War, though it was first published in 1918 in Plantation Melodies: A Collection of Modern, Popular and Old-time Negro-Songs of the Southland, Chicago, the Rodeheaver Company. The song has alternatively been known as "Ain' go'n' to study war no mo'", "Ain't Gwine to Study War No More", "Down by de Ribberside", "Going to Pull My War-Clothes" and "Study war no more". The song was first recorded by the Fisk University jubilee quartet in 1920, and there are at least 14 black gospel recordings before World War II.
"Ain't No Grave" is a traditional American gospel song attributed to Claude Ely (1922–1978) of Virginia.
Long John's Blues was the début solo album by British blues singer Long John Baldry and his band, the Hoochie Coochie Men, featuring musicians who had previously played alongside Baldry in the Cyril Davies All-Stars. The album featured a track list that he would continue to play at live shows throughout his career.
The song known as both "Gospel Boogie" and "A Wonderful Time Up There" was written by Lee Roy Abernathy, and first recorded by him in 1947 under the former name. This release, for the label White Church Record, credits the performance with variant spelling to "Leroy Abernathy Homeland Harmony Quartet".
"Strange Things Happening Every Day" is an African American spiritual that was most famously, and influentially, recorded by Sister Rosetta Tharpe in 1944. Released as a single by Decca Records, Tharpe's version featured her vocals and electric guitar, with Sammy Price (piano), bass and drums. It was the first gospel record to cross over and become a hit on the "race records" chart, the term then used for what later became the R&B chart, and reached #2 on the Billboard "race" chart in April 1945.
Sugar Lips is an album by Al Hirt released in 1964 by RCA Victor.
Live at Carnegie Hall is a 1965 live album by Al Hirt released by RCA Victor recorded at Carnegie Hall. The album was produced by Jim Foglesong arranged by Gerald Wilson.
"Denomination Blues" is a gospel blues song composed by Washington Phillips (1880–1954), and recorded by him in 1927.
Vanessa N. Collier is an American blues, funk, and soul saxophonist, singer and songwriter. She has been nominated for seven Blues Music Awards and won one of them in 2019 and another in 2020.
Gospel Train is a studio album by gospel and R&B artist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, recorded in July 1956 and released in December the same year. Tharpe is accompanied on vocals by the traditional black gospel quartet the Harmonizing Four on some of the songs. The album was noted as part of Tharpe's induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
