SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Rev. Morgan Babb

 In 2014, when the Rev. Morgan Babb passed in Nashville at the age of 85, he left a hole in the gospel music scene in Music City that will probably never be filled. Babb was a singer, composer, arranger, and entrepreneur. He was the leader of several fine groups, most notably the Radio Four Quartet. But he was also a legendary DJ for decades with WMDB radio and the founder of King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church in 1965.

Today, though, Babb is best known as the premiere talent scout for Nashboro Records, signing legendary artists like the Consolers and Edna Gallimon Cooke. The second half of his career saw the release of a number of fine solo records, often recorded live, where a sermon would slowly morph into a beloved gospel song. One of my favorites is his version of Dorothy Love Coates’ hit “Lord, You Been Good to Me” which surprisingly emerges out of passionate altar call!

I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.

PREVIOUS EPISODES OF SHOUT! BLACK GOSPEL MUSIC MOMENTS

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One of the many highlights from 1983’s live Edwin Hawkins Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir album is the lively “He Got Up.”

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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - 'Somebody Touched Me' by Washington Temple Camp Meeting Choir

Sister Ernestine Washington’s recording of “Somebody Touched Me” with the Washington Temple Camp Meeting Choir shows us just why she was called the COGIC “Songbird of the East.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - 'God Put a Rainbow in the Sky' by Bishop Lawson's Radio Choir

The Bishop Lawson Radio Choir, directed by Prof. Clinton Utterbach, recorded some powerful gospel music in the 1950s, including this rendition of “God Put a Rainbow in the Sky,” featuring James Lowe.

SHOUT! BLACK GOSPEL MUSIC MOMENTS - What a Friend We Have in Jesus - Reba Jones

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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - All These Things to Me by The Stars of Virginia

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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Gone by Teddy Huffman and the Gems

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