© 2025 KWBU
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Jackson Gospel Singers

New Orleans’ fiery Jackson Gospel Singers released a fistful of superb gospel songs in the mid-1950s, including “I Can’t Walk This Highway.”

Right up there with Stax, Atlantic Records of New York was probably the most soulful label of all time – with Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Picket and a hundred more. So you’d probably guess that Atlantic’s short-lived “gospel” series from the 1950s was pretty good ... and it was!

A great example? The all-female Jackson Gospel Singers from New Orleans. In addition to the usual array of strong lead singers, the Jacksons had a secret weapon: Mary Thames Coleman, one of the world’s few female bass singers. The Jacksons sang old school gospel, heavy on the harmonies, with just a touch of doo-wop, always under-pinned by Coleman’s pumping bass lines. “I Can’t Walk This Highway” from 1954 displays the Jackson Gospel Singers at their fiery best.

Jackson Gospel Singers - I Can't Walk This Highway

MUSIC: The Jackson Gospel Singers 45, “I Can’t Walk This Highway” (July 27, 2025) 2:51 minutes

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

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “I Want to be Ready” by The Congregational Church Choir
The Congregational Church Choir’s scratchy “I Want to be Ready” is a rare and wonderful example of a jubilee song from 1927.
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “I Want to Be Loved” by The Exciting Gospel Incredibles
The Exciting Incredibles live up to their name with the deep Southern soul gospel groove of “I Want to Be Loved.”
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - 'I Want to be Free' by The Jordan Singers
The Jordan Singers’ “I Want to be Free” has the same rollicking beat as some of the best freedom songs by the Staple Singers.
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “I Want the Lord to Do Something for Me" by Straight Street Holiness Church of Fort Valley, GA
Straight Street Holiness Church’s raw recording of “I Want the Lord to Do Something for Me” has a joyful energy all its own.
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - (I Was Way Down Yonder) I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray by The Kelly Brothers
Chicago’s Kelly Brothers sound like they’re from Mississippi in the churchy, soulful “(I Was Way Down Yonder) I Couldn’t Hear Nobody Pray.”
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Rev. James Cleveland and the Salem Inspirational Choir
The Rev. James Cleveland leads the Salem Inspirational Choir in a stirring version of his hit song, “I Don’t Feel Noways Tired.”
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Back Home Choir
The Back Home Choir specialized in choral arrangements of the old spirituals, including this upbeat rendition of “King Jesus is All.”
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Myrna Summers
The multi-talented Myrna Summers can sing anything – but she’s rarely sounded better than on this haunting spiritual, “Stand By Me.”
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Gospel Seekers
The Gospel Seekers’ “I’ve Got Jesus” is an old time, foot-stompin’, gospel rave up of the highest order!
SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Jackson Gospel Singers
New Orleans’ fiery Jackson Gospel Singers released a fistful of superb gospel songs in the mid-1950s, including “I Can’t Walk This Highway.”

Robert F. Darden is the author of two dozen books, most recently: Nothing But Love in God’s Water, Volume II: Black Sacred Music from Sit-In to Resurrection City (Penn State University Press, 2016); Nothing But Love in God’s Water, Volume I: Black Sacred Music from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement(Penn State University Press, 2014); Jesus Laughed: The Redemptive Power of Humor(Abingdon Press, 2008), Reluctant Prophets and Clueless Disciples: Understanding the Bible by Telling Its Stories(Abingdon Press, 2006); and People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music(Continuum/Bloomsbury, 2004).