SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Old Ship of Zion" by Zion Missionary Baptist Church Music Department

Some of my all-time favorite music in the Black Gospel Archives at Baylor University are the self-pressed albums by individual churches. Sometimes they’re fund-raisers, perhaps for a new roof. Other times, they’re just for the joy of singing. The venerable Zion Missionary Baptist Church of East Chicago, Indiana, has been around more than 70 years and they’re released several of these LPs.

I particularly like this one, Zion Sings, which includes the church’s Music Department’s favorite hymns, spirituals and gospel songs. One of the highlights is the slow and reverent version of the old spiritual, “Old Ship of Zion,” featuring a particularly moving solo by Delores Page.      

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

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Old Ship of Zion" by Zion Missionary Baptist Church Music Department

From the Zion Sings LP by the venerable Zion Missionary Baptist Church of East Chicago, Indiana, comes this moving and reverent version of the spiritual, “The Old Ship of Zion.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "People Get Ready" by The Chamber Brothers

For my 500th episode of “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” I’m sharing the first gospel 45 I ever bought, “People Get Ready” by the Chambers Brothers.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “Oh, Mother Tonight” by The Gospel Twins

The rare 45 “Oh, Mother Tonight” by the otherwise unknown Gospel Twins is a uniquely primitive addition to Baylor’s Black Gospel Archives.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Oh, Have You" by Evangelist Jessie Mae Renfro

Evangelist Jessie Mae Renfro was one of the last great traditional gospel voices, as her song “Oh, Have You” so beautifully displays.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “No Segregation in Heaven” by Jordan Jubilee

The Jordan Jubilee’s slow and brooding “No Segregation in Heaven” was a pretty grave statement to make in the early 1970s!

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Down by the Riverside" by The Rev. Cecil Harris and His Choir

Fort Worth’s Galatian Baptist Church tears into the old camp-meeting song, “Down by the Riverside.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Pray on My Child" by Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Singers

That’s the powerful voice of Maggie Bell on the Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir’s version of “Pray on My Child.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Hiding Place" by The Doves

The otherwise unknown Evening Doves deliver a spirited, rollicking version of the traditional gospel song “No Hiding Place."

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Friend Like the Lord" by The Silver Bells

The unknown Silver Bells of Macon, Georgia’s “No Friend Like the Lord” is a masterclass in a cappella doo-wop styled gospel singing.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Cross, No Crown" by Brooklyn All Stars

The Brooklyn All Stars were New York’s best-known gospel group, singing hits like the slow and stately “No Cross, No Crown.”