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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - The Shockley Singers

The Shockley Singers were billed as “The World’s Young Gospel Singers,” but they sound wise beyond their years on “He Brought Us Through.”
 
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Welcome to Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments.  I’m Robert Darden. 
 
 
For a brief time in the 1960s, the Shockley Singers were billed as “The World’s Young Gospel Singers” – and it’s a hard assertion to dispute. The young Shockleys were ages 8-10 and even “Billboard” magazine gave their song “He Brought Us Through” a good review in May 1960s.
 
And there’s a lot to like here – the young singers clearly know and love gospel music. The accompanying musicians are first-rate. The song, “He Brought Us Through,” is so fresh and compelling that it could have been released in the ‘80s and no one would have missed a beat.
 
But by 1963, the Shockleys are gone, their label has folded, and the world has moved on. As for me, I think someone missed a bet here. Check out the complete song on the KWBU.ORG website and click on the link to SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments ... and see if you don’t agree!
 
MUSIC: “He Brought Us Through,” the Shockley Singers
 
I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU, the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project at Baylor University Libraries and is funded by generous support from the Prichard Foundation. 
 

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).