SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Blind Willy Harris

In recent years, music lovers have re-discovered producer Juan D. Shipp’s fabulous D-Vine Spirituals label out of Memphis. Fat Possum Records’ re-releases of classic D-Vine 45s have even been featured on NPR and Free Record Day.

Shipp and engineer Clyde Leoppard started D-Vine in 1970 and over the next 15 years released an astonishing array of gospel artists, including the Gospel Wymics, the Pure Heart Travelers, the Exciting Legion Airs and Blind Willie Harris and the Sensational Six.

Harris’s rendition of the beloved gospel song “Jesus Loves Me” is a perfect example of what D-Vine did best – fueled by a Stax Records-styled horn section, it’s slow and gritty and bluesy and absolutely drips with soul.

MUSIC: Blind Willie Harris and the Sensational Six, “Jesus Loves Me,” 45.

PREVIOUS EPISODES OF SHOUT! BLACK GOSPEL MUSIC MOMENTS

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.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Coward Soldiers" by The Caravans

The Caravans ruled the Gospel Highway in the 1950s and ‘60s with songs like the upbeat “No Coward Soldiers.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Jericho March" by Grace Emmanuel Singers

The music of Daddy Grace’s United House of Prayer for All People is an ecstatic rave-up, fueled by a dozen honking trombones!

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Follow the Star" by Edwin Hawkins

Edwin Hawkins and his friends deliver a wonderful serene and soothing Christmas ballad, “Follow the Star,” to close out a tumultuous 2025.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Little Jesus Boy" by The Vilionaires

The Violinaires’ doo-wop version of “Little Jesus Boy” will bring back many happy Christmas memories.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Christmas in Heaven" by Claude Jeter

Claude Jeter’s magnificent falsetto is at the heart of “Christmas in Heaven.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Blackberry Records

The Williams Family and the legendary Canton Spirituals combine for one of the funkiest Christmas songs of all time, “Down Home in Mississippi".

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "I Can Go to God in Prayer" by Albertina Walker

Nothing says gospel more than Albertina Walker singing her heart out in front a powerful gospel choir!

“Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.