Started nearly 20 years ago, the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program and the Gospel Music Archives at Baylor University are the world’s largest collection of accessible music from gospel’s Golden Age. The 50,000-item collection is composed of vinyl that was either loaned or donated by both big collectors... as well individuals who went up in grandma’s attic and found an old box of these treasures for us!
That means the Gospel Music Archives has recordings by gospel’s biggest stars – as well as the only 45 by artists now known only to their families ... and God. One of the GMA’s rarities is this lone 45 by Mary Brown and the United Echoes, titled “The Judgment.” The recording is rough and ragged and the band and singers are not always in sync ... but the spirit still shines through the vinyl grooves more than 60 years later!
I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.
