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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - Swanee Quintet

In there more than 70 years together, the Swanee Quintet released a host of great gospel songs, including this one - “The Lord’s on My Side.”

Some of the great gospel groups lasted 50, 60, even 70 years – including the Golden Gate Quartet, the Soul Stirrers, and the Swanee Quintet. The Swanees were founded in Georgia in 1939 and continued to record into the 2000s. Their longevity was due to the group’s trademark rough and ready sound – they were considered the most “country-gospel” sound of all of the great groups.

At the heart of the Swanee Quintet was the ferocious voice of the Rev. Ruben Willingham, an old school shouter and testifier who was happy to preach or sing just about anywhere anytime. During their decades together, they released many hits and memorable songs – “Cry Sometime,” “It’s Hard to Get Along,” “Race to Run,” “Jesus Won’t Fail,” “Sit Down Servant,” “Sleep on, Mother,” “New Walk” and this selection, “The Lord is on My Side.” How fierce was Willingham? The Swanees once toured with James Brown and His Famous Flames!

Sewanee Quintet - The Lord's On My Side

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

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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).