Rebert H. Harris is the “Father” of gospel quartets. As the founder of the Soul Stirrers in the 1930s, he’s responsible for many of the distinctives of gospel quartet singing... partly because of his acrobatic high tenor voice which – Harris claimed – came from listening to birds growing up in rural Texas.
In 1950, Harris left the Soul Stirrers, in part because he just hated to travel. Within a year, he formed the Christland Singers in Chicago. The Christland Singers were simply marvelous and released a number of great songs but never really received much airplay because of Harris’ reluctance to leave home. He disbanded the group in 1958 but left behind a catalog of powerful, old-fashioned gospel songs, including “I Am Too Close,” recorded for the Peacock label in the mid-1950s.
I’m Robert Darden … “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” is produced by KWBU and the Black Gospel Music Preservation Program at Baylor University Libraries.
