SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “I Want to be Ready” by The Congregational Church Choir

One of the rarest disks in the mammoth Black Gospel Music Restoration Project’s Black Gospel Archives is a 78 by the otherwise unknown Congregational Church Choir, “I Want to be Ready (to Walk in Jerusalem Jes’ Like Jesus),” with a “B” side of the old spiritual “Steal Away to Jesus.” The label on the fragile disk, which is made of shellac, is so faded that it is barely legible – but it’s clear that this is a Silvertone Record, meaning it was created and sold by the old Sears & Roebuck Company through their catalogs.

Released in 1927, “I Want to be Ready” is the real deal – an authentic accapella jubilee number, probably an adaptation of an old spiritual. The recording itself is full of scratches – which tells me that this particular disk was repeatedly played over and over again by the family or families that dearly loved it!

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

PREVIOUS EPISODES OF SHOUT! BLACK GOSPEL MUSIC MOMENTS

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Old Ship of Zion" by Zion Missionary Baptist Church Music Department

From the Zion Sings LP by the venerable Zion Missionary Baptist Church of East Chicago, Indiana, comes this moving and reverent version of the spiritual, “The Old Ship of Zion.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "People Get Ready" by The Chamber Brothers

For my 500th episode of “Shout! Black Gospel Music Moments” I’m sharing the first gospel 45 I ever bought, “People Get Ready” by the Chambers Brothers.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “Oh, Mother Tonight” by The Gospel Twins

The rare 45 “Oh, Mother Tonight” by the otherwise unknown Gospel Twins is a uniquely primitive addition to Baylor’s Black Gospel Archives.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Oh, Have You" by Evangelist Jessie Mae Renfro

Evangelist Jessie Mae Renfro was one of the last great traditional gospel voices, as her song “Oh, Have You” so beautifully displays.

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - “No Segregation in Heaven” by Jordan Jubilee

The Jordan Jubilee’s slow and brooding “No Segregation in Heaven” was a pretty grave statement to make in the early 1970s!

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Down by the Riverside" by The Rev. Cecil Harris and His Choir

Fort Worth’s Galatian Baptist Church tears into the old camp-meeting song, “Down by the Riverside.”

SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "Pray on My Child" by Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Singers

That’s the powerful voice of Maggie Bell on the Rev. Milton Brunson and the Thompson Community Choir’s version of “Pray on My Child.”

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.”