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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - I Came to Preach a Sermon by Rev. Johnny "The Hurricane" Jones

The Rev. Johnny “The Hurricane” Jones preached and sang at Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta for nearly 60 years!

For nearly 60 years, the Rev. Johnny “The Hurricane” Jones presided over Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta. Born in poverty in rural Alabama, Jones rose to become a beloved figure in Atlanta as a singer, archivist, DJ, musician – and a legendarily powerful preacher.

His services mixed sermons and impromptu gospel chants, stomps and songs, like this one from the live album by the same name, “I Came to Preach a Sermon.”

When Jones died on the evening of November 8, 2015, at the age of 79, he was – as always -- in his beloved church that morning and he preached from his very first sermon ... 60 years earlier.

Rev Johnny Jones - I Came to Preach a Sermon

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

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.”

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).