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SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - "No Coward Soldiers" by The Caravans

The Caravans ruled the Gospel Highway in the 1950s and ‘60s with songs like the upbeat “No Coward Soldiers.”

Along with the Clara Ward Singers, the Caravans ruled the Gospel Highway during the 1950s and ‘60s. Albertina Walker’s Caravans were essentially an all-star group of the best gospel singers in the world, including Dorothy Norwood, James Cleveland, and Inez Andrews.

But my favorite line up from the late 1950s featured superb singers like Cassietta George, Shirley Caesar, DeLoris Washington, Josephine Howard and pianist, composer and arranger James Herndon. Every member was a memorable soloist and all get to shine on Herndon’s upbeat and feisty “No Coward Soldiers” from the album by the same name.    

"No Coward Soldiers" by The Caravans

   
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).