SHOUT! Black Gospel Music Moments - 'Warming by the Devil’s Fire' by Rev. Johnny Blakey

In the late 1920s through the late 1930s, African American preaching sermons comprised the best-selling vinyl in America. The Rev. F.W. McGee is reported to have sold a half a million recordings during the Great Depression. One of McGee’s contemporaries was the Rev. Johnny Blakey, known as the “Son of Thunder.”

Blakey recorded 18 tracks in 1927 and 1928 in Chicago for the Paramount and Okeh labels. Of those 18, four directly concerned the Devil – “Fourteen Steps to Hell,” “The Devil is Loose in the World,” “The Sainted Devil,” and our Halloween season track, “Warming by the Devil’s Fire.” “Warming” is classic Blakey – a short sung introduction by the Sanctified Singers, driving guitar accompaniment by Lonnie McIntorsh, and then his raspy, emotionally shouted short sermon that influenced Black singers and preachers for decades!

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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