Latest additions:
– May 11, 2023; scans have been added for Savoy 4161 (the Gospel Clefs)
– April 16, 2023; a post about the Dixieairs, showing their original Prestige 78rpm release
– March 18, 2023: The artist discographies for Rev. Utah Smith and the Violinaires have been repaired
– March 17, 2023: Four new CD-r releases (also available as downloads) – all by the Soul Stirrers
For more details, check the recent posts (or the archives)

Black gospel discographies and galleries

Welcome to bless-this-soul.com, a website dedicated to black gospel discographies and galleries, with a strong focus on the postwar years until 1970. This website is the continuation of www.recordconnexion.nl (the recordconnexion website is now used as a portal to my different web projects).

Why this website?

Black gospel has been a very influential genre with many highly professional performers and a huge output on record. The music and charisma of many black gospel artists have been a source of inspiration for many performers in the fields of blues, rhythm & blues, soul and rock music. However, despite this very important role in the history of modern music, black gospel seldom gets the credits it deserves. One important reason must be that it’s religious music. Another reason is that many gospel artists never pursued a commercial career. Those who did, often went secular (which then was their best option of course).

This is, in a few words, what motivated me to start this website (and its predecessor). My goal was and is to gather information, to learn from it and to make it available to anyone interested. I want to honor the men and women who shaped this musical genre. Especially those who were active during the golden age of black gospel (1940’s and 1950’s) and the decade that followed.

About this website

As you can see from the menu, many options are available. Labels, Artists and Galleries give access to the most relevant data: the discographies and galleries. I still have to move most artist discographies and galleries from my old website to this new one and images need to be added for most label and artist discographies. Most updates and additions are described on the News page. For details on how you can use this website, check the About page. There are useful links given on the Links page and there are options for buying gospel (from me) – see the For sale page. You can contact me through the Contact page.

Enjoy!

Robert

 

June 11, 2016