Sunday, August 03, 2008

Gospel blues

blues playlist: Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Didn't it Rain, 1964


I have been trying to get my mind around exactly what the Gospel Blues are. I have posted links to various artist, and to various videos that I think of as Gospel Blues, but the difficulty is in the fact that I grew up in a time and place when music was not put into as many categories as it is today.

Some of the music that I heard in church (like the video above) was no different then some of the music I heard coming out of the local Juke Joint. And on some occasions it might have even been the same person singing in church that was singing in the Juke Joint. I doubt that Rosetta Tharpe ever performed in a Juke Joint, but I have no doubt that she would have been right at home.

For me there is not much difference between some blues music and some gospel music. The only way that I separate Gospel blues and the blues is by who is singing it and where they are singing it.

Wikipedia has a great list of Gospel blues musicians.

And Amazon.com has a nice selection of their music.


Gospel blues @ SqueezeMyLemon


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