Devoted to Gospel — Senate Fetes ‘Uniquely American Music’ With Month of Celebration

By Lindsay Melvin

Gospel music, historically, was sung and played to praise God – predominantly a Christian God.

But Washington lawmakers say the music that was meant to spread the “Good News” has transcended faith and today is as American as apple pie.

The U.S. Senate and House of Representatives resolved this year that September 2008 be recognized as Gospel Music Heritage Month.

“It’s a uniquely American music,” said 9th-District Congressman Steve Cohen, who co-sponsored the bill. “Regardless of your religion, it’s part of your culture.”

Cohen, who is Jewish, was among nearly 2,000 people who packed out New Olivet Baptist Church on Sunday to celebrate the month of gospel with a free concert.

Headlining the show was 1970s Stax Recording artist Rance Allen.

To showcase the extent of gospel’s influence in other genres and throughout the world, performers varied from rap artists to Japanese gospel singers.

The night got going black-Baptist style, with a fired up choir and everyone on their feet swaying and clapping.

Rev. Kenneth Whalum Jr. quickly mixed things up by inviting onto the stage Bruce Carroll, a two-time Grammy winner and music director for the predominantly white Hope Presbyterian Church.

“It ain’t a black thing. It ain’t a white thing. It’s a gospel thing,” Whalum said.

Before the concert, Carroll admitted that because of “the whole church-and-state-separation thing,” he was a bit bewildered that Congress would dedicate September to gospel music.

“But as they say, God moves in mysterious ways,” he said.

According to the bill, which passed in June, because artists of different genres worldwide have turned to gospel music for inspiration, it has blurred the boundaries between secular and religious music.

Gospel music has also, it states, provided the backdrop from hit television series to major Hollywood movies, including “American Idol,”"Grey’s Anatomy,”"Heroes,”"O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Evan Almighty.”

Declaring it a profound local phenomenon, Whalum said, “Gospel music really has its roots in the Mid-South and Memphis.”

Bluff City greats like Elvis Presley and Al Green were both heavily influenced by gospel music.

Contemporary gospel singer Allen, the front man for the Rance Allen Group, says he was heavily influenced in his music while recording with Stax Records in the mid-1970s.

An ordained pastor with the Church of God In Christ and an international evangelist, Allen said that, until now, gospel had been the ignored stepchild of the music world.

“It always has been the greatest music but the worst treated,” he said. “It seems no one wants to mention the name Jesus too much.”

– Lindsay Melvin: 529-2445

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Check out the bill at:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=sr110-595

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Originally published by Lindsay Melvin / lindsay.melvin@commercialappeal.com .

(c) 2008 Commercial Appeal, The. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.