VARIOUS – I’m Glad About It: The Legacy Of Gospel Music in Louisville – 2LP – Vinyl [SEP 27]

2LP – Black Vinyl. 26 Track selection showcasing Louisville’s rich Black gospel music legacy.

In the mid-20th century, Louisville gospel music was occasionally recorded when members of the local gospel community pressed 45rpm records and LPs, and released them through grassroots record labels such as Sensational Sounds, Grace, Blessed, and D.J.S. Over the years, a substantial body of work wasproduced in our city, but those recordings are in danger of being lost forever. The Louisville Story Program has been working with dozens of people in the local gospel music community to locate, digitize, and preserve hundreds of these recordings and to develop a book that documents and honours the legacies of the people and communities that produced them.

For decades, the passion, hard work, and support of countless people across dozens of Black church communities in Louisville have nurtured and sustained a rich gospel music ecosystem. This music has served as a central part of people’s religious practice and as an expression of Black pride, joy, affirmation,love, dignity, determination, and hope. This legacy continues to this day.

With support from The Owsley Brown II Family Foundation and Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Foundation, LSP has partnered with members of the gospel community and a local advisory group of local gospel historians and luminaries:

To locate, clean, and digitize gospel records of local artists released by small local labels
To accompany the local Black gospel music community in developing a 4 CD box set that includes a 200+ page hardcover book with first-person documentation of their rich history
To create an accompanying double LP featuring 26 of those songs
To create and maintain a public-facing digital archive of 1,000 songs and 1,000 photographs.
To celebrate the final release with a large concert at the Brown Theatre (September 28, 2024)

2LP Tracklist (26 Track Selection):

Side A
1. The Guiding Stars – Been Dipped In The Water
2. The Religious Five Quartet – Let Me Lean On You
3. The Butlerairs – He’s So Good To Me
4. Eastern Star Chorale – Until You Try Jesus
5. The Sensational Bells of Joy – Lord Take My Hand
6. Green Street Baptist Church Youth Choir – He’s All Right
7. The Singing Son of Zion – Steal Away

Side B
1. The Gospel Voices of Soul – Woke Up This Morning
2. The Gospel Motivators – Trust Him
3. Joe Thomas – I Feel Like Pressing My Way
4. The Indiana Wonders – Thank You Jesus
5. The Webster Singers – Stay By Our Side
6. Rev. Eddie James and Family – Jesus Will Fix It

Side C
1. The Solomonaires – Come Out Of The Wilderness
2. The Antioch Majestic Voices – Peace Until My Soul
3. Rev. Thomas N. Pride – He Knows It All
4. The Ecclesiastics – He Made A Way For Me
5. The Gospel Descendents – Jesus Is All I Need To Get By
6. The Gospel Chanteurs – Lord Don’t Leave Me
7. Newburg Radio Chorus – Calvary

Side D
1. Cleo K. Joiner III and The Metropolitan Community Choir – Spirit Of The Living God
2. Jimmy Ellis and the Riverview Spiritual Singers – I’ve Come A Long
3. Rev. Charles E. Kirby – Lord You Been Good To Me
4. The Golden Crowns – We Are Trying
5. Indiana Community Choir – Lord Don’t Move That Mountain
6. God’s Girls – My Time Ain’t Long