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# A train is a-coming

# It's coming 'round the curve

# That gospel
train is a-comin' #

# Lord, coming
'round that curve #

- It's AM 1560, W-G-O-B 96.1 FM.

You just heard sounds from
the Georgia Mass Choir.

Hey, request lines are
now open at 414 5781 560.

I was born and raised in church,

and I've been singing
practically all my life.

But at the time, I wanted
to go and be a singer,

I call myself going to be
a singer at UW Whitewater.

They told me I couldn't sing.

That's not good.

- But that didn't stop me
though, 'cause I sing at church.

Of course, God had other plans

and the singing thing
didn't work out for me.

So, which led me
to go into radio.

Well, first of all,

gospel music is
food for the soul,

and it feeds us in such a way

that we know where
our faith lies.

- Everyone has an
appreciation for music.

Music is a soulish thing.

I would tell you emphatically

that everyone has a
connection to music.

What type of music
may differ and vary,

but everyone has a
connection to music.

I sing all day in
the car. I just sing.

Voice can be hoarse, and I'm
still singing, I love singing.

And so, music, it does a lot.

I think it can touch
us consciously,

and I think it does something
to us subconsciously.

It's very powerful.

# You better start
doing everything right #

# You need to give it up

# Lord, God

# Sop doing those mean things
to hurt your fellow man #

# You need to give it up

# Lord, God is what
you need to do #

# You need to give it up

# Listen, church

# God wants you to do right

# In everything you do

# You better start
doing everything right #

I just really love gospel music.

Yeah, I love that.

That's why I stuck
with it so long.

Sometime I sing because I can,

and then sometime I just get
the real, just a happy feeling.

It just does something to me.

The group that I join up with,

we call ourself
the Masonic Wonder.

Kevin James, which was one
of the guys that was a mason.

And they got together,

he and Charles McCullum
and Amus McCullum,

back in the '50, like '57, '58.

So, they needed another
guy to sing with them.

So, unfortunately,

they picked me up
somewhere down the road,

so I was with them
ever since then.

I couldn't sing,

I couldn't hold a
chair of tune at all.

So, they taught me how to sing.

And then we got together and
we'd do a lot of rehearsal

till we got ourselves together.

Then we singing every Sunday,

Sunday evening, Sunday nights,

and it really become
like part of our life.

Because you know, you're busy
all the time on the weekend,

going different places, singing.

So that kinda kep
you from doing things

that you shouldn't be doing.

I never was a lead
singer, never did.

I always liked it,
but I never did do it.

I was always a
background singer,

and that's where I wind up.

I stayed at the background.

So for singing a solo,

you don't want me to do that.

'Cause if you heard me
sing a solo, you'll say,

are you sure you sing?

But I grew up in
a Catholic church

where there was Gregorian
chants sung in Latin,

and believe me, you
don't hear a lot of that

on a radio nowadays,
and there's a reason.

There's no harmony.

It's just like melody lines,
and Et Cum Spiritu Tuo.

Here's the thing,

going into Walden Chapel
on 17th and Center

and seeing the same setup I saw

when I went in a
nightclub or a rehearsal

with a set of drums and
a couple guitar amps,

a bass amp, a PA.

I think if I'd have
seen when I was a kid

and heard that music
when I was a kid,

there might still be a whole
lot of religion in my life.

Because it was a celebration,

as opposed to a lecture, and
a feeling of shame and guilt,

and a lot of other things

that weren't
necessarily necessary.

It was a social service.

It was a part of
the neighborhood and
part of the community

that was stressed out, and
help was being delivered.

- Gospel music usually hits
the soul a little bit different

because of the way it's
presented, the way we say it.

So it's like, maybe
if you were raised

in a different type of church,

no offense, but like maybe
Lutheran or Catholic,

they would sing
through the hymn books,

# Yes, Jesus loves me

And then, if you go to
a gospel or a Baptist,

or a Church of God
in Christ it's,

# Yes, Jesus loves me

It's a difference, you get it.

Catholics and CME,
they're more reserved.

You don't have to
really do a lot.

But gospel people, gospel music,

we have to give
everything that we have.

And so, then when you have
other people that come in,

the reason why it's so
easy for us to reach

the Catholics and people
like that, it's because

it's something that they
have not been exposed to.

So when they see
this like, oh my God,

like they're doing all this
and they sound like this.

It's a completely different.

Not saying, 'cause I like
Catholic music as well,

I like hymns.

But with gospel music,
it's just so raw and uncut.

You just don't know
what you're gonna.

It's so spontaneous,
there it is.

It's spontaneous.

And people like that,

opposed to coming to
church on a Sunday morning

and just reading out of a book.

Come on, put your
hands in the air.

- Well, I think it's a
part of southern gospel

that's rooted into me,

and I don't think I can
ever get out of that.

I could do other
stuff, but it would be,

you drink a glass
of water and this,

oh, this is not good,
I need Kool-Aid.

So, that's about
what it would be.

It's quenched the thirst,

but the Kool-Aid just
taste a little better,

just a little more flavor.

But you come to a
small church like us,

like this is a big building

but our congregation is
kind of small, we be savvy.

People be like, I
ain't heard you sing,

like where y'all come from?

Singing with my family,

and it's like I'm
used to doing it,

but it's fun to do it
because I'm with my family.

Nothing's better than to do
something with your family.

It's like, you're like,
oh, I'm gonna do this.

But then like when you
get up in there and do it,

it's like you're not
even worried about it,

or you're not even like
gonna think about it

because you're too
much in the spirit

more than just thinking about,
oh, I gotta do this right,

or I gotta do this wrong.

But it's about what
is in front of you,

not what was behind you.

Yeah, I'll practice
with everybody.

I'm not really a
technical singer.

I really just sing for
my heart, like just sing.

Like I said, I never like
with the school for it,

nothing like that,

but I just think I just
sing whatever I feel.

If I'm peachy I'm peachy,
but it's whatever I feel.

I think it's just something
natural that I just have.

Music or no music,
we just always sing.

We just make up songs.

Just always just like
singing, all the time.

We just be hype, clapping
our hands up and our feet,

like anything we can find.

If we can find a
spoon in the house,

we're banging it on the table.

If we can find a balloon,

we're gonna pop it
just to make noise.

I don't think I'm the best,

but I do good at my
music, I'll say that.

- And you gotta have a
passion to wanna do it.

You can't just get up and
say, hey, I wanna do it.

There has to be a
genuine connection

with the performer
and the audience,

and the only way you can do that

is knowing what's inside of you.

We had an old,
old radio where I,

whenever I got my me time
that I could get away,

I always listened
to a gospel program

that came on one of the station.

I think it was based out
of Memphis, Tennessee,

called W-D-I-A, and
they had gospel music,

they had an hour where they
would have gospel music.

And I remember some of the songs

like from the Swan Silver Tones,

the Dixie Nightingales,

and people like Sam Cooke
and the Soul Stirrers,

and I used to sit
at my time and say,

well, I just like that.

It was just something
that I got inspired,

I always got this warm feeling

and felt like that I was
being a part of this music,

'cause it was like resonating,
you know something to me.

Okay, the year I got involved
with The Queens Of Harmony

was 1970, I wanna say 1971

that I actually got
introduced to them.

And I went to their rehearsal,

and they told me that I had
a natural voice for singing.

Okay, my try out with
miss Yula Thomas,

better known as miss Honeybunch.

"Honey, we're gonna give
you something real simple,"

in that voice,
that type of voice,

I can't get as low
it's her voice, but,

"We're gonna do something
real simple, honey."

And she asked me to
try out this song,

"It's all right to have
a good time with Jesus,"

"it's all right."

'Cause she had that tone
voice that was basically

that deep voice that brought
the other voices together

to make the harmony and the
melodious sounds in the song.

It's like music to your
ears, when they acapella.

I think acapella is better
sometimes than music,

'cause you can
hear all the voices

and it's just like old school,

hand clapping, foot
stomping basically.

Yeah, we bump heads,
but that's my momma.

The Holy Gospel Singers,
The Masonic Wonders,

The Queens of Harmony,

those really like was the
top, coldest groups singing.

With Spiritual Tones, which
is a group that I had made,

it's actually been
changed about three times.

At first it was The
Spiritual Charms,

The Spirit of Charms,

and we started when
we was like five, six.

It was me, my best friend, her
little sister and my sister.

When I'm performing one of my
favorite songs, I feel good.

'Cause if it's my favorite song,
I feel like it speak to me,

so I feel like it'll speak to
somebody else in the audience.

I wouldn't say I'm
good at the song.

That that's kinda cocky.

I would just say, I
know everybody get
a different feeling,

so they of course
wouldn't feel what I feel,

but I would hope
they feel something

God wise or spiritual
wise that'll be like,

oh, you know what I'm saying,

like this just touched me,

or this just touched my
little soul or something.

Audrey is my god-granddaughter.

Audrey is the little
miss spiritual tone.

She comes in and she
does her own thing.

She likes to sing.

Gospel music came
here from west Africa.

It came when Africans
were stolen from Africa,

brought here against their will

and put into chattel servitude.

They couldn't take
anything with them

except their cultural history.

There, you would celebrate
with music and dance,

the harvest, a ceremony
that was a secular ceremony

as well as a
worship of the gods.

When we came here,
we came bonded,

and the spiritual
aspects of the message

allowed us to become
free, because it was
a message of song.

Many of the spirituals that
were generated during that era

that allowed the slaves
to send the message.

So, it wasn't just
a message of song

that allowed us to send signals

and to identify certain things

that would or would
not be happening.

It was also the heart of the
individual coming out of them

that said, I care about
you enough to sing to you

in a dialect or in a message

that no one else
understands but us.

- The spirituals were subversive

in that they could sing a
song called Wade in the Water.

And while the plantation
owners thought

they were just doing
this to pass the time,

what they were signaling was

tonight, if you go across
the river, wade in the water,

that's where you'll be able to
join the underground railroad

and escape to freedom.
# Wade in the water

# Wade in the water

# Wade in the water

# God's gonna
trouble the water #

And that's how it came here.

Now, that's how it
came to the south.

And after emancipation
and the development

of more African American
churches in the south,

these migrants came to the north

and they got the same kinda
jobs they had down south.

They were porters, and they
were maids, and they were cooks,

and they were doing all
these menial jobs for others.

But on Sunday morning

when they could get in
their gospel choir robe

and march down that
aisle of the church,

they were a coloratura,
they were a tenor,

they were a soprano,
they were somebody.

I always say that
there are so many

forgotten heroes in music,

and there are so many
forgotten heroes in music

just in Milwaukee,

quartets that struggled,

probably didn't make much
money singing, but loved it,

did it for the love
and the love of God,

who endured things,

who if they had a chance
perhaps to travel to the south

in the 50s and 60s to sing,

who probably couldn't
eat at the restaurant,

couldn't stay at the hotel,

couldn't stop to use the
restroom at the gas station

'cause it wasn't allowed,

kidney problems because
they couldn't use restrooms,

issues with regard to diabetes

'cause of the kinda
foods you had to eat,

and got pulled over
just because they were

four black men or four
black women in a car

driving through Mississippi.

And in the worst cases said,

"You're a singing
group, sing for us,"

and had to sit there

in the middle of the
road in Mississippi,

singing for some
sheriff or some deputy

who just thought he
was so much better.

Sometimes would get all
the way down to a program

and there was no money.

So, you had to love doing it.

They paved the way.

These are their forgotten
heroes of music.

It takes a little bit of prayer,

and I would say a
little bit of love too,

to hit that one spot.

But for the most part, people
just can't afford to travel.

'Cause you gotta stay in
a hotel, you gotta eat.

And you go on the road,

sometimes you get paid,
sometimes you don't.

Sometimes they might
promise your money,

and sometimes the person
that promise you money

go out the back door.

Now, that there's the truth.

This was a community
within a community

that gave people dignity.

It was a democratization
of church goers.

Radio.

Radio was extremely important

in disseminating gospel
music throughout the country,

in part because of the
power of radio at that time.

Particularly the African
American community

received much of its news
and information from radio.

So you could be sitting
in your living room

in Milwaukee in 1948
and hear Mahalia Jackson

sing at Greater Harvest

and then advertise her
program down the street

and hear her selling
raffle tickets.

This is the kind of
experience you would have.

- Let me grab a guitar,
if you don't mind.

And if you play a major chord,

and you add that seventh,

and then you add the other
blue note, the third one,

where do you think
that comes from?

That didn't come from Europe.

How do I put this?

Like soul wise, when
you listen to a quartet,

it got some kind of funk in it.

And gospel's going,

# Do, do, do, do,
do, do, do, do #

That did not come from Europe.

I feel like having
a good church tonight.

Now come on, put your
hands together like this.

It's an art form.

It's American and
it's African American.

I think gospel
music in particular

helped influence a lot of
these British invasion music.

I mean, the Rolling
Stones were singing,

"This may be my last time."

That was a song that
not only was sung

by The Staple Singers in gospel,

but was a song that was sung

during the civil
rights movement,

and so much of the music that
was called the devil's music

really came out of the church.

And it's interesting,
if you listen

to the Million Dollar
Quartet session from 1956,

the famous session with
Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis

and Carl Perkins
and Johnny Cash,

what do they start singing?

Gospel songs.

And not just the
white gospel songs,

they're singing black
gospel songs as well.

This is their jam session.

They're just jamming
on the church songs.

Elvis loved gospel music.

He loved white gospel
music, southern gospel,

and he liked black gospel music.

And he would go and listen
to East Trigg Baptist Church

and absorb this music.

The best school of singing was
the African American church,

'cause you were in the choir

and you learned how to
sing in those choirs.

Maybe you had a chance to solo.

So you have people like Clyde
McPhatter of "The drifters,"

learned everything
he did in church.

Once you go gospel you,
you just don't go back.

Even when you try to go
back, it just comes out.

It's a sound, it's a
feeling, a vibe, a swag

that just comes with the church,

and everybody that has
come up through it has it.

The pop artists, they've got
their style from the church,

and gospel music doesn't
get the credit for it.

Like the Bee Gees,

their sound came
from gospel music.

They might not wanna
say it, you know?

Michael McDonald.

Most of the people
who sing soul music

came outta the church.

I mean, and it's pretty
evident in their art form,

you can tell.

Like you can tell when
you listen to music

and they hit a certain lick,
like a certain musical tone.

You like, ooh, that's church
right there, right there.

And you like, you
know that's just,

she just went to church on
that one, or he just, you know?

Or even when they're singing,

they could be singing about love

but you know they
took it to church.

'Cause that's where
they got her from.

- Ray Charles, "I Got a Woman,"

that's a gospel song converted.

So, he's number one.

Jerry Butler and
Curtis Mayfield,

ostensibly one of the
very first soul records

to come outta Chicago,
"For Your Precious Love,"

based on their
experience growing up
in a spiritual church.

- Otis Redding.

Boys Tamin.

Tina Turner grew
up in the church.

You know who I wanna keep
thinking of is Beyonce,

she grew up in the church.

Of course, Michael Jackson.

Dionne Warwick.

- Stevie Wonder.

Frankie Beverly and mates.

Etta James.

Jill Scott.

Brandy.

James Brown, gospel singer.

Little Richard
came from the church.

I would say probably
Patti LaBelle.

India Arie.

Ledisi.

Prince.

Walter Beasley.

- Toni Braxton.

Joda C.

- Gladys Knight.

- Usher.

Jennifer Hudson.

Jazmine Sullivan.

- Well, Aretha Franklin,
she started off gospel.

Aretha Franklin's
a real good example

of a woman dripping with gospel.

Ben E. King.

- New Addition.

- The Chantels.

Justin Timberlake.

O. V. Wright, Johnny Taylor.

Bobby Brown.

- Joe Henderson, the
soul singer, he grew
up in the church.

Like Sam Cooke.

Sam Cooke came right outta
gospel and into secular.

Bruno Mars.

How can I not say Bruno Mars?

Eulaulah Hathaway.

Wilson Pickett.

Fantasia.

Like when she be seeing
her little love songs,

I'll be like, that
don't even match.

That's what she
was created to do.

That's why Fantasia,
she, I think she is church.

- Otis Clay is another
one, great soul singer.

Grew up singing quartet music.

And Whitney Houston.

Whitney Houston, that's church,

you know, all of these artists.

Because when I hear it, oh man,
what church does she go to?

That's the first
question I ask somebody,

or who's their
mother and father?

- It'd probably be hard to know

what secular artist didn't
come out of the church.

A lot of these
people I know they,

they sang in their churches

and they changed over
from gospel to the R&B

because they were inspired
and made more money.

So the church
provided this sort of

essential experience in singing
in front of an audience,

a congregation that
gave individuals

who were interested in
getting in the music business

this opportunity to then
take that and promote it.

The gospel is no different
when Jay-Z or Beyonce,

all them get on stage and
people start carrying out.

They're reaching 'em.

They're reaching them and
they're connecting with them,

let me put it that way.

With the gospel,
it's the same thing.

And that's just where it starts.

And you can kinda, sometimes
you'll see it, it'll come out,

and you are like, whoa,
where did that come from?

But it's because of their roots,

and it started in the church.

You can kinda tell who come
from church and who doesn't

because there's just a
different component there.

In church.

I always tell people it's so
much easier to sing R&B music,

'cause it don't take.

But in church, you cannot leave
outta here and say you sang

if you're not drenched in sweat.

You have to put it
all on the line.

When you think of
Jennifer Hudson,

she puts it all on the line.

When she's talking,
she sound like a tenor.

But by the time she
get done singing,

she sound like a first soprano.

That's because she puts
it all on the line,

and you learn that component
of singing in church.

- It just has a swag to
it that everybody wants,

everybody tries to duplicate.

And if you've not been to
church on Sunday morning,

you can't get it.

# God's grace

# God's grace

# God's grace

# God's grace

# God's grace

# God's grace

# Amazing grace

# Amazing grace

# Amazing grace

# Amazing grace

# Amazing grace

# Amazing grace

# Amazing grace

I was a concert once

and some guy was on
the stage singing,

and I'm like, man, I'm really
sitting here enjoying this.

And I said to myself, I said,

and I know I could
do the same thing.

I said, so if I'm sitting
here enjoying these guys,

why are you sitting
down not doing anything

and somebody could
be enjoying you?

And I started a group,

I started my group back
up just from that thought,

and that's the absolute truth.

But none of us had any
actual formal training

of how to sing.

It's just something we
just developed naturally.

We just started singing.

We found out people liked
it so we kept doing it.

So gospel always
lift the person up.

And if you are in a sad state,

the gospel always
gonna try to tell you

you can come out of that state.

And far as the blues,

blues try to leave you
in that spot sometime.

They'll say, this is where it is

and I've gotten used to this,

and it just don't
bother me anymore.

Well, gospel is different.

Gospel try to pull you
up on another level

to where, as I said before,

I don't think it's even possible

to leave somebody sad
singing the gospel.

You might reach 'em sad,
but it always lift them up,

because gospel music
always encourages a person

that they can do better,
or things can get better,

or things will be better,

and that's what I think
gospel's all about.

Just like my daughter said,

she was shy, she
was afraid to sing.

One man changed all of that.

I started when I was 12 at
Mount Vernon Baptist Church.

We was on 6th and North Avenue
then before we moved here.

And that's when I
started singing.

I didn't sing much, but
it was just little parts.

I was more so very shy,

and I've just started to
kinda open up singing,

and then things that I
went through in my life

just inspired me to sing.

And that's why I sing so
hard every time I do sing,

because that's my testimony.

'Cause sometimes when you sing,

you just don't know if
you gonna see the next day

so you gotta give
it all you got.

And this man named Nwajei
came, he was from Nigeria,

and he came and he
was saying like,

there's a woman in the crowd,

and he was just like describing
me but I didn't get it.

I'm like, you talking about me?

Then he said
something where I had

like an encounter one night,

and nobody knew that
but me and the Lord,

and he said that up there.

And I'm like, he talking
to me, oh my God.

And I stood up, and then he
had me come up for prayer.

He told me, he said he
was gonna remove the fear,

and he said, every time you
going sing, it's gonna be fire.

I'm singing it to him.

When I'm singing, I act like
Jesus standing right there

and I'm singing.

That's how I sing every time.

I don't care if it's
three people in the crowd,

one person, if it's myself,

I'm acting like Jesus
is standing right there.

Milwaukee Gospel Jubilee
was actually an idea

from a few of our board members

at progressive community
health centers.

It would tie right
into the mission

of what I do for my career,

which is provide
healthcare for everyone,

quality healthcare for anyone,

no matter your insurance
level, lack thereof,

and to have a facility and
have staff and providers

that can give you
the same healthcare

that you would get
anywhere, quality.

So that's what I do
to serve the community

for which I was raised,

this is where I
practice medicine,

but to all also marry
that with singing,

which is the other
half of my life

with what I do with, with
singing with our group

and singing in church.

Gospel music is a
huge part of my life,

being raised on it.

Quartet music was heavily
played in my household

with my dad.

He was a quartet, he
is a quartet singer.

And just learning the
different history on that

and who is who, and going
to different programs,

local programs that
would happen with him

was like huge for us growing up,

wondering what the
choir's gonna sing,

how are we gonna pack
it out or what's going,

or the fellowships that we
have with other congregations.

So it was a lot of,
it's a lot of fun.

How many of y'all
holding out there?

# Holding on

# I gotta keep on holding on

I'm gonna say that again.

# Holding, yes

# Holding on

# I gotta keep on holding on

Listen.

# When I was just a little boy

# I didn't know what was true

# But since I found you, Jesus

# I know he gonna
lead me through #

# I'm holding on

# Holding on

If you down and
you need to hear it,

why don't you put
on some good music?

And then it changes
the atmosphere,

it changes your spirit,

and can change me from feeling
down to feeling up again,

because it reignites the
hope that you already know,

but sometimes with
the challenges of
life and the trials,

things can get you down.

# Holding

# Holding on

# Holding on

What I wanna know today,
is there anybody out there?

# Holding on

# holding on.

I can go back to when I was
a kid packing it, I was like,

we going over to this
church, it's gonna be packed.

I wonder how we gonna do?

We gonna throw down, you know?

A healthy competition.

And you never know, just
because you're up there

smiling and singing, doesn't
mean you day is going great,

doesn't mean you're
at the right place,

but you keep the fact
that you still do the work

and you find yourself being
ministered too as well,

in the midst of
ministering to others.

# Oh, it's all right

# Listen, it's all right
to have a good time #

# It's all right

# You can clap your hands

# You can stomp your feet

# You can shout if you wanna

All we gotta do is just praise.

# Praise God

# It's all right to
have a good time #

# It's all right to
have a good time #

# It's all right

- How many of y'all come
to have a good time?

When we come here, I got
five brothers, one sister.

So, we all come at
the same time in 1956.

And you might want to
know what made us move.

If anybody would remember
the Emmett Till case?

He went down from
Chicago, I guess,

went down to stay with his
grandfather or grandmother.

Anyway, they accuse him
of making some kind of

sex advance with
this white girl.

They taken him after then
and arrested him for that,

and they lynched
him just terrible.

After they beat him up,

they put a big weight
around his neck

and throwed him in what
you call the Yasu River,

and that was all
broadcast everywhere.

So, that's what made us leave.

When my mother
went to the mailbox

and she got the Jet
magazine out of the mail

and she opened it up
and she saw his picture,

and that was terrible for us.

'Cause we had no idea
of leaving Mississippi

until this happened.

And my mother
couldn't be satisfied,

she couldn't be happy,

'cause she just cried all
the time because of this,

because she could see her boys

would be caught up in
something like that.

So, everything was just
like a 360 degree turnaround

when we come here.

It was just, everything
was different.

And after having that little
bit of bringing up from young,

so it had come back to me, and
it was just a blessing to me.

That singing saved me 100%.

The Dalai Lama says, "Man
is a great troublemaker."

And so, no matter how
sophisticated we get,

how much more affluent we get,

there are always
going to be people

that can't pay the light bill,

can't pay the car bill,
can't pay the rent,

hungry, hurt,

family dying, disease,

shooting, killing,
whatever the thing is

and need to express that,

and the music is a
means to express that.

And this is probably
the most emotional thing

you can think about,
your life and your death,

and gospel expresses
both of them

from the gut, and from
the heart and the soul.

Being in these churches and
knowing the people I knew,

like Charles McCullum,

who lost two grandchildren
to gun violence.

And he's up on stage, he said,

"I woke up this morning on
the green side of the grass.

Thank you, Lord."

If that doesn't
impress you, what does?

The music comes from
such a stressful place.

I mean, it's like the way you
make a diamond out of coal.

There's so much pressure
on that culture.

God's music, what
it has done for me,

it really changed my life

after the things that
I've been through.

And then when I hear the songs
and I hear a particular song,

they singing exactly
what I went through,

I'm like, oh my God.

It just inspired me to wanna
sing and help other people

how when I listened to
the song it helped me.

And that's the
way I wanna do it.

When I'm singing, I
wanna bring somebody in.

- Gospel music is my whole life.

I don't know where I would
be without it, actually.

When it comes to
African Americans,

we have always been the
bottom of the barrel.

We have always had
to work extra hard

to get the respect and
gain the that we deserve.

If we did not have the
component of music,

we probably would
die quicker than,

we probably would
not be able to take

as much as we could take on,

but music is so strong that.

When I get mad, I turn
Michael Jackson on.

And by the time that thriller
album is over, I am okay.

I'm okay, seriously.

All right, fellas,
let's do this.

- There's a lot of irony
and cleverness in music,

done by people who you suspect

haven't been tested
to the degree

people in the black
community have.

If you're gonna generalize,

you could say it's a bit
complainy, a bit whiny,

and it's a bit suburban,

and what's so bad
about growing up

in a nice house in the suburbs?

So you're not getting along
with your parents, welcome.

I think that's one of the big
things I learned from gospel

is like, give it up a
little bit, stop whining,

don't be so clever,
say what you mean,

and help somebody.

- I've had some very, very bad,

I don't wanna say bad things,

but some very things that
happened to me in my life.

I was shot.

I'm a survivor from meningitis.

I had a problem happen
where my spinal fluid

started to leak out of my ear

because I had a pinhole
leak at my base of my skull.

I was going through a
lot of these bad things.

So, you know what, on my radio,

I was sitting there
and the radio was on

and this song came
on, and it was called

"I'm So Glad That The
Lord Let Me Live On,

but this song ministered to me.

I just kinda transformed.

And it would just uplift me.

I would a strange
feeling come over me.

It's it's just a heartbeat,

it's the thing that's
been keeping me.

I've gone through some
crazy stuff this year,

but I thank God for my
heartbeat, which is the music.

There've been the number
of hardships in my life

that had it not been for music,

I really don't know
where I would be.

In the transition of my husband,

the music, the song
is what kept me.

In your most isolated moment,
you still have a song.

And so, allow that song
and that expression

to come from your heart

and it will always
keep you positive.

So, have there been pressures
in my life? Every day,

but I manage them
through prayer and song.

The other thing
I like about gospel

is that you can measure it

by subtracting it
from our culture.

If it wasn't there,
what would we have?

And I think the answer
is almost nothing.

We wouldn't have rock and roll,

we wouldn't have jazz,
we wouldn't have blues.

And I'm appreciating things
out of the folk tradition,

and gospel definitely is.

It's a homemade music that
was made out of necessity.

It's like food.

You have to eat.

So we went to
sing at Shank Hall.

Well, they was playing

all of the other kind
of dancing music.

So when they called us up,

we didn't know nothing to do
but sing gospel, so we sang.

As I was singing,

we were watching the people at
the table that were drinking,

and there were one table I
watched while I was singing,

they guys had got a beer

and he didn't take
another drink out of that

long as we were singing.

And I watched him after we sang.

So after we finish,

he and a lady came
behind now crying.

She said, I never
heard nothing like this

And I'm looking at her, I say,

what do you mean you
never heard nothing.

She said, "Oh, you guys, it's
so warm feeling," she said,

and she was just really crying.

And I said, well,
my God, this is.

And that made me feel
that we might've been

doing something that was good,

that maybe would
change somebody's mind
as to how they live.

I'll never forget that, that
was just fantastic to me.

Well, I've been
singing since five.

For some reason
music it spoke to me.

While everybody
else was out playing

and doing sports and all
of those other activities,

it just connected to me, it
was where I felt comfortable.

And so, I did it regularly.

And with me doing it regularly,
it became what I could do.

Some people could
play basketball,

some people were books smart.

Music was just what I could do.

Didn't really get
taught in the aspect

of going to school
for it or any of that.

It was just a natural
talent that I had.

In working with music,

I decided to work with a
gospel choir at high school

at John Marshall High School.

And at first I was a
little hesitant about it,

because I had just graduated
from north division

and the young lady that
I was dating at the time

had asked me to come
work with her choir.

And I was just like, I don't
have time for these kids,

even though I graduated
like six months prior too,

but I looked at them
like they were kids.

So at first it took me a minute,

and I decided to start
working with them,

and it just grew and grew.

Music became my best friend.

It became my comfort.

When I didn't feel like I
could relate to anybody,

I could always relate to music.

You know, it's like
singing a love song

and you never been in
love, you hear the lyrics.

But if you've been in love
and you hear the lyrics,

hey, now it's saying
something to you.

- It feels magnificent.

You don't real, but
with any ministry,

I mean, you're helping others
but it's helping you, too.

- If you're not doing
music to reach someone,

then there's no, you're
not, why are you doing it?

Gospel music is amazing.

Love, like all of that,
all those good things.

Like it's just, gospel
music is amazing.

- Gospel music has a way of
speaking directly to the heart.

It has a way of conveying
a message with such intent

that it always hits this mark.

But when you hear gospel music

and it's the real gospel music,

it definitely just
opens your eyes

to colors that you've
never seen before.

Gospel music is an
American art form.

It deserves as much respect
as blues, jazz, swing,

every other kind of American
music, but it doesn't get it.

Every form of music
changes your emotion.

When you get to gospel music,

it gives you inspiration,
it gives you life.

Just by its name alone,

gives it authority over
every other form of music.

This is the original soul music.

This was the music of
people who could not

express themselves publicly
for fear of backlash.

It is a voice for the voiceless.

That's what stands out.

We have a voice that
no one else has,

no other, in my opinion,
no, it's factual,

in any other genre
there is no other,

it can't be, it's
not comparable.

Can I get a amen?

Amen.

# I'm gonna hide
behind the mountain #

# I'm gonna hide behind,
hide behind the mountain #

# Every time I try
to excel in you #

# My past keeps on
beating me down, Lord #

# I need your strength,
Lord, I need your power #

# So no longer will I be bound

# Save my life, Lord

# With my hands lifted up

# And my mouth
filled with praise #

# With a heart of thanksgiving

# I will bless thee, O Lord

# I just wanna be like Jesus

# And I wanna walk right

# I wanna talk right

# I wanna live right
and I wanna give right #

No, I'm not gonna sing.

# Four seasons to a year

# Winter, spring,
summer and fall #

# You created so many things

# I know that you did
it all just for me #

# I just wanna sing
praises to the king #

# Lifting up my voice
while I have the choice #

# You and I must make

It's terrible.

# Why am I treated so bad

# One by one we'll
gain the portion #

# And they will dwell
with the immortals #

# And when they ring
the golden bells #

# Bells for you and me