Scene: Memphis Gospel, 1920s – Present
Memphis, TN is justly revered as the birthplace of Sun studios, the modern supermarket, Stax records and Justin Timberlake. And while it’s the city of Chicago that can lay claim to being the birthplace of modern gospel, the music’s history in Memphis is full of grit, funk and sanctified brimstone. Much of this arises from the fact that Memphis was a central force in the rise of Pentecostalism. Since the early 1910s, the Church of God in Christ (or COGIC) has been headquartered there, and music played a central role in the church’s tent revivals, church services and civic events. As the church itself encourages worshippers to have a personal encounter with the divine by speaking in tongues and other improvised journeys into joyful noise, so too did the music from the church brim with enthusiasm and heaviosity. Just have a listen to the Rev. Utah Smith’s COGIC mini-anthem “Two Wings” to get a sense of how gone these musicians were getting.
Regional labels such as Messenger and Designer mixed funk and finery. The inventive Spirit of Memphis Quartet embodied all the grace and intensity of the city’s music scene; here is the rare case of a group named for a city that actually embodies so much of what makes that music scene so special. The seminal, socially aware local songwriters Lucie Campbell (“The King’s Highway”) and Rev. H.W. Brester (“Move On Up A Little Higher”) also helped to put Memphis gospel on the map. If you visit the city today, don’t miss the chance to see a service presided over by the Rev. Al Green, who croons just as judiciously for the Lord’s love as he ever did for more earthly desires.
