My Gospel Roots

This album contains 23 fine gospel songs recorded between 1951 and 1953 by Sam Cooke and his backing group[1] of the time the Soul Stirrers, in the formative years which preceded his impact as a huge star in the latter part of the decade. Born within months of Ray Charles, both of these great figures can lay convincing claim to heralding what became known as soul music, Cooke bringing a highly accessible light tone to pop-influenced material and Brother Ray using a more earthy blues sound in his style: most significantly, the two men’s roots were rooted very firmly in the gospel tradition.

Sam Cooke was born in Mississippi in 1931 but grew up in Chicago, one of a family of eight whose father was a Baptist preacher. He joined his siblings in the Singing Children at the age of nine, graduating to the Highway Q.C.’s as a teenager before replacing retiring lead tenor Robert (R.K.[2]) Harris in the Soul Stirrers, one of the most prestigious and innovative gospel groups of its day, respected for imaginative use of contemporary material and a strong belief in allowing free expression. The recordings here were among the first in this context, made during a creative five year spell starting in 1951 for devotee Art Rupe’s Specialty label, confirming Cooke’s growing status as an effortlessly masterful vocalist, and also as something of heartthrob on the California[3] circuit he played.

Gospel music had evolved from the consoling theological beliefs of the early Afro Americans forced to live in slavery, as they adapted Anglican hymns into Negro Spirituals and formed fundamentalist churches in the dehumanising rural and subsequently urban ghettos they inhabited. “Church Music” moved on from harmonizing Quartets and religious folk blues by artists like Blind Willie Johnson into call and response, ecstatic testifying, as dynamic performers such as Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Thomas A. Dorsey, Clara Ward and the Rev. C.L. Franklin (father of Aretha) created a golden age for the music in the 1940s. Radio stations began to include gospel in their schedules and the template took shape with fiercely emotional lead singers – James Brown later drew heavily on this aspect – accompanied by background harmonies and simple yet powerful piano or organ. It was not exclusively black music, either, as Southern whites in particular integrated these exciting new sounds into their own traditions; indeed 1951 saw country artist Red Foley make the first million-selling record in the genre with Peace In The Valley, appropriately the opening track on this album. The Soul Stirrers established the pattern of male acapella quartets, with a second tenor employed to complete the four part harmony behind the high clear tenor voice of Harris, and then Cooke himself of course. In 1957, however, Dale Cook (as he was then known[4], adding the Sam and the “e” later) turned to secular repertoire with You Send Me, and the single was an immediate sensation, marking the beginning of eight years of fame, fortune and considerable respect, too. Prompted by his long-time mentor J.W. Alexander and producer Bumps Blackwell, Cooke’s thrilling voice gave him a string of hits, unusually without changing his approach, and it is a mark of his enduring influence that so many of his songs were covered by others. Rod Stewart may be Cooke’s biggest fan, enjoying chart entries with You Send Me, Bring It On Home To Me (as did the Animals) and Twistin’ The Night Away, but he is not alone in his admiration. Cupid was reprised by Johnny Nash, Only Sixteen by Craig Douglas, Little Red Rooster by the Rolling Stones[5], Wonderful World by Herman’s Hermits, Art Garfunkel and James Taylor before a mid 80s jeans ad led to a reissue which outsold the original, and Another Saturday Night by Cat Stevens. Cooke also gave Bobby Womack his start in the Valentinos and included Lou Rawls, Ray Charles[6] and Billy Preston on some of his sessions, before his untimely death in mysterious circumstances, shot dead ages just 33 in a Los Angels motel room in 1964 in an official verdict of justifiable homicide.

The epochal A Change Is Gonna Come was released posthumously, and it ranks among Martin Luther King’s speeches as a resonant symbol of the 1960s Civil Rights movement. Reggea star Prince Buster recorded it as a mark of honour and added a simple spoken ending: “This is Sam Cooke’s song.” Here, with the Soul Stirrers, is that uniquely pure voice in all its dignified glory, right at the start of it all

[1] He was a member of the Soul Stirrers, they were not his backing group

[2] R.H.

[3] the Stirrers toured nationally

[4] he was never known as Dale, he just used that name to release his first popsingle, and only once. But people heard it was Sam so he used that name again, with the added e

[5] Howlin Wolf’s version was more likely the inspiration

[6] this to many knowledge never happened