“We thought Swing Low, Sweet Chariot was about angels but it was really about the underground railroad. So Darden got to work, writing an editorial in the New York Times saying 'if we allow this music to disappear future generations will judge us harshly.”ĭarden explains that while the tradition of Gospel music is routed in that evangelical belief the themes the songs were meant to reflect the struggle. The Civil Rights Movement and the music are forever entwined you can't create one without the other,” Darden said. “The frustrating thing about that is, that period 1945-1975, is the period of influence of the African-American church and it's the period of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of the larger companies didn’t have an interest in keeping many of the records outside of the big names. He explains over the years record companies were closed and merged. “I discovered a lot of the music from the golden age of gospel music 1945-1970 is lost,” he said.ĭarden estimates that almost 75 percent of the Gospel music from that period is unavailable. In 2000, he started research for his book, People Get Ready!: A New History of Black Gospel Music.ĭuring that research, Darden discovered something troubling.

Professor Darden worked as a journalist for Billboard Magazine, writing a weekly column on gospel music. “My parents say I kept playing that disk over and over And my wife said I have spent the last 55 years trying to replicate the thrill I got from that voice at that time,” Darden laughed. He remembers his father purchasing Mahalia Jackson Christmas album. Despite the powerful history some scholars feared future generations may never hear those songs.īaylor Professor Robert Darden, has loved gospel since he was a child.

Gospel Music is often thought to be the soundtrack of the African American experience from slavery to sit-ins the music punctuated the movements.

People Get Ready! by Robert Darden