SG History 101

Jimmie Davis

SG History 101- Politics

This being an election year, and a rather contentious one in many ways at that, I thought it might be interesting to look back this month at how political involvement has figured in the history of southern style gospel music.

Now it certainly can be said that politics of one kind or another has been involved with gospel music throughout its’ history…but for the purposes of this article, I refer to politics as the term pertains to public office, not the behind the scenes maneuverings that take place not only in gospel music but in other aspects of life as well.

Now on the face of it, it would seem inconceivable that involvement in organized politics and gospel music would come together. But it’s arguable that inasmuch as gospel music, like other forms of popular music, is a reflection at least in part of the times in which it is created, it would then follow that in particularly politically conscious times(such as today), that the gospel music would reflect that.

As I intend to demonstrate, at least in part, as the article unfolds. But on the assumption that my above premise is correct, political involvement and activity was almost nonexistent in the earliest days of southern gospel.\\

This was the case because gospel music at the time was dominated by the music publishing companies, and its’ main purpose was to sell songbooks. In addition, a lot of the churches that allowed to music to be performed discouraged close involvement with the secular world. Thus, the political involvement and activity of the early gospel music audiences was irrelevant to the gospel music they loved.

Further, once the gospel music industry was established and became a profession for its’ singers, it became apparent that if a quartet wanted to draw its’ biggest possible audience, it behooved that quartet to not divulge any of its’ political leanings, or those of its’ individual members…lest members of the audience be alienated by those leanings. In those days, political principles and positions were nowhere near as important as doing good business. So for the first decades of gospel music, political involvement was discouraged and for all intents and purposes, didn’t exist.

Things began to slowly change in the 1940s. As the United States was involved in World War II, life revolved around the exhaustive war effort, and the popular music of the day reflected that. But there was not a lot of partisan political activity, probably because everyone…Democrat, Republican, church-goer, heathen, Christian, or otherwise…was dedicated to eventual war victory. So the music was more encouraging, exhortative, or romantic to reflect the mood of the people.

Gospel music didn’t change that much, inasmuch as its’ message was ideal for the times, and if anything became more widespread and popular due to the sudden influx of newer, more accomplished professional groups, who were able to take advantage of the greater affluence arising from the post-Depression economic recovery. If anything, gospel music became more imbedded in the cultural mosaic of the country during that era.

With the advent of “stars” in the professional gospel music field in those days, it probably followed that the first gospel artist with overt political involvement arose during the post World War II era. Jimmie Davis began his music career in the 1930s singing with vocal groups that did gospel songs, and when he became a national recording star with his huge hit “You Are My Sunshine”, and when he followed that with starring movie roles, it led him into politics in his home state of Louisiana.

In 1948, Davis was elected governor of the state, even though most of his campaigning in those days was little more that concerts and jam sessions. Davis sang his country and gospel music hits all the while, and there’s little doubt that his popularity as a singer made him electable…and suddenly, there was demonstrable evidence that music and politics could coexist and exist side-by-side.

When Davis’ first term ended, he returned to his conventional recording career of country hits mixed with gospel recordings…and when the opportunity arose for Davis to return to the governorship, he was joined at his campaign appearances by the Plainsmen Quartet, one of the better gospel quartets of the day. And not surprisingly, Davis returned to the governorship in the early 1960s. Clearly, music could be used as a tool not just to communicate a lyrical message, but to achieve other life ambitions as well. It just so happened that in Louisiana at that time, proficiency in writing and singing gospel music could take someone a long way in life.

Of course, musical proficiency alone could not guarantee someone political success. Famed performer/songwriter/arranger/teacher Lee Roy Abernathy dabbled in political campaigns as early as 1936, when he wrote campaign songs for then President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Abernathy also wrote songs for Georgia governor Eugene Talmadge later on. Though accomplished(as anything Abernathy did was first-rate)as those efforts were, his own attempt at running for office(in 1958 as governor of Georgia)resulted only in a distant third in the race.

Historical events also brought gospel music into the world of politics. One of the leading black quartets, the Golden Gate Quartet, became popular in the music world with such socially conscious songs as “No Restricted Signs” in the 1940s, and their “Stalin Ain’t Stallin’” fit in well with the war-inspired music of the World War II era, and by the 1950s, they performed concerts with top white southern gospel quartets as the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen.

Unfortunately, attitudes toward race relations weren’t as developed in the American South at that time as they’d later become. The 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, effectively ended the practice of booking white groups with black ones in gospel concerts, a setback to the gospel music industry.

Despite these types of events, the gospel music industry continued to grow and become a bigger part of the cultural mosaic that was 1960s America.
Another Supreme Court decision would draw it closer to the world of politics in the summer of 1964. The gospel music world took the Abingdon School District v. Schempp decision as an affront, because the decision eliminated Bible reading in public schools, a tradition that had existed in the United States since its’ inception. A number of singers spoke out against it, and even singers like Pierce LeFevre came out publicly in support of Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater that year.

It seemed that the cultural fabric that many performers and fans of southern gospel music had long enjoyed was coming unraveled against the will of those people. So, like the “protest” music of other parts of the society that was becoming popular at that time, the southern gospel music world started to mobilize publicly and musically against those changes in society that it didn’t like.

Even within itself, the southern gospel world dealt with fashion and lifestyle issues starting in the late 1960s, and continuing even today. In addition, it was initially critical of more contemporary Christian music, feeling that it was compromising its’ standards with those of the secular world.

Lastly, some recently popular songs released by southern gospel artists seemed to define the cultural battle lines even further. Such songs as Gold City’s “Only God Knows” in 1987, and the Inspirations’ 1994 hit “Cry For The Children” directly addressed the abortion issue, certainly a controversial topic in the United States of the 1990s and 2000s. A more general song with a similar theme was the Nelons’ late 1990s song, “We’ve Got To Get America Back To God”…and the song along those lines with the most notoriety was the Steeles’ 1996 anthem, “We Want America Back”. Clearly, southern gospel was no longer afraid to publicly take a firm stand or alienate potential audience members with controversial topics or lyrics.

Is this type of song predominant in today’s southern gospel? Probably not, but if the premise I posed at the outset of this article is correct, the songs in the above paragraph reflect the times we live in today fairly accurately.

There is debate and discussion as to how effective and proper such songs are in the world of gospel music. It is not the purpose of this article to define or illustrate that debate, but simply to put a historical perspective on what degree political involvement has infiltrated the world of gospel music. Certainly you readers can comment on such things yourselves…feel free to.

I’ll be back next month with another historical perspective on gospel music…and “absolutely” gospel music.