My Soul Looks Back: Nashville’s Gospel Honors
They took us to CHURCH!
Well, you might ask, wasn’t the event in a church? Downtown Presbyterian Church, to be specific? Yes, but if you’re not familiar with the vernacular, let’s revisit Martin Luther King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” In that epic epistle, he used the word “church” in a variety of ways—as a building, as denominational belief systems, as a body of believers and, as in this case, the inner spiritual community.
On Sunday September 8, honorees of the Third Annual Nashville Gospel Honors were recognized. Appropriately hosted by G. Preston Wilson, current director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the event was a jubilant celebration of those who have performed, encouraged, and promoted black Gospel music. The Nashville Gospel and Sacred Music Coalition, now in the process of being renamed, the Nashville Black Music Association, organizes this event, a vibrant fusion of history, music, and the gospel spirit.
Dexter Evans, development director of the National Museum of African American Music; Sondrea Tolbert, associate pastor of Fairfield Church and executive director of the Scarritt-Bennet Center, celebrating its centennial year in Nashville; and Byron Harvey, co-pastor of the New Living Word Community Church, all gave moving introductory remarks.
The well-miked three-person rhythm section: Julius Fisher, piano; Richard Gresham, drums; Phillip Jackson, bass provided the throughline for the entire event, easing in and out of the setting, with interludes, accompaniment, and background music. I mention the audio system because Gospel performances are often over-miked resulting in distracting feedback.
W. Crimm Singers, a professional choir founded by Tennessee State University music professor Patrick Dailey, opened with “Anyhow,” a Ruth LaRue Pittman arrangement. Later, they featured soprano Siren Gatlin in an extended solo in “Wounded for Me” that inspired the audience. Both times, they took us to church.
Michael Gray, Vice President of Museum Services for the Country Music Hall of Fame, spoke with affection and reverence for the Fairfield Four, the first honorees. He praised their groundbreaking role in spreading their musical messaging through tours and the radio; they were inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame in 1999. Bobbye Sherrill, one of the most recent members of the group that has lasted since 1921, sang with The McCrary Sisters, three daughters of Fairfield founder, Sam McCrary. Singing the lively “Roll On,” they revved up the audience into a chorus of waving hands, dancing in the pews, and shouts of “Hallelujah!” They raised the roof of the church.
Dressed in concert black with brightly colored kente cloth sashes, the Crimm Singers led into recognition of Lady Eleanor Newhouse Graves, known as “Lady Eleanor,” former Director of Multiethnic Services at Austin Peay State University, current CEO of the Graves Foundation, and author of Dreaming With Your Eyes Wide Open, commentary on sermons by her late husband, founding pastor of Nashville’s Temple Church, and her own life observations. There, in person, with elaborately braided salt and pepper hair, she was part of a well-conceived desire to acknowledge, not just musicians, but those whose community service promotes the music.
Tim Dillinger, recording artist, music historian, and founder of the “God’s Music is My Life” substack site, spoke of his troubled time in Boston where the music of Johnny Whittaker helped him regain his life’s balance. Whittaker’s group, the 21st Century Singers, was saluted by two works, after words from Linda, Whittaker’s sister.
Johnny Whittaker’s notably wide range was perfectly honored by Professor Dailey, an internationally recognized singer who worked all the way from the highest points of his countertenor voice, down into his tenor range, further down into a deep chest voice in the standard “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” More than 30% of the audience of about 200 attendees was on its feet. This rendition was a reminder that black Gospel music is a rare genre that allows, and even welcomes, a vast variety of stylistic flourishes from classical to jazz, from blues to field shouting. Following Dailey, members of the Crimm Singers smoothly joined him to sing “The Storm is Passing Over.” They kept us in church.
To acknowledge the steadfast support and promotion of “Mama Val” Craig-McMurray, the joint choir performance of “Walk Into the Light,” the rhythm section caught the spirit of the audience and shifted into a driving Gospel bump and to quote from Momma Val’s daughter, Renee, standing with her sister Tracy, the crowd “erupted into powerful praise” right in the moment as the Love Center South Choir joined the Crimm Singers in tribute.
New Downtown Presbyterian Pastor Zach Sasser was clearly in the moment. Although uncomfortable with being referred to as an “angel” at both invocation and benediction, Sasser took up that narrative when an earlier speaker mentioned the absence of safe spaces where we could gather in the days of Jim Crow. Before he said the benediction, Sasser acknowledged the fact that DPC had been one of those places where African Americans hadn’t always been welcomed, but “Thanks be to God that we can come together now.” And the church said, “AMEN.” This was my type of church service: pride, history, passion, harmony. Now we could leave the church in peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding.
For more information on the Nashville Black Music Association (Kellee Halford, President and Executive Director) until the name change is fully activated, please contact: https://www.facebook.com/Nashvillegospelandsacred/
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Y Kendall is a Stanford-educated musicologist, specializing in dance history who recently earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at Columbia University, studying nonfiction writing with Ben Ratliff and Margo Jefferson. Kendall’s diverse works have been published in Alchemy: Journal of Translation, Columbia Journal, Mitos Magazín, The Hunger Mountain Review, and The Salt Collective, among others. Born and raised in Tennessee, Kendall now lives near Nashville, freelancing as a flutist and writer, while caregiving for relatives.
We are honored that you were in attendance and for the eloquence and thoughtfulness of this review. Thank you so much Yvonne and Music City Review. We’ve got so much more in store, and we cannot wait until we announce whats in the works for 2025!