Great God A'Mighty! The Dixie Hummingbirds Celebrating the Rise of Soul Gospel Music

by Zolten, Jerry

• ISBN13: 9780195152722
• ISBN10: 0195152727
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

From the Jim Crow world of 1920s Greenville, South Carolina, to Greenwich Village's Café Society in the '40s, to their 1974 Grammy-winning collaboration on "Loves Me Like a Rock," the Dixie Hummingbirds have been one of gospel's most durable and inspiring groups. Now, Jerry Zolten tells the Hummingbirds' fascinating story and with it the story of a changing music industry and a changing nation. When James Davis and his high-school friends starting singing together in a rural South Carolina church they could not have foreseen the road that was about to unfold before them. They began a ten-year jaunt of "wildcatting," traveling from town to town, working local radio stations, schools, and churches, struggling to make a name for themselves. By 1939 the a cappella singers were recording their four-part harmony spirituals on the prestigious Decca label. By 1942 they had moved north to Philadelphia and then New York where, backed by Lester Young's band, they regularly brought the house down at the city's first integrated nightclub, Café Society. From there the group rode a wave of popularity that would propel them to nation-wide tours, major record contracts, collaborations with Stevie Wonder and Paul Simon, and a career still vibrant today as they approach their seventy-fifth anniversary. Drawing generously on interviews with Hank Ballard, Otis Williams, and other artists who worked with the Hummingbirds, as well as with members James Davis, Ira Tucker, Howard Carroll, and many others, The Dixie Hummingbirds brings vividly to life the growth of a gospel group and of gospel music itself.

Author Biography

Jerry Zolten is an Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and American Studies at Penn State University Altoona. The co-author of Speaking to an Audience, he has written profiles of blues artists for Living Blues magazine and penned the liner notes to two of The Dixie Hummingbirds latest compilation CDs. A part-time record producer and promoter, he lives in Warriors Mark, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
``A Wheel in a Wheel, `Way Up in the Middle of the Air'' (1916--1928)	1	(16)
``I Just Got On My Travelin' Shoes'' (1929--1938)	17	(32)
``Ain't Gonna Study War No More'' (1939--1942)	49	(30)
``Twelve Gates to the City'' (1943--1944)	79	(38)
``Move On Up a Little Higher'' (1945--1949)	117	(38)
``My Record Will Be There'' (1950--1951)	155	(48)
``Let's Go Out to the Programs'' (1952--1959)	203	(58)
``Loves Me Like a Rock'' (1960--1976)	261	(40)
``Who Are We?'' (1977 and Beyond)	301	(21)
Notes	322	(16)
Bibliography	338	(9)
The Dixie Hummingbirds on Record	347	(10)
Credits	357	(2)
General Index	359	(7)
Index of Groups	366	(2)
Gospel Song Titles	368