THE SOUL STIRRERS
The Soul Stirrers are an American gospel music group, whose career spans over eighty years. The group was a pioneer in the development of the quartet style of gospel, and a major influence of soul music, doo wop, and Motown sound, some of the secular music that owed much to gospel. Among the members of the group was R. (Reubert) H. Harris, who soon became its musical leader. The Soul Stirrers formed as a Jubilee quartet, transformed their sound, influenced by many hard gospel singers such as Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. The Soul Stirrers signed with Specialty Records, where they recorded a number of tracks, including “By and By” and “In that Awful Hour”. Harris quit in late 1950 to form a new group. He was briefly replaced on lead by Paul Foster, then by Sam Cooke. (More from Wikipedia)
An incredible album that I picked up several years ago, This is How it All Began – on Specialty Records – is not the typical compilation album, but a carefully selected series of songs that looked (and sounded) like they might have come from someone’s doctoral dissertation on the origins of rock music. I only have the disk now naturally, but I remember that it was divided into four sections, with “Gospel” being the first. The four songs that start the album are these: “It’s Getting Late in the Evening” by Chosen Gospel Singers; “By and By” by the Soul Stirrers; “Somebody Touched Me” by Prof. Alex Bradford; and “Trouble in My Way” by the Swan Silvertones.
(July 2014)
