I was reminded of how great contemporary gospel music and artists are, when Bobby in the American Utopia band reminded me that THIS was going to happen:

 

Legally, I am limited in these playlists to how many tracks by any one artist I can include...so if you like an artist, dig deeper. You might not be a believer, you might not be a Christian, but you don't have to be to love this music and feel its power. That goes for many other kinds of sacred music around the world- but these artists will make you jump up and dance. I included some of these songs on a playlist years ago, and it keeps growing. There are plenty of introspective ballads out there- but I leaned more on the uptempo funk numbers.

Now, let's talk about genres and categories. I have called this collection contemporary gospel- which at first glance doesn't raise any eyebrows. Then, if we think about it, maybe "gospel" is actually a euphemism for "Black Christian". "Christian pop" is mostly white- more like Katie Hudson, which is who Katie Perry used to be when she was a Chrisitian artist. This is not a criticism of Katie Hudson/Perry but rather an example of how fuzzy the boundaries are and how muddy the definitions….and how embedded these euphemisms can be.

Anyway, traditional gospel (like the tracks with Aretha on this playlist) has evolved. And it's huge- I attended a sold out show at Radio City years ago- hardly a small venue- I think it was Fred Hammond and he blew the roof off.

-David Byrne