Gospel Music Booking Agency

Perhaps among the oldest music genres, yet one still thriving in the new millennium, is the genre of gospel. With ancient roots, the earliest written account of gospel music appears in the hymns and sacred songs of the 1600’s, which are likely part of the black oral tradition of “call and response.” Today, gospel music is a wide genre with multiple subgenres (gospel blues, southern gospel, Christian country music, and bluegrass gospel), characterized by dominant lyrics with a strong Christian message.

Among the most famous recorded hymns of the gospel genre include “Amazing Grace” and “Rock of Ages,” both documented as having been writing in the mid 1700’s in England by members of the Anglican Church. A century later, the term “gospel song” appeared for the first time in various collections, and by the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, publishing houses such as those run by Charlie Tillman and Homer Rodeheaver had divisions dedicated to the genre.  

By the mid 1950’s, groups such as the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, the Golden Gate Quartet, the Fairfield Four, and the Dixie Hummingbirds were all performing gospel music in traditional a cappella style, paving the way for the rise in gospel music which would explode shortly after the end of World War II. By the late 1950’s, gospel music had exploded in popularity and performances in large auditoriums and music halls such as Carnegie Hall and even Madison Square Garden were commonplace. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, gospel and Christian artists such as Barbara Mandrell and Charlie Daniels enjoyed crossovers to the mainstream, and both Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley achieved success during their “gospel periods” of the 1970’s. The 1980’s then saw the rise of major crossover artists such as Amy Grants, with hits such as “Baby, Baby” and “Every Heartbeat.”

Today, in the new millennium, multiple successful artists of the 1980’s and 1990’s, such as Yolanda Adams and Marvin Sapp, continue to enjoy success alongside newer Christian and gospel music artists such as Michael W. Smith, Charlotte Church, and even Brian Littrell, who after the Backstreet Boys disbanded returned to his early Christian music roots. Perhaps the most stable of all the music genres, Christian music and its various subgenres continues to thrive well into the new millennium with anticipated success for the decades to come.