Search - Various Artists :: Gospel at Newport 1959/63-66

The Newport Folk Festival in its 1960s heyday was noted for spotlighting new and old folkies and, to a lesser degree, rediscovered bluesmen. One of the complementary elements to the fest, however, was gospel, with leading lights of the day turning up on the regular program and as part of Sunday morning workshops. Vanguard Records' 19-song anthology gathers a dozen performers singing songs of praise. Not all the featured artists fall into the strict gospel camp; nonsecular stalwarts including the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Swan Silvertones, and Dorothy Love Coats and the Original Gospel Harmonettes are sequenced alongside the likes of astonishing Bahaman guitarist Joseph Spence, the soulful Staples Singers, and Delta bluesman Son House. The setting has a slight modifying effect on the performers, but as a documentation of the meeting of two very different communities--the older, black, god-fearing performers and a young, white, mostly curious audience--Gospel at Newport is hard to beat. --Steven Stolder