Saved by Song: A History of Gospel and Christian Music

Saved by Song is a sweeping overview of the history of gospel music. Powerful and incisive, it traces contemporary Christianity and Christian music to the sixteenth century and the Protestant Reformation after examining music in the Bible and early church music. In America, gospel music has been divided between white and black gospel. Within these divisions are further divisions: southern gospel, contemporary Christian music, spirituals, and hymns. Don Cusic has provided background and insight into the developments of all these rich facets of gospel music. From the psalms of the early Puritans through the hymns of human composure of Isaac Watts and the social activism of the Wesleys, to the camp meeting songs of the Kentucky Revival, the spirituals that came from the slave culture and the hymns from the great revival after the Civil War, gospel music advanced through the nineteenth century. The twentieth century brought the technologies of recordings and the electronic media to gospel music. Saved by Song is ultimately the definitive and complete history of a uniquely American art form. It is a must for anyone interested in the musical and spiritual life of a nation.