These Radiant Gospel Songs Will Lift Your Spirits

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Monika Bauerlein,
CEO

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The next few months are make-or-break for Mother Jones’ fundraising. We need to raise $300,000 quickly, and we need more online readers to pitch in than have been. Please learn more in "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," where we go into the brutal economics of journalism, and what makes Mother Jones unique and worth supporting if you can right now.

Various Artists

Jesus Rocked the Jukebox: Small Group Black Gospel (1951-1965)

Craft Recordings

If you want to know how James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding and a host of other great singers first became inspired, check out Jesus Rocked the Jukebox, a two-disc, 40-track set collecting floor-shaking, window-rattling expressions of joy and praise. The exuberant vocals and surging rhythms of such vital performers as the Pilgrim Travelers, Happyland Singers, and Detroiters will elevate the spirits of the weariest listeners, regardless of one’s belief (or lack thereof). Among the radiant highlights: the Soul Stirrers’ “Jesus Gave Me Water,” starring the astoundingly charismatic Sam Cooke before he became a pop star, and the Staple Singers’ eerie “Uncloudy Day,” featuring Mavis Staples, who’s still going strong today. This isn’t a definitive gospel collection, since the Mighty Clouds of Joy and solo faves like Sister Rosetta Tharpe are absent, but it’s a guaranteed good time.