gospel music

noun

1. a now popularized form of impassioned rhythmic spiritual music rooted in the solo and responsive church singing of rural African Americans in the South, central to the development of rhythm and blues and of soul music.

gospel music

1. Intense, joyful music that is associated with evangelists ( see evangelical ) in the South, especially among African-Americans. Gospel had a strong influence on many rock 'n' roll singers. Well-known gospel artists include Mahalia Jackson and the Dixie Hummingbirds.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gospel music¹

First recorded in 1950–55

Example Sentences

She didn’t have any formal music training, instead drawing on what was around her growing up: gospel music and call-and-response folk traditions.

From Los Angeles Times

On a Sunday morning in September, the air inside the historic Mt Lebanon AME Zion Church was filled with the sounds of gospel music, prayer - and politics.

From BBC

Named after a historic Black music hall in Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood — where Solange grew up with her older sister, pop superstar Beyoncé — the series follows an earlier installment held last year at New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music; among the artists on the L.A. lineup are Patrice Rushen, Bilal, Moses Sumney, Dominique Johnson, J*Davey and the Gospel Music Workshop of America’s Women of Worship choir.

From Los Angeles Times

The music itself blends jazz, blues and gospel music, creating a compositional voice the New York Times described as "dominated by lushly chromatic and modal harmonic writing, spiked with jagged rhythms and tart dissonance."

From Salon

There’s a sort of uneasy relationship between gospel music and rock music that I actually don’t really like.

From Los Angeles Times