View source for African American gospel

== Summary ==
Church choirs, soloists, quartets and contemporary band-led gospel rooted in African American religious and musical life. This is a regional or stylistic browsing category within [[Gospel]], rather than a claim that every church, language or arrangement in the area is identical.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ MuGlobe genre parents
! Parent ID !! Parent article
|-
| gospel || [[Gospel]]
|}

== Contemporary and trending ==
Contemporary African American gospel includes both tightly arranged commercial recordings and extended worship performances. Todd Dulaney's Your Great Name, the collaborative singing around Maverick City Music and the directing/keyboard-led ensemble heard in Kirk Franklin's Tiny Desk session offer different entry points. Contemporary worship and gospel overlap in these projects, but an artist's race alone does not make every recording gospel.

== History ==
African American gospel grew through Black churches, hymn writing, spirituals, quartet singing and Holiness-Pentecostal practice. Thomas A. Dorsey's work and Chicago's publishing and church networks are important to one influential formation. Migration connected southern communities with northern cities. Mahalia Jackson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe remain historical reference points; their recordings are preserved on the parent Gospel page.
<ref>[https://www.loc.gov/collections/songs-of-america/articles-and-essays/musical-styles/ritual-and-worship/african-american-gospel African American gospel — contextual source].</ref>

== Musical characteristics ==
Expressive lead voices, responsive choirs, organ and rhythm sections; contemporary studio and live worship coexist. Compare the lead voice with the ensemble response, the rhythmic backing with the phrasing of the text, and the difference between a communal refrain and an individually directed performance. The recordings below are particular examples, not a complete inventory of the category.

== Geography and communities ==
The southern US and the Great Lakes/eastern church and migration networks form connected landscapes. A separate western field represents established migrant and church circuits. These are musical networks rather than a Christian population map. Canadian associations require a documented community connection; an American recording is not automatically a representative example for Inuit or other distinct Canadian communities.

== Artists ==
Todd Dulaney, Maverick City Music with Joe L Barnes and Naomi Raine. The selections below identify specific works and versions rather than assigning the entire output of an artist to this category. Uploader credits are explicitly labelled when the source does not securely identify every performer. A concert, choir video and studio release may represent different parts of the same scene.

== Representative performances ==
Original repertoire dates, recording dates and video-publication dates describe different events. Unknown dates remain unknown. Historical examples are retained for reference and excluded from geographic autoplay.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ MuGlobe listening profile
! Repertoire !! Field use !! Notes
|-
| popular || regional || Local Gospel repertoire; country and region contexts below take precedence over broad field reach.
|}

{| class="wikitable muglobe-performances"
|+ MuGlobe representative performances
! Artist !! Performance / song / title !! Embedded player URL !! Notes !! Repertoire kind !! Repertoire date !! Recording date !! Format !! Opening !! Places !! Fit !! Evidence !! Review note
|-
| Todd Dulaney || Todd Dulaney - Your Great Name (Official Video) || https://www.youtube.com/embed/dSr2BhSBtm0 || Local African American gospel selection. Video publication: 2018-01-08; this is not automatically the original release or recording date. Embedded playback checked 19 October 2026. || popular || 2017 || unknown || music-video || unknown || country:United States || supported || [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSr2BhSBtm0 Recording source] || Specific work and community reviewed from the linked recording and artist/context sources. Unknown original/session dates are not inferred from upload dates. <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSr2BhSBtm0 Todd Dulaney - Your Great Name (Official Video) — source channel: MNRK Nashville].</ref>
|-
| Maverick City Music with Joe L Barnes and Naomi Raine || Promises (feat. Joe L Barnes &amp; Naomi Raine) - Maverick City &#124; TRIBL || https://www.youtube.com/embed/yNOw5iBoCd0 || Local African American gospel selection. Video publication: 2021-06-13; this is not automatically the original release or recording date. Embedded playback checked 19 October 2026. || popular || 2020 || unknown || music-video || unknown || country:United States || supported || [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNOw5iBoCd0 Recording source] || Specific work and community reviewed from the linked recording and artist/context sources. Unknown original/session dates are not inferred from upload dates. <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNOw5iBoCd0 Promises (feat. Joe L Barnes &amp; Naomi Raine) - Maverick City &#124; TRIBL — source channel: Joe L Barnes].</ref>
|-
| Todd Dulaney || Todd Dulaney - Psalm 18 (I Will Call On The Name) (Live at World Harvest) || https://www.youtube.com/embed/26TNVzI3PLg || Local African American gospel selection. Video publication: 2020-01-24; this is not automatically the original release or recording date. Embedded playback checked 19 October 2026. || popular || 2020 || unknown || live || unknown || country:United States || supported || [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26TNVzI3PLg Recording source] || Specific work and community reviewed from the linked recording and artist/context sources. Unknown original/session dates are not inferred from upload dates. <ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26TNVzI3PLg Todd Dulaney - Psalm 18 (I Will Call On The Name) (Live at World Harvest) — source channel: MNRK Nashville].</ref>
|}

== Related genres ==
[[Gospel]] is the parent overview and links to the other regional/style categories. [[Spirituals]], [[Soul]], [[Rhythm and blues]] and [[Blues]] share historical resources and performers. [[Southern gospel]] has its own quartet and family-group institutions. Contemporary worship can overlap with gospel while differing in musical emphasis and congregational use.

=== References and further reading ===
<references />

== Hotspot mushrooms ==
The southern US and the Great Lakes/eastern church and migration networks form connected landscapes. A separate western field represents established migrant and church circuits. These are musical networks rather than a Christian population map. Canadian associations require a documented community connection; an American recording is not automatically a representative example for Inuit or other distinct Canadian communities.
These fields are editorial illustrations of musical affinity, not measured listener shares. Radius is the zero edge; overlapping fields combine by maximum.
{| class="wikitable muglobe-hotspots"
|+ MuGlobe hotspot mushrooms
! ID !! Location !! Latitude !! Longitude !! Radius (km) !! Strength !! Notes
|-
| african-american-gospel-landscape-1 || African American gospel — principal connected landscape || 33 || -86 || 1700 || 1 || The southern US and the Great Lakes/eastern church and migration networks form connected landscapes. A separate western field represents established migrant and church circuits. These are musical networks rather than a Christian population map. Canadian associations require a documented community connection; an American recording is not automatically a representative example for Inuit or other distinct Canadian communities.
|-
| african-american-gospel-landscape-2 || African American gospel — second connected landscape || 41 || -82 || 1600 || 0.9 || The southern US and the Great Lakes/eastern church and migration networks form connected landscapes. A separate western field represents established migrant and church circuits. These are musical networks rather than a Christian population map. Canadian associations require a documented community connection; an American recording is not automatically a representative example for Inuit or other distinct Canadian communities.
|-
| african-american-gospel-landscape-3 || African American gospel — separated landscape || 36 || -120 || 1200 || 0.9 || The southern US and the Great Lakes/eastern church and migration networks form connected landscapes. A separate western field represents established migrant and church circuits. These are musical networks rather than a Christian population map. Canadian associations require a documented community connection; an American recording is not automatically a representative example for Inuit or other distinct Canadian communities.
|}