Walter Hawkins: A Tribute Concert

If you didn't catch the concert on TV, here's your chance to catch it, courtesy of the Gospel Music Channel.

You can watch it here: http://gmclife.com/walterhawkins


I chose not to embed it because the large dimensions of the video player did not allow it to fit within the margins.

Some may be wondering where the Golden Era connection is, considering "Oh Happy Day" is seen by many as the break away point from the Golden Era to today's era of gospel music. Well, I watched an episode of Faith & Fame about Walter Hawkins, and he personally cited groups such as The Caravans, The Davis Sisters, and The Clara Ward Singers as his influences. So there's your Golden Era connection right there!

Gospel Memories podcasts

If you're looking for a worthwhile series of podcasts to download to your MP3 player, I highly recommend that you try the Gospel Memories podcasts. As the saints would say in the old church, "I'm not tellin' you what I heard, I'm tellin' you what I know, 'cause I tried it for myself!" and I can say it's worth it! Each podcast is an hour long, recorded during Bob Marovich's weekly Gospel Memories program, and features great, rare vintage gospel music from Bob's expansive collection. It's truly a great asset to the gospel music historian community, as some of those recordings are being broadcasted for the first time in decades, and in some cases they are being broadcasted for the very first time, ever! Whether you need some tunes to keep you company on a long drive, on a flight, at home, or even at the gym (because we all know shouting music makes great treadmill music!), give the Gospel Memories podcasts a try.

Oh, did I mention they're free?

Click HERE for the latest podcasts.

The Golden Era Gospel Blog chosen as Finalist for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards in the category of Best Faith Based Blog

The finalists were announced this morning for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards, and I'm pleased to announce that The Golden Era Gospel Blog made the list of finalists.

I just want to say, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all my fans and friends who took the time to nominate the blog for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards. As the title of this post states, you can find this blog in the category of Best Faith Based Blog. Voting ends on August 31. The winners will be announced on September 1.

To vote, click HERE, or click the banner in the upper right hand corner of the page.

Once again, thanks for your continued support, and CONGRATS to my fellow finalists!

Happy 95th birthday to the late Frances "Sister Thunder" Steadman

On July 31, 1915, Frances Steadman was born. Her life would span an amazing 94 years, with her spending a majority of those years as a gospel singer with groups such as the Mary Johnson Davis Gospel Singers, The Clara Ward Singers and The Stars of Faith. Though her distinctive contralto was silenced late last year, her voice lives on today through recordings left behind for us to treasure for generations to come. YouTube user "BerniceJenkins2007" has posted a tribute to Frances Steadman in honor of what would have been her 95th birthday featuring recordings from her career with The Clara Ward Singers and The Stars of Faith. Enjoy!

Watch that vinyl spin!

Here's a Savoy Records 78 in good condition playing "Nothing But a God" by The Roberta Martin Singers with Norsalus McKissick leading. The song was written by James Cleveland in 1956 and recorded in 1957. Embedding is not allowed, so you'll have to click the link to see and hear it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=halcYKc_hBk&videos=i-KvfqHve90

Just 3 days left to nominate this blog for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards. Have you nominated this blog yet?

Nominations for the 2010 Black Weblog Awards ends in just days! You have until July 25 to nominate The Golden Era Gospel Blog! There are 5 categories which the blog is eligible for. But PLEASE, DO NOT NOMINATE THE BLOG IN ALL 35 LISTED CATEGORIES! I hear some people have been doing that to try to take the easy road. If you do that, that's considered ballot box stuffing and all of your nominations will be thrown out. To make sure your nomination does not get thrown out, only nominate the blog in the following 5 categories.

1. Best Culture Blog

This category is for blogs which analyze and discuss Black culture and/or the African diaspora with respect to art, dance, Black history, music, and other related content.

2. Best Faith-Based Blog

This category is for blogs which feature unique religious and spiritual content from any religion or faith.

3. Best Music Blog

This category is for blogs that focus on music; blogs can provide downloadable mp3s, and may cover more than one genre of music. The majority of the blog should be about music, not satire on pop culture.

4. Best New Blog

This category is for blogs of any topic which have been started on or after September 1, 2009. (Just for the record, this blog was started on September 23, 2009.)

5. Blog to Watch

This category is for that great blog that not everyone knows about…but should! It’s undiscovered. It’s a best kept secret. (Although it won’t be anymore if they win this award!)

A reader notified me that they nominated this blog for a sixth category for Best Writing in a Blog. If you believe the material on this blog is well written based on the overall posts, you can go ahead a nominate it the following category.

6. Best Writing in a Blog

This category is for blogs which have exceptional writing.

So, what are you waiting for? Get to voting! You can vote by clicking on the banner in the upper right corner, or by going to this link: https://3eighteenmedia.wufoo.com/forms/2010-black-weblog-awards-nomination-form/

One more word in honor of Bishop Walter Hawkins

The song says it all.