Blind Willie Johnson provides a link between the spirituals and modern gospel. This brilliant steel-guitar player was a street musician in Texas in the 1930s and '40s and only recorded two dozen incredibly rare 78s and yet he is considered one of the greatese of all American musicians.

On "Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go," Marion Williams is accompanied by the best studio musicians Atlantic Records has to offer - and the resulting 45 is one of the classics of gospel music.

The popular Skyways, led by W.C. Johnson, toured heavily in the 1960s and '70s as one of the vanguard artists of the new contemporarary gospel sound.

With mighty voiced Liz Dargan as the lead vocalist, the Gospelettes released a number of memorable singles in the early '70s, including a fiery version of "Lord, You've Been Good to Me."

The Mighty Superiors, known from only a couple of obscure 45s on the Song Bird label, prove that in gospel music an artist doesn't have to be famous to be good.

With the Gospel Keynotes, Willie Neal Johnson released a string of memorable, soulful LPs for Nashboro and Malaco beginning in the late '70s.

With the Pentecostal Mass Choir of Chicago, Charles Watkins was a gospel music innovator, bringing new textures, rhythms and instrumentations to gospel music.

This nifty self-produced live LP features several great gospel songs on the A side and the powerful, expressive sermon The Ball Game of Life on the B side.

Chicago's Kelly Brothers bounced around gospel music for a while, cutting great songs, but never catching a break before moving to King Records in 1963 to record the R&B hit "It Won't Be This Way Always" as the Kingpins - the year before thr King label went out of business.

Legendary gospel producer, Rev. Lawrence C Roberts, produced most of the Savoy/ Gospel label's hits during the 1950s and '60s - usually featuring his own backup singers, the multi-talented Lawrence Roberts Singers.