From 1937 to 1989, the Rev. William Holmes Borders Sr. was the pastor for the Wheat Street Baptist Church, which has served Atlanta for nearly 150 years. Rev. Borders had a reputation for knowing and loving good gospel music, which became clear with the songs the choir recorded.

The Black Gospel Restoration Project works to preserve America's fast-vanishing vinyl legacy of gospel music's golden age. Some of the records they receive and preserve are by well-known (and well-documented) artists. Others, however, are obscure artists with little known about them. One such group: The Friendly Four.

Billy Preston's "Gospel in My Soul" -- a song filled with a sanctified beat and a screaming Hammond organ -- has all the makings of a gospel classic. (And close listeners would recognize it as the theme song for Shout!). In this episode, Robert Darden looks at the life and times of Billy Preston.

The title of gospel's first super-group belongs to the Roberta Martin Singers. In this episode of Shout! host Robert Darden tells us at one point in the late 1940s and 50s, every major gospel artist came through the group.

Not all gospel songs are strictly religious, some addressed civil rights and current affairs. One event that saw gospel tributes was the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In this episode we listen to the Dixie Hummingbirds' tribute "My Prayer for Peace".

In this episode of Shout! host Robert Darden looks at the life and times of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a masterful guitarist and gospel's first true star in the 1930s and 40s.

"Sweet Little Jesus Boy" is often considered a spiritual, but this Christmastime song isn't actually a spiritual at all. In this episode of Shout! host Robert Darden tells us about the song, and we hear The Harmonizing Four's rendition of it.

Some of the most well-known spirituals revolve around Christmas. These songs - like "Mary, Whatcha Gonna Call That Pretty Little Baby" -- were featured in the 1961 off-broadway premiere of Black Nativity.

In this episode of Shout! host Robert Darden takes us to Birmingham, Alabama, where we hear the sounds of one of the area's greatest gospel quartets, Dorothy Love Coates and the Gospel Harmonettes.

Most everybody admires Aretha Franklin, but who does the music icon look to for inspiration? In this episode of Shout! host Robert Darden talks about The Davis Sisters, a group who specialized in "hard gospel".