Georgia Tom, (Thomas Dorsey) is considered by many to be the father of black gospel music. He was born in Villa Rica, Georgia in 1899, living to the ripe old age of 93, passing away in 1993. His early career was spent with such famous blues men as Tampa Red. Later in his career, he turned to gospel, writing many current standards. These include “Peace In The Valley” (recorded by Mahalia Jackson) and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand“. His songs have been recorded by a veritable who’s who of the music world. think, Elvis Presley, think Aretha Franklin, even Roy Rogers. Now to some music.
First up is a blues number sung by the man himself.
Maybe It’s The Blues
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This next one is a recording of Mahalia Jackson.
Peace In The Valley
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Here is Elvis singing Precious Lord
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As a final treat, we have Thomas Dorsey discussing gospel music and the story behind Precious Lord. Great stuff.
Related articles
- Thomas A Dorsey, the Father of Gospel (showedupandshowedout.wordpress.com)
I love She Blinded Me With Science.
Close. Lol.
I love him! “Science!”
Good stuff.
One of my many weaknesses. The blues.
Really good, not a big blues fan, but this was good.
Very gospel. A bit off the blues although still in the same ballpark.
Yes, very smooth.
An interesting artist. A mixture of old time blues and gospel. One of those guys with a profound influence on modern music.
Peace in the Valley is captivating. Sounded like Aretha Franklin before I read the artist.
Aretha has done some of his tunes so a good comparison. Someone somewhere must have thought that to
Nice post. I played every clip. What a treat, and I’m very impressed that you included Elvis in your tribute.
If Elvis had a choice I think he would gave done nothing but gospel.