Go to:  GJ Main

Introduction

Welcome to Gloryland Jubilee, my new Web-based discography! I especially want to thank those of you who are familiar with Rockin' Country Style (my first record research project) for giving this new site a look. GJ's intended audience is people like you who collect American secular roots music but have picked up religious recordings and want to know more about them.

Why Sacred/Gospel Music?

The first question many will ask is why I have devoted so much time and effort to creating a discography of white sacred and gospel music. The most basic answer is that I enjoy the music and want to encourage other people to explore it. Many of the characteristics that appeal to enthusiasts of roots music can be found here (and, in some cases, had their origin here).

In addition, from a discographical standpoint this is a fascinating field. While there were a few prominent artists on major national labels, most releases appeared on nameless private labels, custom series, and local or regional labels. As a result, there is even more chaos than is usually the case with the record industry. This genre is in desperate need of control but hitherto has received comparatively little attention from collectors and discographers.

Scope

Defining the scope for a project like this is always tricky. No two researchers would approach it quite the same way. Here are some of the guidelines I have tried to employ.

This discography is limited to white sacred and gospel music. Why? For decades black gospel music has enjoyed the loving attention of many dedicated and careful scholars, the culmination being Cedric J. Hayes and Robert Laughton's Gospel Discography (Eyeball Productions, 2014). The field has no need for any additional contribution from me.

What is the stylistic scope of Gloryland Jubilee? Here are the categories that I have sought to include:

• Country
• Mountain/hillbilly
• Western/cowboy
• Bluegrass
• Southern Gospel
• Shape-note harmony
• Musical recordings by Bible Belt evangelists (but, as a general rule, not sermons or spoken word recordings)
• Religious output by country/mountain/bluegrass artists who normally made secular recordings
• Post-war reissues of pre-war oldtime sacred recordings

The chronological scope given on the home page is "1943-1969", but that is intended only to convey a general time period. 1943 is the customary starting point for "post-war" discographies due to the recording ban, shellac shortage, etc. I do not need to go back any further than that since Tony Russell's Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942 (Oxford University Press, 2004) does a splendid job of covering the "pre-war" period. 1969 is a convenient and memorable ending point, but I have not enforced it rigidly. In fact, my real goal is to be comprehensive in coverage from 1943 to 1969, but I happily include interesting records into the mid-1970s. Admittedly, I am pickier about later LPs than 45s/EPs for the simple reason that a mind-boggling number of gospel LPs were issued in the 1970s and it would be madness to try to catalog them all.

GJ includes all speeds and formats of singles, EPs, and LPs except transcripion discs.

GJ vs. RCS

Users of Rockin' Country Style will note many similarities between the two websites. While GJ was based on the RCS infrastructure and code, I have introduced a few changes along the way, some reflecting differences in the subject matter and some because starting with a clean slate made it possible to experiment without disrupting access to a public site. (Watchful RCS users may notice that some features developed for and tested on GJ have already been rolled out to RCS over the past year.)

• Prior to the creation of RCS there was already a large and vigorous reissue industry devoted to rockabilly. That certainly is not the case for white gospel music, so I have eliminated the comps portion of the database. I hope that one day I will feel the need to add it.
• Format (45, 78, 33, 45 EP, 78 EP, 10-inch LP, LP) is specified for all listings, and 78s are entered separately from the corresponding 45s.
• Private labels are a lot more prevalent in the gospel field, and I have had to refine the way I handle them (about which more below).
• Artist credits are transcribed more completely, along with any descriptions of the music that appear on the labels. Also, GJ includes searchable composer credits.
• For tracks with song samples, I have noted the vocal and instrumental characteristics, and this information is searchable.
• Label shots have been standardized at 700x700 pixels, as opposed to the 350x350 used in RCS until recently.
• Pressing plant references for King, RCA, and Rite include account numbers when I know them.
• For entries that do not yet have label shots, an upload button makes it possible for users to add their own images.
• Each disc has a button that users can use to submit corrections and other information.

More than two hundred artists appear in both RCS and GJ. Their artist pages include cross-reference links.

A Note on Private Labels

Private labels might be more prevalent in the sacred/gospel field than in any other. It was standard practice for a local group to make custom records to offer on the radio or at personal appearances. GJ includes almost a thousand such discs on hundreds of different labels. They fall into several categories. Here are my rules for dealing with the various types:

1. Label contains a normal-looking label name.
   Rule: Use the apparent label name.
2. Label contains no information that could reasonably be construed as a label name.
   Rule: Use the artist name as a surrogate label name with the prefix "Private: ".
3. The artist name superficially looks like a label name, but it appears only once on the label.
   Rule: Use the artist name as a surrogate label name with the prefix "Private: ".
4. The artist name appears in the usual place at the bottom of the label but is also duplicated (in full or in part) in plain text at the top in the location normally reserved for a label name.
   Rule: Use the artist name as a surrogate label name with the prefix "Private: ". If the form of name at the top differs from that at the bottom, use the one at the top.
5. The artist name appears in the usual place at the bottom of the label, while the top contains the artist name (in full or part) in a style that makes it look like a label name (possibly including the word "Records" after the name).
   Rule: Use the apparent label name.
6. The artist name appears in the usual place at the bottom of the label, while the top contains a label name that, while not duplicating the artist name, appears to be private in nature (initials, hometown, nickname, etc).
   Rule: Use the apparent label name.
7. The artist name appears in the usual place at the bottom of the label, while the top contains text that could be construed as either a label name or a disc title.
   Rule: Treat the text as a title. Use the artist name as a surrogate label name with the prefix "Private: ".
8. The artist name appears on the label. There is nothing that looks like a label name or logo, but the name of a studio, record company, or manufacturer appears in small print somewhere on the label.
   Rule: Use the artist name as a surrogate label name with the prefix "Private: ". There is one exception. "Gospel Supply" is used as the label name when present on Blackwood Brothers records in order to help distinguish between the four different private labels used by the Blackwoods.

Is It Finished?

While I believe that Gloryland Jubilee is useful in its present state, I recognize that it is not (and never will be) complete. I intend to update it regularly with new information, images, and song samples.

Terry Gordon
March 2020