American Prophets: The Platinum Age of Gospel (IN PERSON)
Minister, gospel artist, and scholar Charrise Barron visits the American Writers Museum to discuss her new book The Platinum Age of Gospel: The Years When Crossover Music Changed Everything, which tells the story of how Black gospel music crossed over, reshaped American popular music, and transformed the culture at large. Books will be available for purchase and Barron will sign them following the program.
This is an in person program at the American Writers Museum. This program will also be livestreamed, and you can register for the link to the online broadcast here.
This program is presented in conjunction with the AWM’s special exhibit American Prophets: Writers, Religion, and Culture, a powerful new exhibit that takes you on the ultimate exploration through spirituality and storytelling. American Prophets is supported by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative.
More about The Platinum Age of Gospel:
Gospel music is the soundtrack of Black Christian history, a soulful expression of faith, endurance, and hope. From the mid-twentieth-century Golden Age of gospel—when artists like Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward helped make church music a national force—to today, gospel has evolved from images of energetic choirs belting and clapping in rhythm into a sound as innovative and pervasive as chart-topping pop.
Ethnomusicologist, minister, and gospel singer Charrise Barron calls 1993 to 2013 the Platinum Age of Gospel, when new artists and industry executives pushed gospel beyond the church and into a commercial, show-driven, crossover era. While traditional and early contemporary gospel arose from church life, Platinum Age gospel often emerged from outside it, stretching the boundaries of worship and religiosity and helping to reshape Black churches—especially megachurches—and what it means to be a Black Christian.
Crossover music and Christian entertainment transformed gospel and amplified shifts in Black Pentecostalism. Gospel came to encompass far more sounds than most people imagine—from the diverse and collaborative worship of Israel Houghton to the “sexy for Jesus” flare of Mary Mary; from Fred Hammond and CeCe Winans’s soaring praise to Kirk Franklin’s hip hop and R&B fusions and Kim Burrell’s velvety rasp and runs. Bridging Christian and secular audiences, these pioneers and their producers redrew the boundaries of the genre. The Platinum Age of Gospel calls readers to reckon with what changed—and to examine and preserve gospel’s soul.
Praise for The Platinum Age of Gospel:
“So much of today’s Black gospel is decidedly not our grandmothers’ gospel. In The Platinum Age of Gospel, Charrise Barron tells us why. With this important book, Barron illuminates the convergence of social, confessional, and commercial forces that have transformed gospel’s center of gravity, surrendering worship and resistance to the exigencies of the market. If you want to understand much of contemporary gospel music, you must read this book!”
—Braxton D. Shelley, author of An Eternal Pitch
“Charrise Barron has given us a courageous and vital book that traces gospel’s journey from a prophetic voice for justice to a powerful mainstream force. With clarity and conviction, she elucidates what is at stake if the music loses its original spirit of inspiration and empowerment. This is an urgent call to protect the soul of gospel, and it deserves to be heard.”
—Malcolm du Plessis, songwriter and founder of Common Hymnal
“The Platinum Age of Gospel is powerful, honest, and anointed. It will make you think about what we carry in the sound and what we must never lose as we move forward.”
—Dr. Elbernita “Twinkie” Clark
CHARRISE BARRON is a minister, a gospel artist, and Associate Professor of Music at Harvard University. A founding member of Chorale Le Chateau, in 2009 she performed at the Kennedy Center as part of President Barack Obama’s inaugural celebrations.