Chapter 12: Gospel, Blues and R&B
Thomas Andrew Dorsey is widely regarded as the father of modern gospel music, a title earned through his early fusion of sacred themes with the sounds and structures of blues and jazz. His work defined the core elements of the gospel genre as we know it today: melodic call and response, verse-chorus form, emotive performance, and a distinctly African American musical language rooted in both the church and secular culture.
Born in Villa Rica, Georgia, Dorsey was raised in the Baptist church, where he began playing organ. As a young man, he also worked in vaudeville theaters, exposing him to a wide array of secular musical traditions, especially the blues. After moving to Chicago, he performed under the stage name "Georgia Tom," teaming up with blues guitarist Tampa Red (Hudson Whittaker) in the late 1920s. Together, they recorded several popular hits including “It’s Tight Like That” (1928) and “Terrible Operation Blues” (1930)
Though Dorsey had been composing religious music since the early 1920s, it was not until the death of his wife and newborn child in 1932, that he fully turned to gospel music. That same year, he became Director of Gospel Choirs at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago and soon helped establish gospel music as a distinct genre. In 1933, he founded the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, a lasting institution dedicated to the development and training of gospel musicians.
Musically, Dorsey borrowed from popular song forms, often composing in verse-chorus structure and integrating call and response, melismas (multiple notes sung to a single syllable), and blue notes into his melodies. Although much of this expressive performance style was not written into the notation, gospel singers were expected to improvise, adding percussive handclaps, shouts, and personal flourishes to complement the melodies. These techniques linked Dorsey’s compositions directly to earlier African American traditions and set them apart from more formal, hymn-based church music.
At first, many churches rejected Dorsey’s songs, finding his blues-based harmonies and rhythms too close to “the devil’s music.” But Dorsey’s tireless promotion helped gospel music take root. Working with the powerful and charismatic singer Mahalia Jackson, he used street performances as a grassroots promotional tool. They would set up on busy corners, where Jackson would sing and Dorsey would sell sheet music to passersby, hoping the music would spread from household to church choir. This approach proved successful. By the 1940s, new gospel songs were so often in Dorsey’s style that many people simply called them “Dorseys.”
Dorsey’s most famous and enduring composition is “Precious Lord, Take My Hand,” written in 1932. The melody was adapted from a 19th-century hymn by George Nelson Allen and gained widespread recognition through Mahalia Jackson’s deeply moving performances. The song became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. frequently requested Jackson to sing it at rallies and services, and she performed it at King’s funeral in 1968.
Although Dorsey’s gospel music initially met with resistance, it ultimately transformed Black religious worship throughout America. By the 1940s and 1950s, churches nationwide were purchasing instruments to accompany their choirs in this new style, and gospel had become the dominant form of Black sacred music.
Dorsey’s impact extended well beyond the church. His fusion of sacred themes with blues structures directly influenced soul, rhythm and blues, and eventually rock and roll. Artists like Ray Charles, who we will discuss further along in this chapter, later secularized gospel forms to create entirely new sounds. Today, Dorsey’s legacy endures not only in the many churches that continue to sing his songs but also in the wider musical culture he helped shape.