First-Time Buyers Guide to American Negro Spirituals;

This instructive and informative double CD set features a rundown of some of the most significant figures in 20th-century gospel music, including the composer Thomas A. Dorsey, the singer and actor Paul Robeson, and one of the all-time greats of the genre, Mahalia Jackson. Gospel groups include these menial late 19th and early 20th-century Fisk University Jubilee Singers, whose triumphant "Blow, Gabriel Blow" is a highlight, while the Reverend Gary Davis's "Twelve Gates to the City" highlights the long standing connection between gospel music and it's sinful cousin, the blues.