Happy 20th Anniversary to the Journal of Gospel Music

Twenty years ago, on July 28, 2004, the Black Gospel Blog – renamed the Journal of Gospel Music on July 28, 2014 – was born.

Here was the very first post:

Hello, gospel music fans!  Bookmark this blog because in the days, weeks, and months to come, it will feature a continuation of the same essential black gospel information you have enjoyed at www.island.net/~blues/gospel.htm.  I’ll be passing along info on gospel pioneers, continuing the list of “Must Have” gospel songs from the beginning of recorded sound through today, discussing reissues of golden gospel as well as some of the best of the new sounds. 

In the meantime, listen to Chicago’s WLUW 88.7 fm for “Gospel Memories” on Sunday, August 1 from 2:00 to 6:30 a.m. for great gospel, spirituals, and jubilees from a by-gone era.  Don’t live in Chicago?  No problem.  Go to www.wluw.org Sunday morning and listen to the live webcast from your computer.  Gospel Memories: your “great camp meeting on the air!”   Best, Bob Marovich 

We’ve come a long way – the gospel page on island.net is gone, we write about more than “‘must have’ gospel songs,” and Gospel Memories now airs every Saturday from 10 – 11 a.m. Central Time.

With 5,390 posts, a Rhythm of Gospel Award, dozens of interviews, and thousands of visitors every month, the Journal of Gospel Music is, in the words of Albertina Walker: “Still here!” Thank you to every one who has ever clicked on this page over these twenty years. Without ‘u,’ there’s no us.