Pace Jubilee Singers Inducted into the Starr-Gennett Walk of Fame

Rachel E. Sheeley of the Palladium-Item reports on the 2010 induction ceremonies at the Starr-Gennett Walk of Fame this weekend in Richmond, Indiana.  See link below.

The three artists recognized with their own medallions on the Walk of Fame were blues woman Alberta Hunter, guitarist Lonnie Johnson and Chicago’s own Pace Jubilee Singers.  Each artist was recorded on the Gennett label, or its subsidiaries.

The Pace Jubilee Singers (medallion, right), who recorded for a variety of labels between 1926 and 1929, released sides for Gennett between March 1927 and March 1928.

Frances Pace Barnes, daughter of Charles H. Pace, founder of the Pace Jubilee Singers, was present for the festivities and was interviewed for the article.  TBGB’s Bob Marovich was honored to meet Ms. Barnes and to provide biographical information on her father’s group, which is credited with being a musical bridge between jubilee singing and the emerging gospel sound of the late 1920s.

Other artists represented on the Walk of Fame due to their association with Gennett — “the original indie label” — include Louis Armstrong, Fletcher Henderson, Bix Beiderbecke, Hoagy Carmichael, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Thomas A. Dorsey.  Dorsey recorded blues for the label in the 1920s.

During the festival, the Eternal Joy Singers, a gospel group, performed a tribute to the Pace Jubilee Singers.

The original site of the Gennett recording studios was mapped out so festivalgoers could experience where Louis Armstrong and other famous musicians played and sang onto disc.

Read more here: Pace Jubilee Singers