HIGHEST praise for one of the most beautifully documented gospel box-sets that has surely been created – I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville, 1958-1981. The hyperbole is most certainly to be believed when you delve into the music, but in addition, the online archival resource is something to behold.

This is a one-of-a-kind cultural preservation initiative and has been curated by The Louisville Story Program (LSP), which partners with “historically misrepresented or underrepresented communities in Louisville to document their stories in their own words,” according to staff. Crucially, the team have accompanied elders in the city’s gospel community during a three-year process to further build their musical and cultural legacy.

Some of the video footage now assembled will surely make connoisseurs of the gospel genre weak at the knees, with a painstaking and loving process throughout this project, that now brings artists from across the history of Louisville to the light.

I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville, 1958-1981 features 83 archival recordings that have been restored from the original vinyl, with a 208-page full-colour book documenting Louisville’s rich Black gospel music legacy and written by the people themselves who have built it. The companion double LP is a treasured work in itself. But in addition, LSP has created an extensive digital archive of photos, videos, and 1,000 songs by 125 gospel artists, to which the local community can continue to add to in subsequent years. 

In the mid-20th Century, a potent creative movement was documented in Louisville, as small recording studios and record labels – such as Sensational Sounds, Grace Gospel, and Blessed – captured the sound and spirit of the city’s gospel choirs and quartets.

Over the years, those powerful and priceless recordings, along with the stories of the people behind them, became endangered and may have been lost forever. Thankfully, LSP’s partnership with elders in the local gospel community have now assured that this rich cultural legacy will live on for generations to come.

Darcy Thompson, Executive Director of the Louisville Story Program​, said: “This type of preservation project urgently needs to happen in other cities while the elders who carry the history are still among us, and the Louisville Story Program has created a blueprint of how to go about it.

“For decades, the passion, hard work and support of countless people across dozens of Black church communities in Louisville have nurtured and sustained a rich gospel music ecosystem. This music has served as a central part of religious practice and as an expression of Black pride, joy, affirmation, love, dignity, determination and hope. That legacy continues to this day.

“This project was made possible by women and men with a zeal for preserving a cultural heritage whose richness and importance cannot be overstated.

“Without efforts like theirs, this vital history would be in danger of fading away. And these songs, performed by custodians, truck drivers, cooks, masons, mechanics, upholsterers, dry cleaners, schoolteachers, funeral directors, and other supremely talented artists of modest means, are nothing short of transcendent to this day. They are a testament to the human spirit, to the abundance of brilliance in Louisville’s Black community, and to the power of faith.

“The authors of I’m Glad About It have ensured that future generations will better understand the shoulders upon which they stand, and that new audiences of all backgrounds can appreciate this rich history and be moved by this powerful music.”

LSP is located at 859 Library Lane, Louisville, KY 40203 and can be contacted at (502) 583-3326 or via email:  hello@louisvillestoryprogram.org. 

Some of the best archival gospel footage ever brought together in one place can now be enjoyed worldwide.

To learn more, visit https://www.louisvillestoryprogram.org/.