The Gospel Music That Comforted A Nation After JFK's Assassination

On November 22, 1963, Americans started the morning still riding the high of the successful end to the Cuban missile crisis a mere 13 months earlier. All was well in Camelot and America was, once again, living an "Ozzie and Harriet" life style. The Civil Rights Movement were gaining momentum following Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech three months earlier. Shots fired in Dallas brought things to a temporary halt and a nation was plunged into mourning. It was, as one baby boomer put it, "the day the music stopped."

The Jesus Movement was still a few years away so hymns in church and the popular Gospel albums of 1963 helped heal believers as they came to grips with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. As we remember that fated day, 50 years ago, let's pay homage to the artists behind the music.

Bones In The Valley - The Gospelaires of Dayton, Ohio

Track Listing:

  1. Bones In The Valley
  2. Nobody Knows The Trouble
  3. Why Should I Worry
  4. Thou Art Gone
  5. Ride This Train
  6. Coming Home
  7. Live So God Can Use You
  8. The Lord Will Make A Way
  9. Search Me Lord
  10. While The Blood Runs Warm
  11. Stay There
  12. The Last Day


Glory Train - The Watson Sisters

Track Listing:

  1. He Lives
  2. What A Friend We Have In Jesus
  3. I Don't Have To Run
  4. In Times Like These
  5. One Talk With Jesus
  6. Mount Olive
  7. Listen To The Lambs
  8. Blessed Are The Poor In Spirit
  9. Glory Train
  10. The Good Lord Provideth
  11. Jesus I'll Never Forget
  12. No Other Man Like The Lord


Greatest Hits - Mahalia Jackson

Track Listing:

  1. Walk in Jerusalem
  2. The Upper Room
  3. He Calmed The Ocean
  4. It Is No Secret (What God Can Do)
  5. How I Got Over It
  6. Then the Answer Came
  7. Just Over The Hill
  8. That's the Way He's Done for Me
  9. Move on Up a Little Higher
  10. Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen


Pop Gospel with Chris Barber - Alex Bradford

Track Listing:

  1. We Sure Do Need Him Now
  2. God Leads His Dear Children Along
  3. Can't Trust Nobody
  4. Jesus Is The Lover of My Soul
  5. Walking Up Kings Highway
  6. They've Got To Wait On Me
  7. Just a Closer Walk With Thee
  8. They Kicked Him Out
  9. Lord, Lord, Lord
  10. I Never Shall Forget
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