If I Fail, You Tell the World I Tried

If gospel music's golden era ran from 1945 to 1960, then Reverend W. Herbert Brewster is surely a key architect of the modern gospel sound. During that period, no other composer matched his popular success, rate of production, or spiritual influence. Brewster's achievement derived from his command of all the distinctive gospel traits and his capacity to explore them with more depth and vision than had previous composers. His lyrics draw from black idioms and folklore-a fountain that never runs dry-and comprise the best examples of twentieth-century spirituals. They also clearly evolve from the earlier work of two inspired Methodists-the white Englishman Isaac Watts and the black Philadelphian C. A. Tindley. Brewster's music was even more audacious in its range of influences and ambitions. Without being facetious, I would like to argue that the most salient musical qualities of gospel are its rhythm and its blues-by which I mean both the moans, slurs, and melismatic patterns that adorn Afro-American hymn singing and the ubiquitous use of the sixteen-bar blues form, what I call the blues. Brewster was fortunately situated in Memphis. Not only did he have that city's musical heritage to work from (as a young man, he learned from W. C. Handy), but he was also in immediate proximity to that powerhouse of gospel rhythms, the Church of God in Christ. To discuss Memphis gospel without citing Mason Temple is a bit like discussing sacred music in Rome without naming the Vatican. Many Methodist and Baptist preachers have become entangled in sectarian squabbles with the various Holiness sects, but Reverend Brewster's songs are a seamless blend of Baptist and Methodist decorum and Sanctified ecstasy. Brewster's innovations and his willingness to incorporate all manner of music and lyrical influences bespeak a generous intelligence. It is also a ANTHONY HEILBUT is the author of The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times, the first book-length study of gospel music. He has also produced numerous gospel albums, including winners of the Grammy Award and the Grand Prix du Disque

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