Listen to WKSU at 1 p.m. on Sundays in February for special programs that raise the roof with gospel's influence on popular music. Hosted by Grammy Award-winning gospel singer Cece Winans and produced by WXPN for NPR, Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul airs on Feb. 3, 10, 17 and 24 to celebrate Black History Month.
This limited-run series is the culmination of a 15-month project that included field research in Memphis, Nashville, and Chicago, building a content-rich website (xpngospelroots.org), live events in Philadelphia with gospel legends The Fairfield Four, The Dixie Hummingbirds, the Fisk Jubilee Singers and numerous interviews with musicians, historians and scholars. Each hour of Gospel Roots of Rock and Soul will illustrate the influence of gospel on secular music, celebrating the roots of black gospel and its impact on major artists.