BERNICE JOHNSON REAGON, HOST:
Songs and Singing as Church - from National Public Radio and the Smithsonian Institution, I'm Bernice Johnson Reagon, and this is WADE IN THE WATER.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WADE IN THE WATER")
SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK: (Singing) Wade in the water. Wade on through the water, children. Wade in the water because God's gon' trouble the water.
JOHNSON REAGON: I grew up in church, and I can remember being in service and having the person leading the service saying, come on now; let's have church. You got to put yourself in it to get something out of it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: If I were you, I'd praise him while I had a chance.
(SOUNDBITE OF GOSPEL ORGAN BREAK)
JOHNSON REAGON: Now, we were all inside of a church building. But this church leader was talking about something else. For African Americans, church was like food, nourishment for the spirit or for the soul. But in this case, you had to make up the food out of what you put in. You couldn't get anything out of church if you didn't put something in it.
Most of these services I went to as a child would have groups of people, but I also have heard older people talking and testifying about how they could get in their kitchens or be out in the field and start to singing and praying and have church all by themselves - them and their God. How does one make church or have church? To get started, there was always the songs and the singing.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGER #1: (Singer) Come and go to that land. Come...
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: (Singing) And go to that land. Oh, come and go to that land where I'm bound, where I'm bound. Oh, come and go to that land. Oh, come and go to that land. Oh, come and go to that land where I'm bound.
WYATT T WALKER: Well, there's an Ashanti proverb says that if there is no music, the spirit will not come. The whole oral tradition of West African traditional religion centers in music.
JOHNSON REAGON: Reverend Wyatt T. Walker, civil rights leader and Baptist minister.
WALKER: If you're going to do anything with people of African ancestry, you've got to have some music.
UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS: Oh, I got a mother in that land. Oh, I have a mother in that land. Oh, I have a mother in that land where I'm bound.
JOHNSON REAGON: Our people took us to church on Sundays, for prayer meetings during the week, revival meetings, to Sunday school. And then there were afternoon and evening programs that we called singings. And these singings were only to go and listen and enjoy music. These services always opened up with songs like "Come And Go To That Land," the song we've just listened to in a Demopolis, Ala., congregational service.
There are millions of African Americans who can look back on their growing-up days and tell the same story. Jessye Norman, the great singer of the concert stage, was born in Augusta, Ga., and she talked about how gospel programs created church for her and her community.
JESSYE NORMAN: And we had, I mean, people like the Mighty Clouds of Joy and Rosetta Tharpe - and if I could think of other gospel singers of the era - somehow ended up in our town singing at our church. I mean, it was something that was unbelievable. And of course, the whole church was clapping hands and the stamping of feet that went with this was a real - it was a real revival meeting every time one of these sort of rather sort of well-known groups would turn up, you know.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAVY LOAD (LIVE)")
MIGHTY CLOUDS OF JOY: I want everybody in this building, you upstairs and downstairs, put those hands together. Well, let me tell you - (singing) heavy load, heavy load - I've got rid of my heavy load.
Say it again.
(Singing) Heavy load, heavy load - I've got rid of my heavy load.
Wait a minute. Somebody know what I mean.
JOHNSON REAGON: The Mighty Clouds of Joy performing "Heavy Load" in a 1992 concert in Richmond, Va.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAVY LOAD (LIVE)")
MIGHTY CLOUDS OF JOY: (Singing) Well, I heard somebody say - this is what they said. I heard 'em say, on a Monday - on a Monday, I got rid of my heavy load. What y'all say? On a Monday - on a Monday, I got rid of my heavy load. Wait a minute.
WALKER: The three primary ingredients in African American worship are preaching, praying and singing. Preaching has been central in the Black church as it has developed into organized religion.
JOHNSON REAGON: Reverend Wyatt T. Walker
WALKER: In the days of slavery, singing was central because that was the only medium we had. Music survived the barbaric conditions of the Atlantic slave trade. And as we learned the pidgin English of the planters, we hung what we formed on the rhythm forms and musical idioms that survived by means of the oral tradition from West Africa and produced the baseline music art form of all music born on these shores. There is no music born in America that does not have the influence and the imprimatur of that Negro spiritual as we know it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THERE'S A MAN GOING ROUND")
NORMAN: (Singing) There's a man going round taking names. There's a man going round taking names. He has taken my father's name. And he's left my heart in pain. There's a man going round taking names. Oh, death is that man taking names. Oh, death is that man taking names. He has taken my mother's name. And he's left my heart in pain. Oh, death is that man taking names. There's a man going round taking names. There's a man going round taking names. He has taken my brother's name. And he's left my heart in pain. There's a man going round taking names. There's a man going round taking names.
JOHNSON REAGON: Jessye Norman singing the spiritual "There's A Man Going Round Taking Names" and then talking about how her singing leads her inside to that place where she finds church.
NORMAN: I find a meditative quality in many things that I sing. And that is what church means to me - the ability to become quiet, to become focused, to become centered, I suppose, to use all of these sort of New Age sort of expressions. But I really mean that. And I can find that in a great deal of music, and it might not be overtly religious music. I can sing songs about nature by Schubert that give me the kind of quiet that one would probably find in something that might be considered a more traditionally religious song.
ISAAC FREEMAN: I'm Isaac Freeman, the bass singer of the Fairfield Four from Nashville, Tenn. I was brought up in church. I always chose to work for the Lord. And I guess by me being in church all the time and - got to learn what church was all about and what we would sing and talk and pray about. And I just choose to take up singing. All I was interested in was just spiritual-type singing, so here I am today.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ROLL, JORDAN, ROLL")
FAIRFIELD FOUR: (Singing) Roll, Jordan, roll. Roll, Jordan, roll. I want to go to heaven when I die to hear Jordan roll - roll, roll. Now, Brother, you ought to been there - yes, my Lord - a-sitting in the kingdom to hear Jordan roll - roll, roll.
Roll, Jordan, roll. Roll, Jordan, roll. I want to go to heaven when I die to hear Jordan roll - well, roll, Jordan, roll. Well, roll, Jordan. Roll, Jordan. Roll, Jordan, roll. I want to go to heaven when I die. Oh, roll, Jordan, roll.
Well, then, Mother, you ought to been there. Oh, Mother, you ought to been there. Mother, you ought to been there. Roll, Jordan, roll. Then you could say roll - a-roll, Jordan - Jordan, roll. A-roll, Jordan. A-roll, Jordan. Roll, Jordan, roll. A-roll, Jordan. I want to go to heaven when I die. Oh, roll, Jordan, roll, oh.
Father, you ought to been there. Oh, Father, you - oh, yeah - ought to been there. Father, you ought to been there. Roll, Jordan, roll. Then you could say, roll - roll, Jordan - Jordan, roll. Hold on. Jordan, roll. A-roll, Jordan, a-roll, Jordan. I want to go to heaven when I die. Oh, roll, Jordan, roll, oh.
Oh, Sister, you ought to been there. Oh, Sister, you ought to been there. Oh, yeah. Sister, you ought to been there. Roll, Jordan, roll. Then you could say, roll - roll, Jordan - Jordan, roll. Hold on. Jordan, roll. A-roll, Jordan, a-roll, Jordan. I want to go to heaven when I die. Oh, roll, Jordan, roll.
Oh, said, Brother, you ought to been there now. Oh, Brother, you ought to been there. Brother, you ought to been there. Roll, Jordan, roll. Then you could say, roll - roll, Jordan - Jordan, roll. Hold on. Jordan, roll. A-roll, Jordan, a-roll, Jordan. I want to go to heaven when I die. Roll, Jordan, roll, roll, roll.
JOHNSON REAGON: Well, that's being swept away by Isaac Freeman, the bass singer of the Fairfield Four of Nashville, Tenn., performing the spiritual "Roll, Jordan, Roll." This is a group that's given us more than a half-century of great acapella gospel quartet music.
Now, you can listen to a song and be moved. Well, within the African American tradition, there is a high value put on being caught up in the singing. And you do that by raising your own voice in the creation of a song.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
MAHALIA JACKSON: And I just feel good all over when I sing gospel songs.
JOHNSON REAGON: Mahalia Jackson.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JACKSON: In a little church down in Louisiana - down in New Orleans, we used sang gospel songs there. And an old man on the riverfront used to teach me songs, and that's how I started to singing gospel songs, spirituals and folk songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HOLD ON")
JACKSON: (Singing) Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. Heard the voice of Jesus say, come unto me, I am the way you. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. When my way get dark as night, know the Lord will be my light. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on.
You can talk about me much as you please. The more you talk, I'm gon' stay on my knees. Keep your hands on the plow. Hold on. When I get to heaven, gon' sing and shout - be nobody there to put me out. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on.
Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on.
When I get to heaven, gon' sing and shout - be nobody there to put me out. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. I know my robe's gonna fit me well - tried it on at the gates of hell. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow. Hold on.
JOHNSON REAGON: The voice that brought gospel to the world - Mahalia Jackson and her performance of the spiritual "Keep Your Hands On The Plow (Hold On.)"
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JACKSON: That was a song of hope to hold on. The slaves used to sing that. I used to hear my father and my aunt and my mother and them just hum that song. Like, (singing) hold on (humming).
You could just hear them moan it like that. Maybe you wouldn't even hear the words, just hear them just moaning it, you know - and sometime in a groan - in a moan and a groan. That's why you catch - Negroes sometimes don't have words to say. But the groans of their heart, God understands it.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEE: Our Father in heaven, master, just once more and again, we have come as humble as...
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEES: (Vocalizing).
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Yes, yes, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEE: ...Come not for shape, form or fashion...
JOHNSON REAGON: Some people are able to build church as a living force into their daily work lives. At the Gatling funeral home in Chicago, each day starts with the staff in a circle in a devotional service. And they have church.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEE: ...And man will live again. But master, we come this morning, first of all, to tell you thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEES: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEE: Thank you, master, for watching over us all night last night.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEES: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED GATLING'S CHAPEL EMPLOYEE: And early this morning, Father, you touched us with a finger of love...
JOHNSON REAGON: Church is, when it is dynamic and alive, a way to be in relationship to God, to be in a relationship to that higher force in the universe. And music is often a key way for Black people to create that exchange, to create that ritual. The music community we know as jazz has many of its greatest artists who source the Creator as the place from which their talent flows. Randy Weston, pianist, believes that all music is the language of God.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY WESTON"S "A PRAYER FOR US ALL")
RANDY WESTON: So OK. So the thing is now, what is this music? What is it really that we call jazz - that we've given this name to this music? Well, for me it's simply just a branch of Mother Africa. That's what really is. And all of the music is sacred music and spiritual music. You see - because when you hear the masters or the really good musicians that we say from the jazz tradition - after they play, we look at the people. People have been healed spiritually. You see smiles on people's faces. But it's something that's very, very spiritual. And it's Africa. It is Mother Africa's contribution to the planet, all of these musics.
(SOUNDBITE OF RANDY WESTON'S "A PRAYER FOR US ALL")
JOHNSON REAGON: "A Prayer For Us All" by Randy Weston. And the prayer, the praise and the shout is often done without text. You can moan the tunes or travel on the deeply moving journey from the piano of Weston. Or one could turn to the spiritual work of Billy Preston when he touches the keys of the Hammond organ.
(SOUNDBITE OF BILLY PRESTON'S "AMAZING GRACE")
JOHNSON REAGON: "Amazing Grace" performed by Billy Preston.
BILLY PRESTON: As I approach a song, I try to let the instrument speak the words and sort of tell the story of the song and give it different inflections and feelings from the instrument. I really just let the spirit use me and try to interpret the song as it comes.
DELOIS BARRETT CAMPBELL: I consider myself a minister, yes, in - of music because when we give a concert, it's a sermon in song.
JOHNSON REAGON: Delois Barrett Campbell began her career as a gospel singer with the Roberta Martin Singers. Most of us know her from her work with the Barrett Sisters. She talked about singing as identity and as an experience that she can call upon from within herself to lean on.
BARRETT CAMPBELL: Singing does something to my soul. Actually, when I sing - I can be so down. But after I've sung one gospel song, I must say I feel so much better - because I find that in each song, there is a message. There's something that you can get out of each song. There's something in the music and the words that really will - it give you something to think about.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I DON'T FEEL NO WAYS TIRED")
BARRETT SISTERS: (Singing) Lord, I know - I know you love me. You love me, for your showed me, oh, so many times. And I knew from the outset - oh, yes, I did - that every day wouldn't always be grand. When Christ, he really came into my life - oh, yes, he did - and became my guiding light - see, I won't turn around. My very soul is heavenly bound. I'm so glad, so glad I can see the light. Oh, I don't feel no ways tired. I've come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy - no, no - I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me. No, no, no. I don't feel no ways tired. How you feel? I've come too far from where I started from. Nobody told me that the road would be easy - no, no - I don't believe he brought me this far to leave me. Sometimes at night, you know my way gets drear, I can hear my God say, child, I'm here. I won't believe he brought me this far - I can't believe he brought me this far - I won't believe he brought me this far to leave me. Yeah. Sometimes at night, you know my way gets drear, I can hear my God say, child, I'm here. I won't believe he brought me this far - I can't believe he brought me this far - I won't believe he brought me this far - I don't believe he brought me this far...
JOHNSON REAGON: "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired," the Barrett Sisters of Chicago, Ill.
Aretha Franklin is a singer who made her name as the Queen of Soul. But we know her by her sound. And no matter what, she is singing, that sound is church.
MAX ROACH: Aretha is a great sacred music singer...
JOHNSON REAGON: Drummer and composer Max Roach.
ROACH: ...The way she deals with the intensity and the emotion of what's going on. And I think a lot of that has to do with because we do - in the back of our mind, we just don't sing the notes. That when you - when we open up our mouths and make it to say something, there's something behind us that may be about pain, may be about love. But we feel everything just totally - that is what's behind the voices that I hear. And I think that's what affects people.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEVER GROW OLD")
ARETHA FRANKLIN: (Singing) I have heard of a land on a far - a faraway strand. 'Tis the beautiful home of the soul. It was built by Jesus - Jesus on high, where we never - never will die. 'Tis a land where we'll never grow old. We'll never - never grow old, never grow old - never, never, never - oh - never (vocalizing) - never grow old. I know there's a land - there's a land where we'll never, Lord, never grow old. We ain't gon' grow old. We'll - we'll never - till I get to the heavenly sit-down (ph) - we'll never, never grow old. (Vocalizing) We'll never...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Sing, Aretha.
FRANKLIN: (Singing) Lord, lord, never grow old. I know that there - I know that there is - there's a land where we'll never - we can go there, and we ain't gonna grow old - ever. Never. Never. Never. Never. Ooh, yeah, yeah, never. (Vocalizing). When you get through doing down here, there is a place. He done laid out a land - oh, Lord - where we'll never - we'll never, never - we'll never grow old - grow old, yeah.
(APPLAUSE)
JOHNSON REAGON: Sing, Aretha Franklin - performing the hymn "Never Grow Old."
You know, for a people who came through slavery, there had to be something that you could reach for inside yourself that people couldn't take away from you. So when we talk about soul and spirit and church, in this program, we are not talking about a building. We are talking about a substance you can have inside. And the elders say, knowing about what that is and being able to create it begins at home. And gospel music and its community is full of evidence that families that sang together created a powerful foundation for their children and today provide us with some of our greatest sacred music - Roebuck Staples, founder/father of the Staple Singers from Chicago, Ill., talked about growing up in Mississippi in a home singing church.
ROEBUCK STAPLES: I got started because of my family. We'd work all day in the field and didn't have nothing to do, didn't have no radio to listen to. And to amuse ourselves, we would sing, you know. It was a Christian family. They'd get out in the yard and start singing those old songs. And you'd see one come in from the north, one from the east, one from the west come in singing - into the yard singing - great big yard. And when you know anything, the whole yard be singing God's praises. Oh, what a time we would have - ooh. And that's why I was inspired.
JOHNSON REAGON: The Staple Singers began as a family group. One of the early gospel recordings that electrified so many was their singing of the hymn "Uncloudy Day"
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "UNCLOUDY DAY")
STAPLE SINGERS: (Singing) Oh, they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise. Oh, they tell me of a home far away, so far away. Oh, they tell me of a home where no storm clouds rise. Oh, they tell me of an unclouded day. Well, well, when - yes, oh, yes, they tell me - Lord, they tell me now - yes, oh, yes, they tell me - I got a home beyond the sky. Yes, oh, yes, they tell me. Well, they tell me of a home far, far away. Yes, oh, yes, they tell me - yes, oh, they tell me - where no storm clouds rise. Yes, oh, yes, they tell me. They tell me of an uncloudy day.
JOHNSON REAGON: The Staple Singers performing "Uncloudy Day" with Mavis Staples in bass lead position. Now from California, we get another strong gospel family tradition - the Hawkins. This name is synonymous with contemporary gospel music. And in the late 1960s, The Edwin Hawkins Singers recorded his arrangement of "To My Father's House."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TO MY FATHER'S HOUSE")
THE EDWIN HAWKINS SINGERS: (Singing) Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. There'll be no crying there. There'll be no dying there. Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. There'll be no crying there. There'll be no dying there. Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house.
In our Father's house, there are so many mansions there. If they were not true, you know I would have told you so. I'm going to prepare a place for you. And where I go, you can come there, too. Come on and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house, oh.
Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. Come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. There'll be no crying - there'll be no crying there. No dying - there'll be no dying there. In my Father's house - in my Father's house - there are so many mansions. There are many mansions. There are many mansions there. If it were not true - if it were not true, I would have told you so. Come on and go - come and go with me to my Father's house, to my Father's house. Come on. Go with me. Come on and go with me. Go with me. Come on and go with me. Go with me. Come on and go with me. Go with me. (Unintelligible) By myself - go with me. Go with me. Go with me. If it were not true - go with me.
WALTER HAWKINS: I am Walter Hawkins of The Hawkins Family. You know, our family, I'm sure, would have been - without the music element, we would have been close anyhow. But I don't think we would have been as close as we are. We chose to hang together because of the music. I don't want to oversimplify and say that that's the sole reason, but I think that we saw the importance of maintaining our relationships, you know, because of the music ministry.
EDWIN HAWKINS: This is Edwin Hawkins, gospel music composer. Gospel music is something that you believe what you sing about if you're a gospel musician because I think it goes past just being a musician. The word gospel to me implies ministry, first of all. And I think that our lives - without us having to preach always, our lives should in fact reflect what we sing about if we're singing gospel music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GOING THROUGH")
MOM AND POP WINANS: (Singing) I'm going through. I'm going through. I've paid the price with the Lord's despised few. I'll tell the world no matter what others may do that I started with Jesus, made up my mind a long time ago. I started with Jesus. Now I have a special friend I know. I started with Jesus, and I'm going through.
JOHNSON REAGON: Perhaps the strongest family in gospel music in this decade comes out of Detroit, Mich. We're of course talking about the Winans. We're listening to "I'm Going Through" led by the head of the family, David and Delores, the parents. Priscilla Winans, who we know as CeCe, points to her parents as the source of her inspiration.
CECE WINANS: So, they instilled in us the teachings of God's word and what it meant and what it was all about and the values of life, the most important things. And around the Winans house, there was just a lot of music We all loved to sing. My mom and dad both sang growing up. So just a lot - always a concert.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M GOING THROUGH")
MOM AND POP WINANS: (Singing) Stand here looking back over my life, I had some night-filled days where nothing turned out right. I've gone to my friends. They have problems, too. Now I find out there's only one thing left to do. Well, let me tell you that I'm going through. I'm going through. I paid the price with the Lord's despised few. I'll tell the world no matter what others may do that I started with Jesus. I made up my mind a long time ago. I started with Jesus. Now I have a special friend I know. I started with Jesus, and I'm going through - going through, going through - hey, yes - going through - oh, no doubt about it - going through.
JOHNSON REAGON: The Winans Family and "I'm Going Through." This family has several groups involved in the performance of sacred music. BeBe and CeCe Winans have created a stir because they not only use a contemporary sound in their music, but they use the sensuousness in their vocal work usually associated with secular love songs. CeCe Winans talked about their sound as a way of extending their ministry.
WINANS: I was in a restaurant, and the waiter came up to me. And he was like, you CeCe Winans? And I was like, well, yeah, you know. He said, well, I got saved off your music. I came into the church. I was like, oh, really? He said, yeah. It was a funny thing; I was at a disco.
And he said he was just dancing away, dancing away to - I can't remember what it was. I don't know if it was - what's the fast one? I can't remember the particular song.
But he was dancing and dancing. He said, and then I went to listening to the lyrics. And he said, right after that, he went to church and he's been in the church every since, you know. And I was like, wow. And that was the first time I had heard somebody receiving him on the disco floor (laughter). But I was encouraged. And you know, the Lord sends things like that here and there to encourage you and let you know you're on the right track and you keep going.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEPEND ON YOU")
BEBE AND CECE WINANS: (Singing) I never thought that I could ever need someone the way that I have come to need you. Mm, yes, I do. Never dreamed I'd love someone the way I've fallen in love with you, fallen in love. You're the reason why I live, and that's not all. There's plenty other reasons. But most of all, I'm grateful, yeah, I can depend, and you know you'll be there. I can depend on you. I can depend - you'll be there. I can depend on you.
LENA MCLIN: Well, music for Black people is the sum total of their life experiences. It is everything that we are.
JOHNSON REAGON: Chicago sacred music composer and minister Reverend Lena McLin.
MCLIN: And it stands as a great symbol to let everybody know that we have been the visible man on the invisible page. But you can't take that song away. And some of us will be classical, and some of us will be gospel, and some of us will be pop, and some of us will be jazz. Well, whatever music is, it is the sum total of our life experiences.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Take somebody by the hand. Let's hold hands and sing.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) When I come into the valley, I can shout hallelujah.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: I can shout hallelujah. All is well.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) All is well...
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Come on. Let's have love in here today. The spirit of God is here.
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) ...All is well. All is well. King Jesus fixed it so my soul can shout hallelujah. All is well.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Do you believe it? All is well. Reverend Pastor, all is well (laughter).
UNIDENTIFIED CHOIR: (Singing) When I come into...
JOHNSON REAGON: Songs and Singing as Church - this program is a part of the WADE IN THE WATER series produced by National Public Radio and the Smithsonian Institution. The senior producer is Judi Moore Latta; associate producer, Sonja Williams. The technical director is Renee Pringle with additional engineering by Paris Morgan and Flawn Williams. Production staff - Beverly Oliver, Joseph Gill, Dackeyia Simmons and Michael Johnson. We extend special thanks to Studs Terkel and radio station WFMT Chicago and NPR member stations WPLN and KQED. The executive producer is Sandra Rattley. And I'm conceptual producer Bernice Johnson Reagon.
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