Can I Get a Witness! : Faith, Family, and Chicago Gospel Music / Steven B. Dolins, Gregory Donald Gay, Sonny Rollins.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dolins, Steven B., Author.

Gay, Gregory Donald, Author.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Chicago University of Chicago Press, [2026]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The remarkable story of pastor Donald Gay and his family's lasting contributions to gospel music and Chicago culture. When the preacher Gregory Donald Gay joined his sisters onstage at Carnegie Hall in 1950, on a sold-out bill they shared with Mahalia Jackson and the Clara Ward Singers, he became a participant in a landmark moment: the first concert in the venue to feature entirely gospel music. He was just five years old. The Gay Sisters-Evelyn, Geraldine, and Mildred-were key figures in gospel's Golden Age, and their youngest brother had a front-row seat. Evelyn and Geraldine each innovated singular approaches to gospel piano, while Mildred sang. Together, they toured and performed on a series of influential gospel recordings from 1948 to 1973, playing the Apollo Theatre and crossing paths with musical luminaries like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sam Cooke, Pops Staples, and Dizzy Gillespie. But despite a hit record and prodigious talent, the Gay Sisters faded from the limelight. In the ensuing years, they weathered personal trials while their mother, Fannie, devoted her attention to another family undertaking: starting a church. Can I Get a Witness! is a call-and-response between Steven B. Dolins, founder of The Sirens Records, and Donald Gay, who vividly describes his boyhood in Chicago's Woodlawn neighborhood, his family's remarkable place in gospel history, his mother's work as a faith leader, and his own calling as a pastor. The book spotlights the rich contributions of a family remembered not only for the songs they recorded but also for their unwavering kindness to others, a legacy that the legendary Sonny Rollins recounts in a moving foreword.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

FOREWORD / Sonny Rollins

PREFACE

1. Meeting the Gay Family and Hearing Their Story

2. Performing at Carnegie Hall

3. Moving to Chicago and Practicing the COGIC Faith

4. Changes in Gospel Music

5. Forming the Trio: The Gay Sisters

6. Recording for Dolphin, Savoy, and Decca

7. Touring the Country

8. Living at 6544 S. Champlain

9. Founding the Prayer Center

10. Visiting Memphis

11. Supporting and Accompanying the Emerging Community of Gospel Musicians

12. Supporting Mahalia Jackson

13. Making a Comeback

14. Pioneering Gospel Music on Television

15. Breaking Up and Solo Careers

16. Pastoring

17. Keeping the Prayer Center Open

18. In the Right Hands

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

NOTES

DISCOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed August 05 2026)

ISBN:

9780226850405