Gospel Gold - "Count Your Blessings"

Southern gospel, as its name implies, has its origins in the South-eastern United States. Sometimes called "quartet music" due to the original all male, tenor-lead-baritone-bass quartet make-up and dependence on strong harmonies, Southern gospel is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as (in terms of the varying music styles) to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music.

"People Get Ready! A New History of Black Gospel Music", Robert Darden, Continuum Publishing, New York, 2004

"The Music of Black Americans - A History", Eileen Southern, W. W. Norton & Company, 1997

"Songsters and Saints", Paul Oliver, Cambridge University Press, 1984

"Saints and Sinners : Religion, Blues and (D)evil in African-American Music and Literature", Edited by Robert Sacré, Université de Liège, 1996

American Hymnody (www.smithcreekmusic.com/Hymnology/American.Hymnody)

Christian Biography Resources  (www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorpbliss.html)

Crosscurrents (Association for Religion and Intellectual Life), New York  (www.crosscurrents.org)

Gospel Music Museum, Atlanta, Ga  (www.gospelmusicmuseum.com)