Country Gospel

Country gospel is the sacred branch of country music, in which the accompaniment, harmonies and plainspoken delivery of country are applied to explicitly Christian material: hymns, revival songs and original songs of faith, sin and redemption. Performed by solo singers, family groups and quartets, it ranges from unaccompanied congregational singing to full Nashville production, and it formed a standard side of nearly every early country career. The Carter Family, Hank Williams and the Louvin Brothers treated gospel repertoire as central rather than incidental, and dedicated gospel albums remained a fixture of country catalogues throughout the twentieth century.