Blues are the songs of despair, but gospel songs are the songs of hope.
~Mahalia Jackson

I close my eyes when I sing so I can feel the song better.
~Mahalia Jackson

Amazing Graze:

From Wikipedia:

Mahalia Jackson (October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she was referred to as “The Queen of Gospel”. Jackson became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world and was heralded internationally as a singer and civil rights activist. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career, and her 45 rpm records included a dozen “golds”—million-sellers.

From allmusic.com – Jason Ankeny;
General critical consensus holds Mahalia Jackson as the greatest gospel singer ever to live; a major crossover success whose popularity extended across racial divides, she was gospel’s first superstar, and even decades after her death remains, for many listeners, a defining symbol of the music’s transcendent power. With her singularly expressive contralto, Jackson continues to inspire the generations of vocalists who follow in her wake; among the first spiritual performers to introduce elements of blues into her music, she infused gospel with a sensuality and freedom it had never before experienced, and her artistry rewrote the rules forever .. read more @ allmusic.com

How I Got Over:

Album of the day:

Live at Newport 1958 (1958):

Other October 26:

• World Gone Wrong is the twenty-ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in October 1993 by Columbia Records.It was Dylan’s second consecutive collection of only traditional folk songs, performed acoustically with guitar and harmonica. The songs tend to deal with darker and more tragic themes than the previous outing, Good as I Been to You.The album received a warm, if not excited, reception from critics. Despite earning a Grammy award for Best Traditional Folk Album, it peaked at a modest #70 in the US, and at #35 in the UK.
  

  Released	October 26, 1993
  Recorded	Mid-1993
  Genre	Folk, blues
  Length	43:51
  Label	Columbia
  Producer	Bob Dylan

   

• Bob Dylan plays Carnegie Hall, NYC in 1963.
  Separate post here..

-Egil