The genre that started it all. As early as people were worshipping gods in many forms, there has been the idea of gospel music: praising some deity for blessing the day. More specifically however, we're focusing on old school revival style gospel of the early days in the US. I argue that we have such a plethora of genres today because of early gospel music as sung and admirably developed by a class of citizens that were treated incredibly poorly but still found hope and salvation in positive, affirming messages of organized religion. Regardless of your religious background, some of the most amazing vocalists popped out during this period and eventually gave way to the whitewashing of blues with the introduction of rock 'n roll.
