Good Ol' Southern Gospel

Rating:
Summary: Author Doesn't Know the Subject
Review: This book is titled "Good Ol' Southern Gospel" but vast majority of the songs listed are not "Southern Gospel." While there seems to be some debate as to what Southern Gospel is and when it began (some go back to when quartets were first used to sell song books while others only go back to the 1950's) most of these songs don't fit anyone's definition of "Southern Gospel." Most of these songs were written before 1900 and do not have the feel of a "Southern Gospel" song. Most "Southern Gospel" music has the feel of Country and Western music, but is more upbeat. While these songs could be arranged and sung in the close harmony of Southern Gospel music (and probably have been) they originally were not Southern Gospel. At least one of these songs was not written by an American and others were written by Yankees.

These songs are excellent old hymns. Why does the author have to drag them down into being Southern Gospel music?