# Non-religious "gospel"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-gospel/777084>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [January 14, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-gospel/777084 "2017-01-14T01:23:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-gospel/777084/1 "2017-01-14T01:23:01Z")

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I’ve been slowly collecting an odd little subgenre of music: stuff that is modeled after gospel in nearly every way, but is either areligious or completely non-sectarian.

My first two examples are Tom Waits’ [“Come On Up to the House,”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUE-ic_Q0g4) and Old Crow Medicine Show’s [“I Hear Them All.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug7IgB8MfWE) Both powerful, beautiful songs with a spiritual overtone but no god-ism.

Others?

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-gospel/777084/2 "2017-01-14T02:08:48Z")

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Listen to any soul singer from the 1960s and '70s.

[Aretha Franklin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsL9UL9qbv8&list=PLugiq9uKiNQ6bkBXCI2C-uHxvocho-IYG&index=10)

[Otis Redding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vUc17A0SNY)

[Gladys Knight and the Pips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78-ftcqpNw)

Even the [Fifth Dimension](https://youtu.be/06X5HYynP5E?list=PL2MNaRzdOkMeVpr-er2E2mOKzwjOkwxrm&t=141)

Now, if you’re looking for a country gospel sound…

Here’s the exact moment the Oak Ridge Boys went [from being a gospel group to country singers.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1JdUGnLtUE)

Or the [Statler Brothers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGEyRPA0gG0)

And, of course, [Willie](https://youtu.be/avzwK5WKOCw?t=3899).

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-religious-gospel/777084/3 "2017-01-14T03:22:28Z")

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I think a few of Paul Simon’s songs qualify, like [Gone At Last](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wT_zVoA6mYE) and [Loves Me Like a Rock](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3BJl5Zy7HQ).