I really and truly love the sound and rhythms of gospel music but - not being part of the Magical Sky Pixie Club - would perhaps prefer to hear a little less about how much Jesus loves me, and a little more about … anything else, really.
Any Dopers know of any secular gospel music out there? Does it exist? (If not … any of you musically-inclined Dopers wanna create some?)
::syncopated clapping::
I’m really interested to see the answers you get (and I hope you get some). (I feel similarly about religious music in general - I can appreciate classical religious music if its in a language I don’t understand. If it’s in English, I turn away.)
The only suggestion I can give right off the bat is Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Their gospel stuff has the beats but it’s easy to overlook the religion part.
Isn’t “secular gospel” pretty much a contradiction right out of the box?
How about Susan Werner?
I think she even bills herself as ‘secular gospel.’
Some secular artists have used a gospel-ish sound on one or more of their songs. For example, Billy Joel’s “River of Dreams,” Paul Simon’s “Gone At Last,” and Madness’s “Wings of a Dove.”
Popular music artists have appropriated gospel music elements for a long time. Whether as a one-shot deal in the arrangements for a particular song, or as general personal style, it’s deeply embedded in many genres. Think of all the artists who talk about growing up “singing in church.” Whitney Houston and Barbara Mandrell are two examples off the top of my head. (This is also an excellent place to point out that there are really two gospel genres: White gospel and black gospel, so-called.) Much of the soul/R&B genre has deep roots in gospel, to the point that a lot of people were shocked at Ray Charles when he started using “sacred music” with secular lyrics.
You might want to check out Robert Randolph and the Family Band. They may veer off into actual gospel once in a while, but not often.
The Isley Brothers - Shout. Basically a pure black gospel song with secular lyrics.
Ray Charles - Hallelujah, I Love Her So, What’d I Say
Paul Simon - Love Me Like a Rock (uses the Dixie Hummingbirds, an actual gospel group, as back up)
The Oak Ridge Boys - A former southern gospel quartet, their music is rooted in their former style, with country music lyrics. early stuff like “Y’all Come Back Saloon” particularly reflects this.
Blood Sweat & Tears - And When I Die
Neil Diamond - Brother Love’s Travellin’ Salvation Show (a tough call, as it’s more of a song about a preacher than it is really about religion)
In the short-lived musical TV series Cop Rock, there was a really good gospel-inspired song (written by Randy Newman, IIRC) called “He’s Guilty,” sung by a jury as they delivered their verdict. The guy with his arm in a sling is the detective who busted the defendant. Wish I could find it somewhere for my iPod: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWwNTSj2Cy0
Patty Griffin’s song “Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)” has a very strong gospel feel to it. A very moving, powerful, beautiful song about… well, the title will tell you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCGDPJwm5YM
Melanie (aka Melanie Safka) has been known to steal a gospel riff and feel from time to time for her non-SkyPixie offerings. Check out “Ring the Living Bell”.
ETA: have patience, it gets gospelly towards the end more than starting off with it.
I’d forgotten about Joel’s “River of Dreams” and Diamond’s “Brother Love” but I do know both those songs! 
But I guess those are more in the one-off category, where an artist dabbles in a certain style for one or two tracks. I was looking more along the lines of artists/groups where that church-y sound prevails throughout their work.
I hear Robert Randolph at a music festival once - thanks for the reminder. I did want to check them out.
Oh, and as thanks for all your responses, I have one in return: was listening to some Lyle Lovett over the weekend and some of his songs rock the gospel rhythms!
Lots of “folk music” rooted in the labor and civil rights movements was lifted more or less directly from the gospel tradition (“We Shall Overcome”, for instance, started life as a gospel song). Check out the catalogs of Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and assorted fellow travelers (those two also specialize in crowd singalongs to replicate to get that secular leftie revival feel going!).
On a different note, the Austin Lounge Lizards specialize in subverting various country and folk music tropes, and sometimes turn their attention to gospel. For example, I’m thinking of the song “On the Other Shore” from the classic Employee of the Month album, which sounds like a song about looking forward to being reunited with loved ones in Heaven, but then turns out to be about being reunited with all your material possessions!
“We’ll find National Geographics from 1974
Our children’s art will cover God’s refrigerator door
Yes, we’ll meet all our possessions
On theee Otheer Shooorrree…”
Murray McLauchlin’s song “White Water” was apparently written to fit your criteria. I heard him lead the audience in it on a Vinyl Cafe radio concert, and he said while introducing it that he wanted to write “A gospel song that anybody could sing along with, whether you’re [Anglican or Catholic, Jewish or Muslim, Baptist or Atheist or ] whatever variety of human being you happen to be.” (I don’t remember exactly which denominations and faiths he listed.)
Nice song too. Might be a bit hard to track down.
I’m not sure if it counts, but the first thing I thought of upon seeing this thread was those Gregorians chanting classic rock songs.
Check out The Gospel at Colonus. It’s not “Jesus” oriented gospel, though it’s not stripped of all spirituality by any means.