Waxing the Gospel: Mass Evangelism and the Phonograph, 1890-1900
Various Artists

Led by internationally-famous evangelists Moody and Sankey, the revival business of the late 19th century was an established juggernaut, complete with its own musical soundtrack. It met up with an infant recording industry in the 1890s still experiencing growing pains. Waxing the Gospel is a groundbreaking exploration of how tradition and technology merged in three distinct areas of recording: commercial, celebrity, and vernacular. Waxing the Gospel presents top-notch performances by the earliest studio pros, records by Moody and Sankey themselves, and debuts more than a dozen sacred treasures made in the parlors of ordinary people experimenting with their own phonographs. We chronicle our incredible detective hunt that identified a cache of mystery “homemade” cylinders as actually being field recordings from 1897, taken at the annual Methodist camp meeting at Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

With 102 tracks on three CDs, enclosed in a beautifully-illustrated 6″ by 9″ hardback book, Waxing the Gospel is the most in-depth and authoritative exploration of the first decade of the phonograph ever published. The emergence of the sacred repertoire is the lens through which we make our examination, but this set is as much about brown wax cylinder records as it is about the pioneering work of evangelists Dwight L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey.

About the book

Waxing the Gospel is packaged inside an extensively-illustrated 408-page 6 by 9 hardback book that includes:

About the audio

Waxing the Gospel is a four-hour journey across the first decade of recording that features:

“How these exceedingly rare recordings found their way to the producers of “Waxing the Gospel” is another story entirely — one part “Antiques Roadshow,” one part “CSI: New Jersey.”
Bobby Olivier, NJ.com [read review ]

“A handsome hardcover book, packed with context, underscores the magnitude of the effort behind this groundbreaking set.”
Nate Chinen, The New York Times Pop Music Gift Guide [read review ]

“Waxing the Gospel is definitely one of the highest musicology achievements of 2016. Regardless if you are a believer or an atheist, a sinner or a grinner, pure of heart or just plain funky, the music presented here — much of it for the first time since it was released — is an incredible sonic pulpit that makes history truly come back to life.”
David Katznelson Boing Boing [read review ]

“A true gateway into the Victorian parlor, if these scratchy but well-preserved old songs don’t figure into your daily listening, the stories behind them and the miracle of their preservation will leave a lasting impression.”
Ed Whitelock, Pop Matters, “The 25 Best Album Reissues of 2016” [read review ]

“If the second disc relies to heavily on the rich voice of the famous missionary Ira D. Sankey, the third — hear the Moody Quartette take harmony singing in a barbershop direction, Harry Heath arguing for Prohibition, and perhaps the first recording of a cat — is a treasure chest.”
David Hutcheon, MOJO

“Waxing the Gospel is overflowing with humanity throughout; it’s a shoo-in for the short list of 2016’s finest archival releases.”
Joseph Neff, The Vinyl District [read review ]

“Archeophone, the Champaign, IL label that specializes “in making the world’s oldest records accessible,” has outdone itself with the Grammy-nominated Waxing the Gospel set, which focuses on the first 11 years of the phonograph. Waxing the Gospel‘s impressive, nearly painful detailing and historic research of century-old religious recordings, richly illustrated with restored photos and artwork, is, in and of itself, an academic marvel. The collection is sure to excite the Christian music enthusiasts among us — for instance, it includes the only recording made by revered blind hymn-writer Fanny Crosby. But the real joys here are the between-the-lines revelations about the gramophone and phonograph in their infancy and how they quickly grew to change the way we regard and listen to music”
Tristram Lozaw, Analog Planet [read review ]

“A masterpiece of scholarship and curatorship, this collection sets a new standard for the presentation of early recordings.”
Ed Whitelock, Pop Matters   [read review ]

“This collection is like time travelling, making you feel like you’re at a turn of the century revival tent meeting.”
George Harris, Jazz Weekly   [read review ]

GRAMMY Awards

• GRAMMY Nominee, Best Historical Album, 2016
• GRAMMY Nominee, Best Album Notes, 2016

The New York Times

• Recommended in the 2016 Pop Music Gift Guide

Pop Matters

• #7 on their list of the 25 best reissues of 2016

ARSC Awards for Excellence

• Nominee, Best Historical Research in Blues/Gospel/R&B, 2017

It is so amazing that we actually get to hear the songs and the singers that have truly been the forerunners of Christian music. It’s almost like we’ve traveled back into their time and can hear all the history and heritage that’s been captured. I’m so excited about this project!
—Sandi Patty, platinum-selling, five-time Grammy, forty-time Dove, and four-time Billboard Music Award winner

To be able to listen to some of the oldest and rarest recordings of our Christian heritage is incredible! I wasn’t really prepared for what I was about to hear, expecting ancient sounds that were virtually irrelevant to what the church looks and sounds like today. What I got was people singing and preaching the very same gospel we sing and preach about today. In a time when opinions and beliefs change about as much as we change our socks, the Gospel has remained steadfast! Simply put, “Waxing the Gospel” reminds us that we truly worship a God who is . . . was . . . and always will be.
—Bart Millard, lead singer of the platinum-selling and eight-time Dove Award-winning group Mercy Me

“A window in time” . . . Those words occurred to me as I listened to this well-researched and beautifully mastered set of recordings from over a century ago. What a thrill to hear such bedrock hymns of the Christian faith being “waxed” at the dawn of the American recording industry! An added bonus is hearing the voice of Fanny Crosby reading one of her poems and Ira D. Sankey singing some of his own hymn compositions—truly incredible moments in a collection ALREADY filled with incredible moments!
—Allan Hall, of the platinum-selling and eight-time Dove Award-winning group Selah

I have been singing gospel songs in public since I was three years old. You cannot imagine how thrilled I was to hear these wonderful songs by the very people who wrote them! I am indebted to the folks who made this collection available because it is absolutely soul stirring to hear these recordings! This is an important cultural treasure and, dare I say, a spiritual one also.
—Cynthia Clawson, Grammy and five-time Dove Award-winning vocalist

Perhaps one reason contemporary Christian music has lost its way is because we’ve forgotten where we came from. This remarkable collection is a clear window into that past. The recording by Fanny Crosby alone is worth the price.
—Michael Card, author, recording artist, and composer of “El Shaddai”

Having sung Fanny Crosby’s gospel songs for all of my life, I was stunned to hear her voice reading a poem. It was her voice which somehow reaffirmed my love for her music. All of those pioneers of the music from our faith traditions became relevant to me. The contemporary brain is stirred as the soul takes comfort of those blessed assurances. What a powerful expression of modern technology and the thoughtful people at Archeophone Records who have saved this history by preserving these pioneers’ recordings! It is a treasure to have.
—Ragan Courtney, poet, playwright, and author of the million-selling musical “Celebrate Life!”

TRAILERS

Album Overview

From CD 3: Harry Heath’s 1897 field recordings

Track 7: The Standard Quartette’s 1894 recording of “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”

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