New York Community Choir Book Update

A major update about this decade-long project that shares a facet of the untold history of the evolution of contemporary gospel music.

Happy Saturday, friends—

I intended to complete the next installment of the anniversary series—6 more albums from 1975—but that didn’t happen this week because…I finally finished the first draft of the New York Community Choir book. It feels weird to even type those words after a decade of research and two and a half years of concentrated writing.

What’s next? I have a few revisions from my own read-through of the entire book, which I’ll make over the next two weeks….and then the editorial process begins. I can confidently say that the book will finally be published in 2026.

Thanks to all of you for your incredible support since we launched the GoFundMe in 2022, which enabled me to make two final research trips and spend nine dedicated months writing in 2023.

If you’d like to contribute to the upcoming costs (which will largely be licensing fees for photos and lyrics), the GoFundMe is still active, and you can contribute here.

After ten years of research, it’s hard to believe that new connections and information could continue to emerge, but it has. That is what has made completing this project so difficult!

Below are (almost) all of the Substack features I’ve written that share music and stories that are all connected to the vast network of artists, cultural workers and religious figures that are connected to Bishop William Morris O’Neil and his Christian Tabernacle/Universal Tabernacle world and the New York Community Choir. Don’t miss last year’s feature on Christian Tabernacle’s Swing Hallelujah release, which turned sixty!

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