Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Music Encyclopedia

by Edwin Hawkins, Mavis Staples, Bil Carpenter

Book Overview

(Book). This comprehensive guide is a must-have for the multitude of fans of this best-selling genre of popular music. Uncloudy Days is a treasure chest of substantial profiles on the influential... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0879308419
• ISBN13: 9780879308414
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Backbeat Books
• Length: 515 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Stop nit-picking and give this book its due

Some reviewers have noted (correctly so) significant Gospel artists missing from this encyclopedia. Others have also noted (again correctly) factual inaccuracies (though they are FAR outweighed by dead-on, correct facts and information). This book is the first credible attempt to bring to Gospel that which most every other genre has boasted for decades: a serious compendium of a MASSIVE amount of information. Carpenter, the author, has publicly and repeatedly affirmed that he is assiduously taking careful notes regarding EVERY discrepancy brought to his attention, and that all will be addressed, corrected, and included in this amazing book's second edition. Give the man (and his book) its due. This is a laudable, and HIGHLY readable attempt at bringing a vast genre of music, and the people who made and make it, into one volume. It reads like a great book, not a series of disjointed blurbs. I suggest Gospel fans stop complaining, sit back and enjoy the read, and simply contact the author, c/o his publisher I'm sure, with any corrections. This is a great start, and it only promises to get better.

An Amazing Amount of Material

Writing an encyclopedia of Gospel music (or really of any other kind) has to be an almost impossible task. Where would even start to find out who did Gospel songs? And just how do you define Gospel anyway? Some Gospel is awfully close to Country & Western. And what about a predominately C & W singer who does a Gospel song once in a while. Bil Carpenter has put together this encyclopedia. He lists about 650 singers. Are they the 650 he should have listed. Of course not. Everyone is going to have ideas for other people he should have listed, and would take out some that he did list. Of course if he had doubled the size of the book to 800 pages and put in 1,300 artists, he'd have covered them all - NOT. So here you have 650 (or so) of the Gospel singers that Bil Carpenter has selected, and with each one you get a mini-biography of their lives and careers. There are pictures in the book, perhaps a hundred or more. But they are small and most pages are just text. A lot of text. I find it hard to imagine how one person could put together so much information. It's an amazing book.

Must Have!!!!!

Uncloudy Days is a wonderful treasure. This encyclopedia provides the reader with everything they'd want to know, and then some. This encyclopedia does an outstanding job of taking readers on a journey that allows them to experience the lives, loves, and accomplishments of some of gospel's greatest musicians. Unlike many encyclopedias, it's hard to put this one down. Uncloudy Days is a wonderful addition to any collection.

Unbelieveablely Great Book

Word's can't express how thrilled i am with this book....I never thought I'd see all this information on mt favorite gospel artists in a book before. All kinds of stuff I've always wondered about, like what gospel artist won what Grammy award, etc. is in this book. I highly recommend it for anyone with even a slight interest in gospel music.It's got everything I'd want to know about gospel music.

Awesome

"A work that contains information on all branches of knowledge or treats comprehensively a particular branch of knowledge usually in articles arranged alphabetically often by subject". That is the definition for encyclopedia established in Webster Dictionary. Uncloudy Day is not just an encyclopedia of Gospel Music, but the greatest treasure of information contained in one book. You will read narratives that chronicles the lives behind the music. You will read about very renowned household names, to some not so well recognized, but all have helped to make gospel music what it is today. I am sure you will be encouraged when you read the stories behind the celebrated performers in this book. Also included is a Glossary of Terms, Gospel Trivia, Charts and a great deal more. As a Gospel Radio Announcer I highly recommend this book. If I had to put it in one word it would be "Astounding". Bil Carpenter has produced a MASTERPIECE. Musically Yours, Harrisburg's Prince of Gospel Music Pastor Stephen M. Linen Joyful Praise - WWII 720 & Melodies & More Internet Radio