EP115: Van Hunt on The Sensational Nightingales’ “It’s Gonna Rain Again” (1972)

Episode notes

We’ve talked a ton of gospel here on Heat Rocks, but this episode marks the first time we’ve discussed a full gospel album on the show, and from none other than one of the very first gospel quartets, The Sensational Nightingales.  The group was formed in 1942 as simply The Nightingales, but it wasn’t until 1946 and the introduction of the sensational singer Julius Cheeks when the band really began to hit their stride. The quartet still tours to this day, albeit with a slightly different lineup, but the soul and tradition of Southern black gospel music is alive and well.

Singer/songwriter Van Hunt joins us in the studio to talk about his personal connection to gospel music, the influence of the Sensational Nightingales, and how artists can make the move from gospel to secular music.

More on Van Hunt

• The re-imagined first album, TRIM
• Seconds of Pleasure (Live at WFUV)
• Website | Twitter

More on The Sensational Nightingales

• The group’s take on the gospel classic Hold On
• Profile by the National Museum of African American Music

Show Tracklisting (All songs from It’s Gonna Rain Again unless indicated otherwise):

• The Last Mile
• Dionne Farris: Hopeless
• Van Hunt: Seconds of Pleasure
• Hold to God’s Hand
• At the Meeting
• A Heart Like Thine
• Sam Cooke & the Soul Stirrers: Be With Me Jesus (Live)
• Van Hunt: Hello, Goodbye
• Anthony Hamilton and the Hamiltones: Hotline Bling
• DeWayne Crocker Jr, Kelontae Gavin, Keyla Richardson, and Mikel Simmons: Hold On
• At the Meeting
• The Old Account
• Carlton Pierson: Old School Medley
• It’s Gonna Rain Again
• At Calvary
• A Heart Like Thine
• Sly Stone: Walking in Jesus Name
• It’s Gonna Rain Again
• The Davis Sisters: Twelve Gates to the City
• Silvergate Quartet: I’m Going Down in Jesus Name
• The Daytonians: Let Jesus Work it Out
• Dr Charles Hayes and Cosmopolitan Church of Prayer Choir: Jesus Can Work it Out
• Karizma: Work it Out
• Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers: Jesus Gave Me Water

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find there.

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