To examine Rock and Roll from a religious perspective should seem paradoxical, if not sacrilegious. The Father of the Blues, W. C. Handy, was raised by his minister father to understand that there were only two kinds of music: The Lord’s music and the devil’s music. Thank God he didn’t listen. Musical celebration is done in most churches of most religions. Most congregations sing warm familiar hymns, standing or sitting staidly in one’s spot in a pew…except one…The Pentecostals.  The bright jubilant, almost rollicking Pentecostal music seems to be the favorite, if not main part of their celebrations. This upbeat music invites the congregation to move, dance, shout, sing or speak in tongues, as they feel the emotion when the Holy Ghost comes to them. Thanking the Pentecostals for their part in creating or developing the music that we listen to everyday might seem ludicrous… Ludicrous, except for one phenomenonal fact— Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Tina Turner… among many other early rockers…were all raised Pentecostal.

   In the 1830s, circuit-riding Methodist and Baptist preachers set up and held Camp Meetings as they traveled. The meetings lasted for days and were attended by great numbers of both whites and African slaves. Though separated by a plank wall, the white people couldn’t help hearing the joyful praise music that the slaves would make. The black people’s music was done with African rhythms, and was spiritually intoxicating to the entire populace of the camp. Shout and response singing is supposed to have come from the whites being caught up, and joining in the songs these slaves would sing. The circuit preachers noticed that the people showing up for these meetings were the less-wealthy, and tended away from the intellectual stand-off traditions of the old churches, and toward a more personal and emotional connection. The fervent preaching created two things, emotion and enthusiasm, and didn’t provide an outlet for either…the African Rhythms did. Incorporating this music into the service created a Revivalist, high-energy form of worship, born in the American South, and still celebrated by mass numbers around the world today.

   Lead guitar, bass and drums…sound familiar? Rock and Roll right?… Right… Pentecostal too. They both use the intoxicating triad for their roux (the base for a gumbo… but you knew that). They add instruments to that, or use the triad alone to create a staccato beat that mesmerizes. Ever see a Beatles concert…say Wrigley Field..1964?…the faces of the screaming girls?  Ever see James Brown being led off-stage by his Fabulous Flames, music still playing, cape draped over his hunched shoulders, caring hands being laid-on for comfort, only to fling the cape away and pick-back-up with the elevated-emotion of his song?…. Tom Cruise (Risky Business) sliding into the doorway in dress shirt and crew socks, brashly playing air guitar and lip syncing to a loud Bob Segar song (OK…sorry,… a rather weak and vanilla example). Still, these were all people caught up in uncontrollable emotion by music. Soul Music, Rock and Roll, Pentecostal Music…black/white… right/wrong… God/the devil…..Oy Vey!…such a headache I’m getting!

   While still a teen, Jerry Lee Lewis was sent to a Pentecostal Assembly of God School in Texas. He was kicked out when he over-played the morning hymn on his piano and sang too wildly. He was sorely confused, and turned toward the juke joints in his hometown of Ferriday Louisiana and never looked back. Jerry Lee admitted to Sam Phillips (Sun records), in a taped interview, that he thought he was possessed by the devil. The conversation took place when Jerry Lee originally refused to record his biggest hit “Great Balls of Fire”; he thought the Rock and Roll song was devil’s music.  (Jerry Lee’s cousin, Jimmie Swaggert… (TV’s piano- pounding, Pentecostal preacher), still professes it to be). Ironically and interestingly, Jerry Lee Lewis was the first Rocker inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Jerry Lee’s groundbreaking- original style of music was created from upbeat Pentecostal Music and Hillbilly Boogie. Some would say Black R&B was added…but maybe …just maybe…the R&B was already there in the Pentecostal Music? Noted Lewis biographer: Nick Tosches is quoted as saying: “if you took the words away, there were more than a few Pentecostal hymns that would not sound foreign coming from a nickel machine in the wildest of juke joints.”

    My Pentecostal friends smile and admit to an intense love of the music at their services. As children, they learned to love—not having to sit still in a pew. They celebrate the Day of Pentecost, found in The Book of Acts, when the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles and gave them charismatic gifts like prophesying in foreign tongues. They celebrate with up-tempo-rhythmic music, paired with loud and passionate preaching… creating an almost-trancelike state in some of those present. This state of mind is the point at which people let go and accept The Holy Ghost. Eyes close, they dance, they whirl and they shake, some speak in tongues. They believe that the Holy Spirit takes all of their exerted exuberance, filters it and presents it to God in the most pure form, as proof of praise and devotion.

   From the Youtube Pentecostal Music videos, I saw incredible music performed. The soulful energy left me in awe of how a religion and its music can instill all that rhythm in all them white folks,…(white people!) I go to Wha-Bahs on Sunday nights for my live rockin’ blues fix; the Pentecostals go to church on Sunday morns for theirs…..hmmmm?? Should we thank them for the large and talented Rock praise teams in the many off-shoot mega- churches around our land? Should we thank them for the Christian Rock Radio Stations that crowd the lower end of every radio dial? These people have lovingly safe-harbored their music, enjoyed it to themselves, and have steered clear of cultural issues of the day and other people’s religious beliefs. Thanks… (Didn’t Jesus do that?)

   As if a mighty rolling river, American Music roils and eddys as it courses it’s way onward, to the Great Cultural Somewhere. Its tributaries are many and varied, some coming originally from far-off places. Rather than water from ground springs and melted snow, these tributaries spring pure from deep within people’s souls. This artful joy flows often into other tributaries before merging into the flow of the main current. Some say “God is in the details”. His presence in this up-tempo, rhythmically-flowing main stream creates a mild euphoria in all who partake….both Rockers and Rollers. Thanks to its many blended feeder streams, this current is deep, strong and ever –flowing as it makes its way out to the waiting world. Thanks in great part (I believe) to the Pentecostal Faith and their music, we have a National Treasure…our American Music, both highly revered and imitated globally.

About the author: John Redick was and is a boomer audio-phile of extreme proportions. He is a hairdresser who works at the Cache’ Salon in B.G. His one fantasy in life has always been to be a black disc jockey. Lagniappe is Cajun for “a little something extra”