Jacqueline Wadsworth So you think gospel is just for church? Think again! Gospel music helped lay the foundations for modern pop, rock and soul and every Sunday I’ll be presenting an hour of Soul-Stirring Gospel on Thornbury FM. My playlist ranges from the blues of Blind Willie Johnson to the soul of Al Green, and from the magnificence of Mahalia Jackson, to the humour of the Golden Gate Quartet. You can hear lovely old recordings from as far back as the 1930s (Mitchell’s Christian Singers, Sister Rosetta Tharpe) and crisp new ones recorded only a few months ago (The Blind Boys of Alabama). And here’s a taster: the first show features some great tracks by Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash when they got together for an impromptu gospel singalong in 1956. My interest in gospel began when I helped out with music at Christ The King Primary School in Thornbury, where my daughters were pupils. We taught the children some old negro spirituals and hymns. They loved them - and I’ve been playing them ever since. Another big interest of mine is sport. I’m a member of Thornbury Running Club and the Severn Road Club, and I enjoy running, triathlon and cycling. But training has had to go on the back-burner while I prepare for Soul-Stirring Gospel! I hope you can join me from 5-6pm every Sunday.

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