GospelSHOUT!

Cafeteria opens 6pm. Bands begin playing about 7:30. Event concludes by 9:30.

Brass, soul and praise…a favorite Charlotte tradition comes ‘round again on Tuesday April 9, part of the Charlotte Shout festival. GospelSHOUT is a free concert featuring the praise bands of the United House of Prayer for All People that kicks off at 7:30pm. It’s free of charge at the United House of Prayer’s “Mother House” church, 2321 Beatties Ford Road (just south of I-85).

“High-energy trombone ‘shout bands’ are a special tradition in the House of Prayer,” says community historian Tom Hanchett, who helps organize and introduce the event. “Growing up in the church, young people learn the music person-to-person, not from books. Leaders improvise arrangements on the spot.”

Cedric Mangum, who produces the concert for the House of Prayer, is a highly regarded teacher whose ensembles are heard not only in church, but at folk festivals nationwide.

“When a dozen or more trombones get going, plus tuba and drums, it’s not hard to ‘feel the spirit move,’” says Mangum.

Along with the featured band, The Bailey Clouds of Heaven, the Tuesday event will spotlight two vocal choirs, the Bailey Stringband and the Bailey Golden Angels.

And the House of Prayer’s cafeteria opens at 6pm, offering soul food dinners for purchase. “That’s been a favorite part of the evening for a lot of attendees,” says Hanchett, “good food and an opportunity to share a table.”