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Something to "Shout" about in House of Prayer

By Patsy Pressley – November 5, 2008

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New Orleans, Nashville and Chicago are known for their unique blend of jazz, gospel and blues born and bred in the black community.

But thanks to the United House of Prayer, Charlotte now has something to “shout” about with its own music specialty.

What’s Shout Music?

The obvious answer is anything guaranteed to make you move, get happy and shout out praises to God.

But it’s also an evangelism tool that the House of Prayer has been successfully using for nearly a century. It starts with a heavy dose of brass music set to a thumping beat guaranteed to draw a crowd.

If you’ve ever walked the streets of downtown Charlotte on a weekend night and seen young black men playing high energy music, that was shout music.

Shout music started in the 1920s when Bishop Charles “Sweet Daddy” Grace traveled around the country developing what became formally known as the United House of Prayer for All People denomination. The sound of those trombones in House of Prayer parades drew scores of onlookers ripe for the Pentacostal church’s new brand of evangelism.

More recently in Charlotte, Shout music has hit the big-time. For the past five years, the Levine Museum of the New South and Center City Partners have co-sponsored an annual concert drawing thousands both black and white.

At the latest Shout concert held at the Charlotte Mother House of the House of Prayer, Levine historian Tom Hanchett presented an appreciation award to the Madison Clouds of Heaven. The band has been recorded by the Smithsonian and been performing continuously for more than 40 years.

While Shout music isn’t unique to QCity House of Prayer churches, some might say this is where it’s being honed to perfection.

Some might even say the city’s “Shout” festival of fall events got its name from the black, church music. Regardless of the source, the QCity is becoming a place where the term “shout out” takes on a whole new meaning.