2 chapters across the catalog
Mo Facts introduces Sam Cooke as the "OG of OGs" who pioneered the transition from gospel to pop. Cooke traveled the "Gospel Highway" in the 1950s, a circuit of churches and tents carefully mapped out to follow agricultural harvests when audiences had money. Even as a child in Chicago, Cooke practiced singing to sticks in the ground to prepare for his future as a star.
The "Gospel Highway" was a sophisticated form of show business where touring schedules were dictated by local economies, such as the tobacco harvest in North Carolina. Mo Facts describes these events as the original "value for value" system, where churchgoers gave based on what they received spiritually. He notes that Sam Cooke's crossover to pop jeopardized this established economic system.
