Continuing my response to TinDor,

"Some AfroAmerican Blues/Gospel Stylings"

Blind Willie Johnson Dark Was The Night

You might be interested to know that "Dark Was The Night-Cold Was The Ground" comes right out of the Dr.Watts/hymn lining tradition.This is an example of a blues recording that directly imitates the slow moaning style of Dr.Watts.

According to the cd liner notes of The Complete Blind Willie Johnson box set: "This old hymn was so widely known that there was no need to finish the title on the record label, but the whole shattering mood of the performance comes from its full title, " Dark Was The Night And Cold Was The Ground On Which Our Lord Was Laid." Angeline Johnson also sang it for me, and as it was sung in that part of Texas it was a slow, solemn responsive psalm, in which the preacher intoned the first phrase, very slowly, and the congregation responded with the same meassured solemnity.What Willie did in the studio was to create this mood, this haunted response to Christ's crucifixion.The melody came achingly through in the slide on the guitar strings, and he followed its phrases with a wordless, half hummed meditation on the meaning of the song."

To get an idea of what "Dark Was The Night" sounds like in it's earlier lined out hymn form, listen closely to the 7th track of the following link.It is a duet rendition of this Dr.Watts hymn and shares a similar melody to the Blind Willie Johnson track:

Dark Was The Night Track 7

Here's some more Dr.Watts hymn singing for you...6 full length examples.I have included both multi-voiced/congregational versions (the way it is most typically sung) and solo versions.But the 3rd one isn't pure Dr.Watts.It's a direct combination of bluesy Dr.Watts with modern gospel style, giving a rendition of "A Charge To Keep I Have" (a very common song in Dr.Watts repertoire).The first and second are also renditions of the same song in the pure traditional way:

A Charge To Keep I Have Solo Version

A Charge To Keep I Have By Congregation

A Charge To Keep I Have By Gospel Group

Elder Robert Moore Sings A Dr Watts Hymn

The Old One Hundreds

A Article On Dr Watts Singing With Full Song Sample

That might be alot of Afro-American Lined Out Hymns To hear and see at once, but I think it will help to give you a fuller picture of the genre (though it is by no means the complete picture).The first solo Dr.Watts video is comparable to field hollers.

I saw one video on You Tube that had a traditional Dr.Watts with clapping.If I can re-locate that video, I'll try to post that in the future.