As a general thing, "Gospel" is a word that was used in connection with the old tent revival meetings, and "Gospel Singers" and "Gospel Songs" were used to describe the performers and the songs that they used. These sort of "revival" meetings are a long standing rural tradition, going back before the beginning of the 19th century--oddly enough, they were often regarded, at least by the mainstream religious community, as to be wanton, orgiastic, revels--What with the singing, speaking in tongues, faith-healing and all, by torchlight on hot summer nights, they tended to be a lot like rock concerts--