"Isn't Andrae Crouch soft rock, as" ???

I've NEVER heard any gospel singer/composer referred to as "soft rock". That's definitely a secular term that is never used as a descriptor for religious music.

The most often used referent for Crouch's type of music is "contemporary gospel". Nowadays, African American and other people might say {informanlly, but I believe correctly} "old school" contemporary gospel.

See this bio of Andrae Crouch from http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/crouch_andrae/bio.jhtml

"One of the most renowned and widely respected pioneers of contemporary gospel music remains Andrae Crouch. By combining such classic gospel music elements as call-and-response and choir, along with pop songwriting techniques and production, Crouch's style has influenced countless other artists. Born July 1, 1942, in Pacoima, CA, Crouch got his musical start at his father's church, singing, playing piano, and before ten years of age, writing his own songs (despite being entirely self-taught). Crouch formed his first serious gospel group during the early '60s, Andrae Crouch & the Disciples, although it wouldn't be until 1977 that the group issued their first release, This Is Another Day (eventually, the "Disciples" name would be dropped, as the albums were credited solely to Crouch). ..

...{Chrouch] received a total of nine Grammy Awards and an Academy Award nomination; and provided film scores to such movies as The Lion King and Free Willy....

Crouch was inducted into the Gospel Hall of Fame in 1998..."

-snip-

Sorry, but in my opinion, if Mudcat's African American Spiritual Permathread opens the door and let's "Soon And Very Soon" on its spiritual listing, it will be hard to explain why other contemporary gospel soons aren't also welcomed on that list. I guess we gotta draw the line somewhere.

This last paragraph is only partially snark. I really do see it as problematic to include spirituals from 1900 on. Better yet, why don't we find out what was the first date of the earliest gospel recording and make the year before that the end of the spiritual period?

This is almost like saying when does R&B end and Soul music begin...It's all the same in some ways but it also is different even if it's just the sense of the times or the different styles of the same music.