Drummer and gospel music lover Trévon Dawson has been collecting vintage clips of gospel performances, concerts, documentaries, and other videos to share on his YouTube channel. Recognizing that no one else was really making a point to seek out and preserve these historical moments in the genre, Dawson saw that he was, in fact, a de facto gospel music archivist.
Dawson says he was “simply sharing videos as a hobby and passion. In 2010, one of the latter caught the attention of The Rickey Smiley Show and went viral.
Dawson said that in the midst of that viral moment, “I thought, let me share more of my collection with the world.” More than 33,000 subscribers and millions of views later, such gospel music legends as Richard Smallwood and the late Edwin Hawkins are among the gospel icons who have sought out his research and archival talents for their own projects.
In 2022, some of Dawson’s uncovered footage was featured in part 2 of the four-part PBS documentary series “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song,” hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
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