The Soul Stirrers

CTL-E-6108 · Institution · other · 1926–present

STRONG EVIDENCE evidence grade — master store (canonical CSV)

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-01773 · provenance: canonical master store (CSV), record CTL-I-0143 + build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6108. Master record source: CTL seed 2026-10-16 — UNVERIFIED, verify before public citation.

The Soul Stirrers are an American gospel vocal group formed in 1926 in Trinity, Texas, where baritone Senior Roy Crain formed a quartet with other teenagers from his church; an audience member's comment that their performance had stirred his soul gave the group its name. In Houston in the early 1930s the name and lineup settled, and under lead singer Rebert H. Harris the group pioneered the swing lead, in which two singers shared the lead, along with a falsetto style that reshaped gospel quartet singing. Based later in Chicago and signed to Specialty Records, the group recorded tracks including By and By and In That Awful Hour. Harris left in late 1950 and, after Paul Foster briefly held the lead, was replaced by nineteen-year-old Sam Cooke, whose first recordings with the group in March 1951 included Jesus Gave Me Water. Cooke led the group until the mid-1950s before leaving for a secular solo career, and Johnnie Taylor later sustained the group for a time. The Soul Stirrers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 as an early influence.

The record

• Also known as: Soul Stirrers

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 4 — 747 Program, Wave 11; fourth Scan Tail packet at the founder's 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Soul Stirrers entity in the live graph at 3,763 entities (exact / normalized / alias match + token containment; CLEAR). ID CTL-E-6108 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 4 — Scan Tail Wave 3 packet ordered reserve, position 23 of 35 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json ranked clean survivor #1791). The scan supplied the NAME STRING ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — National canon with a Chicago chapter: formed in Texas, the group's defining Specialty Records era was Chicago-based, and its Cooke succession runs through Chicago's gospel scene. Vital status: Organization status: formed 1926 in Trinity, Texas (Vocal Group Hall of Fame essay, accessed 2026-10-16); the group continued through successive lineups after Cooke's departure, and Wikipedia (accessed 2026-10-16) names a current leader in 2026, so the organization is treated as continuing rather than disbanded — later-lineup activity should be re-verified at assembly. STATISTICS — STATISTICS (sourced, dated): Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (accessed 2026-10-16): inducted 1989, Musical Influence. Wikipedia (accessed 2026-10-16): Vocal Group Hall of Fame induction 2000; Jesus Gave Me Water selected by the Library of Congress for the National Recording Registry in 2022. CONFLICT SHOWN, NOT BLENDED: Cooke's tenure is given as lead vocalist 1950–1956 with departure in 1957 (Wikipedia), as joining January 1951 with first recordings March 1951 (Concord/Specialty), and as a six-year run ending in 1956 in other summaries — this packet dates his first recordings to 1951 and his departure to the mid-1950s without fixing a single end year. A low-authority source also claims a 1929 Houston origin as the New Pleasant Green Gospel Singers; it conflicts with the 1926 Trinity origin in the Hall of Fame essays and is not adopted. MEDIA: photo HELD (Soul Stirrers group portrait from the Specialty Records era, circa 1951 (Jesus Gave Me Water lineup with Sam Cooke and Paul Foster) — specific image to be verified in a later PHOTO-001 pass; no license claimed. — named candidate only; file-level rights verification per CTL-PHOTO-001 still required; no license claimed); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6108-soul-stirrers.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short or verified-rights archival video staged); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A (no address-based map spec earned). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (No address-based map spec earned under the packet standard for this record.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short or verified-rights archival video staged.) | audio = HELD (No rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged.)

Referenced by

• Sam Cooke — member of organization → this record

Sources

• Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, "The Soul Stirrers" (accessed 2026-10-16) — inducted 1989, Musical Influence category, inducted by Al Green; the group took gospel to a more rhythmic, emotional form and provided a blueprint for doo-wop and R&B; plaque signatures R. H. Harris, J. J. Farley, S. R. Crain — https://rockhall.com/inductees/soul-stirrers/ (primary source · build store)
• Vocal Group Hall of Fame Foundation, "The Soul Stirrers" inductee essay by Jay Warner (archived; accessed 2026-10-16) — origins in 1926 in Trinity, Texas, where Senior Roy Crain formed a quartet; first quartet to add a second lead; Harris era and Cooke succession; inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000 — https://web.archive.org/web/20070312025919/http://www.vghf.org/inductees/soul_stirrers.html (primary source · build store)
• Concord / Specialty Records, "Sam Cooke & The Soul Stirrers" artist history (accessed 2026-10-16) — group based in Chicago by the Specialty deal; Harris quit in late 1950; Cooke joined January 1951 and first recorded in March 1951; Jesus Gave Me Water / Peace in the Valley coupling was a hit — http://concord.com/artist/sam-cooke-the-soul-stirrers/ (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, "The Soul Stirrers" (accessed 2026-10-16) — Harris quit late 1950; Cooke lead vocalist 1950–1956 and left in 1957 for pop; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1989; Vocal Group Hall of Fame 2000; Jesus Gave Me Water (1950 recording as dated there) selected for the National Recording Registry in 2022 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_Stirrers (build store)
• https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-soul-stirrers-mn0000507836 (verification source · master store)

Evidence note (master store)

The Soul Stirrers are a pioneering gospel vocal group, formed in 1926 in Trinity, Texas; Sam Cooke replaced R.H. Harris as lead and made his recording debut with the group in 1951.

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