“Some of these people haven’t seen each other in 50 years,” he said. “I feel like I’ve just seen a little glimmer of what’s still out there as to how this music changed America and the world.”ĭarden, who attended the museum’s opening with his wife, Mary, talked about seeing iconic musicians dressed in “spectacular, electric blue, zoot suits,” the appreciation he received for helping make the collection available, and the mini reunions that took place throughout the museum every few minutes. “There’s something about this music,” Darden said. The former Billboard gospel music editor turned Baylor professor has spent most of his life listening to, collecting and writing about black gospel music.Īround the corner from the coffee shop, inside the Moody Library, a digital collection of the genre not only bears his name but was also part of the Smithsonian’s African American History and Culture museum that opened in September. His thick shock of hair, black suit and underlying white shirt gave Robert Darden the look of a musical composer as he walked into Starbucks carrying the wood-handled umbrella that shielded him from the day’s downpour.
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