The
date of Southern Gospel's establishment as a distinct
genre is generally considered to be 1910, which is the
year the first professional quartet was formed for the
purpose of selling songbooks for the James
D. Vaughan Music Publishing Company. However, the
style of music itself had existed for at least 35 years
prior, although the traditional wisdom that Southern
Gospel music was "invented" in the 1870s by
circuit preacher Everett
Beverly is spurious.
