Open The Gates

Generally I prefer to post when I have more information than I do today about the featured artist, but I haven't had any luck coming up with more than a tiny bit of information about Charleston gospel group The Southern Gates. These two singles (triple copies of the Port City one, in fact) showed up in a pile of donated discs. I really dig "Didn't It Rain" - it sounds kinda like something Sister Rosetta Tharpe might have also recorded (minus the proto-punk guitar, of course). The flip side ("Don't Take Chances With Your Soul") is almost seasickeness-inducing with its wow - I think all three copies were either pressed off center or there was some problem with the original cutting or recording. J. Taylor is listed as the vocalist on the first, with E. Allen handling the flip, and Wardell Payne handling production. This disc has both 7-69 and 1982 scratched in the runnoff groove - I think it sounds more like 1969 but since the other single explicitly says 1979, I guess I'll go with the 1982 date. The second single lists a local address for Uprising Records (PO BOX 5149, North Charleston, SC 29406) but otherwise provides less information than the Port City pressing. "Be Nice" is, well, a nice little exhortation, while "He's Not Like Man" delves into deeper religious areas.

Here's the entirety of info I have gleaned from Google about the Southern Gates:
Members - Robert Dennis, Felix McKnight, J. Taylor, E. Allen. Hopefully members (or their children) have set up Google alerts for themselves and will wander here and leave information in the comments.

Regardless, enjoy:

The Southern Gates (of Charleston, S.C.)