Glorious Mahalia pays tribute to the life and legacy of legendary gospel singer and activist Mahalia Jackson, including her contributions to the civil rights movement. It is their third album on Smithsonian Folkways following Long Time Passing, their tribute to Pete Seeger, and Mỹ Lai, which reckoned with US military actions during the Vietnam War.

Glorious Mahalia is an homage to Jackson’s work, music, and the friendships she forged throughout her career. It features archival audio from two moments in Jackson’s history: a 1957 live performance of gospel and spirituals in her adopted hometown of Chicago, and a 1963 interview with her friend, the radio broadcaster Studs Terkel, which covers a wide range of topics including Jackson’s experiences of working in the South, the continuing hardships she faced as a Black woman, and the civil rights efforts of her friend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Across eleven tracks, Glorious Mahalia sets these and other new and archival recordings to new compositions.

The first movement of the album (also called Glorious Mahalia), composed by Stacy Garrop, features the interview excerpts with Sterkel. The second, Peace Be Till, composed by Zachary James Watkins, includes audio from an interview that was recorded for the album with King’s speechwriter and lawyer Clarence B. Jones. And in between, listeners are treated to a newly arranged version of “God Shall Wipe All Tears Away,” with Jackson’s powerful vocals set to new music by multi-instrumentalist and composer Jacob Garchik. These performances capture Jackson’s preternatural ability to take her audiences to emotional highs and lows with her voice, as well as her commitment to speaking out about injustices inflicted upon Black people in America.