Stephen Newby
Stephen Newby came to Baylor this summer as the inaugural Lev H. Prichard III Chair in the Study of Black Worship. Dr. Newby brings a background in music, scholarship and ministry to the position, which leads research and scholarship efforts associated with the growth of Baylor’s Black Gospel Music Preservation Program. In this Baylor Connections, he discusses the power of Black worship, Baylor’s efforts to both preserve and share the music for future generations, and the path that led him to Baylor for what he calls his “dream job.”
Transcript
DEREK SMITH:
Hello and welcome to Baylor Connections, a conversation series with the people shaping our future. Each week we go in depth with Baylor leaders, professors, and more, discussing important topics in higher education, research and student life. Today we're visiting with one of Baylor's newest faculty members, Dr. Stephen Newby. Stephen Newby joined the Baylor faculty this summer as the inaugural Lev H. Prichard III chair in the study of Black worship. Dr. Newby brings a background in music scholarship and ministry to the new position, which provides interdisciplinary leadership, research and more, including efforts associated with the growth of Baylor's Black Gospel Music Preservation Program. Prior to Baylor, Newby served on the faculties of the University of Michigan, Trevecca Nazarene University, and most recently Seattle Pacific University. He's also built a parallel career as a renowned composer and recently served as Minister of Worship in Atlanta's Peachtree Church. He's currently at work with retired Baylor professor Robert Darden, master teacher and emeritus professor of journalism. They're working together on a biography of Andrae Crouch. There's a lot going on, a lot on your plate these days, but Dr. Newby, I really appreciate you taking the time to join us and share the work you're doing here at Baylor. Thanks so much.
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Derek, thanks for having me here. It's such a joy to be able to share, and to our listening audience, we hope these are words of encouragement and that our human flourishing will soar everywhere. Derek, I appreciate your historic work with these podcasts proclaiming positivity and what's happening at Baylor and how Baylor is embracing the world for human flourishing. Thank you so much.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, thank you. I appreciate that very much as well, Dr. Newby. That means a lot. We've got a lot of great people here at Baylor that we get to visit with for sure.
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Oh, yeah.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, so my first question for you, Dr. Newby, we had the chance to visit with you when you received the job. You described it then as a dream job, so got to put it to the test. A few months in here, you finding that to indeed be the case?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Yes. This job is about people and the community is so wonderful. There's a lot of good work being done here, and it's a wonderful balance of generosity, hospitality, academic rigor, and people share their hearts and you can see their heart language and their passion, and people get to do that work and pass it on the next generation of students. This is so exciting. Dream job, yes, indeed, my brother.
DEREK SMITH:
Absolutely. Well, it's great to hear the enthusiasm shines through here. As we visit here, I know there's a lot of different aspects of the work you do in music, but position that you have here as the Lev H. Prichard III chair in the study of Black worship. When we talk Black worship here on the program and through this role, just what all falls under that umbrella? What does that encompass?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Well, it's archiving documentation. It's also theological work. It's also ministry, academic rigor. It's also creating. It calls for innovation, a little bit of administration and a lot of networking. Under the auspices of Black worship, when you think about how broad and how sophisticated that is, not only African-American genres of worship and denominations, but also what is Black all over the world from Trinidad to, oh my goodness, to Africa. We get to explore and discuss the dynamics of God doing this work through God's people and how God's people respond in worship. There are non-Black congregations that use Black idioms in their liturgics, which brings another lane of multi-ethnic sensibilities in our Christian gatherings, which is huge. It's huge. That's a lot of work.
DEREK SMITH:
Absolutely. A lot of work for sure and we're excited to dive in that with you here on the program. But before we talk about what you're doing right now, I want to go way back a little bit and ask you to kind of ... maybe the breadcrumbs that brought you to this role now. Just take us inside the role of music in your life. When do you first remember music having a hold on you?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
I remember when I was about eight years old, I was improvising on the piano. My mother asked me, "Do you want to take piano lessons?" I turned to her and I said, "Sure." Then I immediately turned back to the piano and just improvised. I think that was the invitation, but I've always been curious. I've always played several different instruments. I played clarinet, flute, trombone, guitar, bass, which brought me to the idea of writing and arranging and being composer and orchestrating. I was always curious. In our household, there were five children and my mother made us all take piano lessons, and so many of our battles were around the piano. Who's going to get the next time to practice? We look back at those days as siblings, and we just relish in the fantastic, fun-tabulous times that we had as siblings battling out. My mother had this idea that if there was not a lot of noise or music going on in the house, it was not good. You'd hear a flute over here, clarinet over here, my sister played a little violin and my brother played trumpet. It was just a house full of music and people making noise with their instruments and so it was a very joyful time. Then I started playing at the church at age 13, and my mother was a minister of music and father was the pastor at New Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan. I grew up in Detroit and then high school, there was a lot of music. I played in the band, sang in the choir. I went to Madonna University and I studied music, undergraduate vocal, music, education, performance, then did a master's at University of Massachusetts and at Amherst, where I studied jazz, masters of music in jazz composition and arranging. I spent time with Youssef Lateef, Billy Taylor, Fred Tillis, and then the gospel music came in, the gospel music scholarship came in when I worked with Horace Clarence Boyer there at UMass Amherst as a graduate student. Then went on to do a doctorate at the University of Michigan in composition. That's basically the journey.
DEREK SMITH:
The journey, yes. You received a degree in theology as well later on, is that correct?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Yes. Yes. I received a Master's of Arts in theology. It was almost like a double master's in Bible scripture theology, and I took a lot of electives around the idea of Black worship and theology of worship.
DEREK SMITH:
We are visiting with Dr. Stephen Newby, the new Prichard chair in the study of Black worship at Baylor. Dr. Newby, what you've just described are three distinct strands to your career; music, education, and ministry. I guess I would say composing and performance because music plays a role in all of this, but those three chords, how did those come together for you to weave together into a career that's, I think, really unique?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Well, I think it really started in my upbringing because our parents were all about ministry and the church and so it was something that was modeled before me, and it was a way of life and I saw being involved in ministry as normative. Of course, when you're in a church and you're doing music, you just lean into it, but the education piece came from a curiosity, wanting to learn more, and I just couldn't stop learning. When I learned about Miles Davis and Stravinsky and Duke Ellington, I said, "Oh my goodness, I need to learn more." That's when I worked on the doctorate and then later on in life, the theology degree. I wasn't satisfied with the way I could talk about Bible and theology and what my music did and so I spent almost six and a half years working part-time. Working part-time on that degree while I was working full-time at Seattle Pacific University and trying to get tenure at the time.
DEREK SMITH:
Wow.
STEPHEN NEWBY:
But the interesting thing is I think those three strands for me are necessary. I'm a human being, man, and I think they bring balance to the equation and it has been hugely impactful in my life to lean in those three areas. Then the beautiful thing about it all is community, the community that develops when you bring these three arenas together, which really gave me a great gift to network because when you're working in the church, you're working with people from all these different disciplines when you're shepherding and hanging out with people. Then, of course, who doesn't love music, and then who doesn't want to be equipped, educated, and discipled? I think that those are the things that I leaned into, which gave me the gifting to be a networker.
DEREK SMITH:
Dr. Newby, we talked about this position, the Prichard chair. When you first heard about the opening in this position, what were some of your initial thoughts? What stuck out to you when you first heard about this?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Man, I thought of a lot of people that could do the job, but I really didn't think, "Oh, I don't know if I necessarily have the capacity for that", because I was looking at so many other people that I felt would do really well. Then I really prayed about it. I was encouraged to apply the first time, and I just held back. But the second time when I was prodded, I said, "Okay, I think God is trying to get me to look at this." Because I didn't want to do it out of a self-centeredness. Like, "Okay, this is something I want to grab." But I do remember when I finally got in the running, I remember I was on a retreat. I was on a silent retreat and I was praying. There was a still small voice that came to me and asked me, "Do you want the job?" I have it in my journal. This is written. I heard the small voice ask me, "Do you want the job?" I remembered I could hardly get the air to come upon my breath to support "Yes." I said, "Yes, I want it. I really want to do this job. I really want it." Then I remember this huge calm over my spirit, then I said, "Well, I'm not going to worry about it. I talked with the Lord about it and I've done the best I can do", and then when I found out I got the job, I was ecstatic. It was outrageous. I thought about the possibilities to do this work in this space, and I knew it was from the hand of God. It's a calling. It's a calling.
DEREK SMITH:
Well, it is. This position and you've really been able to dive right in. I want to ask you a two-part question. What are some of your initial priorities in taking this role, and why is Baylor University the right place to be doing this kind of work, not just for you, but just this work in general?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Well, I think Baylor being an R1 institution is huge. I think Baylor being Christian is huge. I think Baylor took an initiative, and obviously Bob Darden, Robert Darden, who's just ... oh my goodness, he's such an incredible soul, beautiful soul, and the story on how this music came about, I mean how the archives came about and how he embraces this music, and that spoke volumes to me, and I don't take it for granted so it is important to build upon what Bob Darden has done. I think what's critical is that we've got to take these next 20 years after the Golden Age period of gospel and find these recordings and archive and digitize as many recordings as possible. That's priority within the next couple of years. The other thing is to build systematically a network with other scholars around the country this idea of accessing the archives and contributing scholarship articles, blogs, other things, other forms of discussion and discovery around this ... doing our due diligence with the music and telling the stories that this Black music matters.
DEREK SMITH:
Maybe this is boiling it down to such a simple thing, but I want to ask, you think donors have invested in the Black Gospel Music Preservation program, university libraries is invested in sustaining and growing it. The Prichard family, they invested in this position to enable someone, now you, to do these scholarly pursuits. How important is just that kind of focused funding on an area that I'm going to say, you can tell me if I'm wrong, that probably for too long maybe in a lot of circles where it was under appreciated and didn't get the attention it deserves?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
I am appreciative to the Prichard family for making this contribution. It's huge, but I think about almost 40 years ago, the late Horace Clarence Boyer, had he had this opportunity 40 years ago, how further down the road we would have been with regard to this scholarship. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do. I'm appreciative of the opportunity. I'm appreciative to the donors, but we can't stop here. We have to keep finding entrepreneurs, researchers, the philanthropic community to lean in and to help uncover the magic and the mystery of this music. It's quite profound. You realize that 10 years ago, universities weren't even really thinking about this as being serious music. We're in a new millennium. When you think about it, the last millennium, Horace Boyer was there doing this work, and the most support he got was through UMass Amherst and the Smithsonian. But we are breaking ground and not only gathering the information, but how do we talk about the music? How do we discuss it? I think we're just scratching the surface on the aesthetics and the epistemologies of how we hold this music and what do we do with it and how it should be taught.
DEREK SMITH:
I was about to ask you, what do research and scholarly priorities look like as you think about studying Black worship, Black gospel music and other forms? Is that one of them and what others are there?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Every African-American denomination really needs to have a key person to speak from that vantage point, from that lane, from that perspective, because the weight and the depth of a Black worship is quite vast. There are nuances that are different, but yet there are core ingredients that are similar over denominations. I'm concerned with our younger generation, Generation Z, that some of them don't even realize this music exists, that there's been a disconnection, an ecclesiological disconnection, an ecclesiastical disconnection with this younger generation. They're not attending church. Black churches, as much as we want to believe that they're flourishing, there are challenges, there are huge challenges, and some of it is intergenerational worship, and how do we bring the families together? How do we bring the people together? But that's a whole other sociological discussion. We have a lot of work to do and a lot of challenges. We need resources, we need money, we need time. We must bring the pastors, lead pastors, senior pastors, and they must bring their ministers of music and worship pastors to the table so that we can have broad discussions of honing this tradition, honoring the tradition and what is the way forward. To network, to create conferences, round table discussions about this because there are crises. Think about this. Had it not been for the Prichard family, would this post exist? That's my point. Every university, Christian university that's serious about this music, and when they have African-American scholars who want to do the research, they need support. I'm very blessed. I don't feel entitled, but I'm very blessed and this is a rare situation. I have a responsibility to network with other colleagues across universities and bring them to the table and have discussions on how do we do this, the way forward, with regard to research.
DEREK SMITH:
This is Baylor Connections visiting with Dr. Stephen Newby and Dr. Newby, as we head into the final couple of minutes here, I want to ask you a piece about the book you're working on with Bob Darden, Soon and Very Soon: The Transformative Music and Ministry of Andrae Crouch, the Light Years. What's a favorite moment or nugget from you that you might share from that book to pique people's interest when it comes out?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Oh my goodness. Well, Andrae was a networker and to see the early years of who he networked with, how it shaped and formed his theology, how it shaped and formed the way he innovated from his curiosity and wrote music and composed, there's some things we're going to ... when you get in the book, it's just ... this is astounding to see the dramatic effect of how Andrae did this work. He had this white drummer, Bill Maxwell, and so what in the world is this white drummer playing for a contemporary gospel band? Andrae was one of the first to really begin to think about biracial, multi-ethnic and intergenerational worship. It was in his band. You see the story, you see Andrae's story through this text, and I don't want to give too much away, but I will say again, Andrae was about people. He was about loving God and loving people, and it took him places that very few gospel composers and artists and pastors will be able to even go. He set the path, set the tone, pushed and prodded under the power of the Holy Spirit and it's amazing. His life was amazing. I can't wait for people to dig in. This one final thing, Darden has the whole journalistic thing going in the narrative, and he's a master interviewer. We had to interview over 200 people. It was extraordinary, just masterful. Then I bring a different kind of scholarship with regard to musical analysis and theology and African-American performance practice of the music. Think about all those threads woven together and we're presenting the work of Andrae Crouch and The Disciples. Soon and Very Soon, this book is going to be available, I believe, around fall 2024.
DEREK SMITH:
All right, we'll be looking forward to that. Dr. Newby, final question for you. As you were describing Andrae Crouch and the ways he broke ground and connected people, loved God, loved people. I mean, maybe I'm saying something obvious here, but my final question for you is how much of that is a motivator? How much of that is just a picture of what you want this Prichard role in the work that comes through it to be?
STEPHEN NEWBY:
I think Andrae Crouch is a great model for this post. I'm approaching this post as a composer, as a musician. When my work is done and someone else comes along, it may be a theologian, it may be someone that sits in the church seminary, or it may be someone that sits in the religion department or the sociology department. But I think the common thing and all these disciplines is if we don't learn how to work together and to network with people that we would not normally work with, we may not be able to get the work done. But Andrae got his work done on his watch. My hope is I'll get the work done on my watch, and as I pass it along, someone else will get the networking done. It's a play on words. Jesus told the disciples to cast the net on the other side of the boat and I think the Prichard role, this opportunity, is being a fisher of people and casting the net on the other side and pulling them in to the love of God and the love of gospel music and engaging in this idea of Black worship. Because Black worship is not just for Black people, it's for everybody.
DEREK SMITH:
That's wonderful. A great place to close here. Well, Dr. Newby, we appreciate that and look forward to what you have in store through the role, what's ahead with the Black Gospel Music Preservation Project, and we really appreciate your time.
STEPHEN NEWBY:
Derek, thank you so much, and I just want to give a shout-out once again to my buddy, Robert Darden. Thank you for laying the groundwork and Ella Prichard. Thank you for laying down a foundation financially for us to carry this work through. Derek, thank you for this interview.
DEREK SMITH:
Thank you very much. It's been great to visit and appreciate it very much. Dr. Stephen Newby, the inaugural Lev H. Prichard III chair in the study of Black worship, our guest today on Baylor Connections. I'm Derek Smith. A reminder, you can hear this and other programs online at baylor.edu/connections, and you can subscribe on iTunes. Thanks for joining us here on Baylor Connections.