GospelSHOUT! 2026

Optional Meal: 6pm (available for purchase)

Concert:  7:30pm (concert is free)

It’ll blow you away! Tuesday April 14^th is the day for the return of a favorite Charlotte tradition, the  mighty massed trombones of GospelSHOUT!

GospelSHOUT! is a free concert featuring brass bands and gospel choirs of the United House of Prayer for All People. It’s free of charge at the United House of Prayer’s “Mother House” church, 2321 Beatties Ford Road (just south of I-85), kicking off at 7:30pm.

The event started as part of the first Charlotte Shout festival back in 2003. Charlotte Center City Partners made it an annual thing. It’s one of the highlights of the 17-day city-wide Charlotte Shout festivities which run April 4 – April 20 this year.

“High-energy trombone ‘shout bands’ have a deep tradition in the House of Prayer,” says community historian Tom Hanchett, who helps organize and introduce the event. “There are more than a dozen bands in the Charlotte area. Young people learn the music person-to-person, not from books. Leaders improvise arrangements on the spot.”

Cedric Mangum, who produces and co-hosts the concert for the House of Prayer, is a highly regarded teacher whose ensembles are heard not only in church, but at folk festivals nationwide.

“When all those trombones get to blowing, plus tuba and drums, you’ll ‘feel the spirit move,’” says Mangum.

The Cunningham Clouds of Heaven, active for more than five decades, headline the event. A guest band and two vocal choirs, the Cunningham Stringband and the Cunningham Golden Angels, round out the evening.

And the House of Prayer’s cafeteria opens at 6pm, offering soul food dinners for purchase. “That’s been a favorite attraction for a lot of attendees,” says Hanchett, “good food, an opportunity to share a table – then an evening of music that’ll energize you and touch your heart.”