Article Preview

The $20,000 Crossroads: Why Jimmy Swaggart Rejected the Call of Rock 'n' Roll Fame

"The history of American music is filled with "what if" scenarios, but few are as spiritually and culturally significant as the moment Jimmy Swaggart walked away from a potential career in secular music. Long before he became a global televangelist, Swaggart was a prodigy of the piano, sharing a bench and a style with his cousins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Mickey Gilley. The trio, raised in the small town of Ferriday, Louisiana, developed a unique, high-energy "pumping" piano style that blended gospel, blues, and boogie-woogie. While his cousins chose the path of the honky-tonk and the rock stage, Swaggart’s decision to reject a lucrative recording..."

Check the preview and insightful summaries above, then just click the button below whenever you're ready to read the full content and all its sections.

More from the collection