The First Cosmopolitans “place harmony above all else”

Music Maker Foundation is excited to announce the release of Roll Jordan Roll by the First Cosmopolitan All Male Chorus, recorded by Music Maker co-founder Tim Duffy nearly three decades ago at First Cosmopolitan Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC.

“In the mid-1990s, I was busy making as many field recordings as possible with my new binaural high fidelity recording system, gifted to me by audio pioneer Mark Levinson,” says Duffy. “I reached out to my graduate school professor from UNC-Chapel Hill, Dr. Glenn Hinson, and asked him to introduce me to any artists he wanted to record. He suggested the First Cosmopolitan All Male Chorus, a local gospel choir that had been singing together since the 1950s.”

The First Cosmopolitans originated as the men’s choir of Fayetteville Street Baptist Church, a “little mission church” founded in 1895 in Raleigh, NC. While they originally sang with a piano during services, the group began developing their own sound as an a capella (unaccompanied) chorus. As Raleigh underwent a program of urban renewal, Fayetteville Street Baptist Church relocated and became First Cosmopolitan Baptist Church – and the chorus changed their name to match. Since then, they have performed at other churches from the Carolinas up the Eastern seaboard to New York, all while maintaining their duties at their home church in Raleigh.

The group’s style was loosely inspired by legendary Nashville gospel quartet The Fairfield Four, who gained national recognition when their music was featured in the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000. However, the First Cosmopolitans didn’t simply copy The Fairfield Four’s arrangements. The Raleigh-based choir made the songs their own, blending the older Jubilee style with more contemporary sounds. They place harmony above all else, creating rich vocal tapestries unlike anything else in gospel music.

“I have asked all my gospel music scholar friends,” Duffy says, “and no one can pinpoint another group that sounds quite like the First Cosmopolitans.”

Roll Jordan Roll releases on the Music Maker label January 15, 2025.