Tammy Oberhausen explores family, faith, hypocrisy and doubt in ‘The Evolution of the Gospelettes’

The Evolution of the Gospelettes

Tammy Oberhausen

David Jones

The Evolution of the Gospelettes is a new novel by Tammy Oberhausen that is receiving tremendous praise these days, particularly among some of the best known names in Southern literature. It has been praised by the likes of Robert Morgan, Holly Goddard Jones, Jeff Zentner, and Lee Smith, who says that she cannot remember the last time she enjoyed a novel so much. “[It’s] an irresistible novel―so smart, so warm and wise and knowledgeable,” Smith says. “I literally couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t stop reading to cook supper! The Evolution of the Gospelettes joins some mighty good company to become one of the very finest Appalachian novels ever written―and certainly one of the most original, comprehensive and compelling.”

Oberhausen’s debut is a compelling exploration of family ties and rifts, faith and doubt, holiness and hypocrisy in a changing world. Centering on Jeanie, whose thoughtful, lyrical narration carries us through five decades of life with the singing Holliman Family. After they form a gospel group in 1972 and become regionally well-known, they travel throughout Kentucky and Tennessee to spread their message. Along the way, however, they begin to lose their paths, or change them. The Evolution of the Gospelettes follows the family and their transformation from old-time gospel singers in the 1970s to performers on a televangelist program in the 1980s to founding members of a megachurch in the 1990s. As the new millennium approaches, Jeannie, whose beliefs have evolved and irreversibly departed from her family’s, fears what will happen the more entrenched they become in fundamentalist thinking and finds herself in a fight to save the people she loves from self-destruction.

The novel is being published by Fireside Industries, an imprint of the University Press of Kentucky. Titles for the imprint are chosen and edited by New York Times bestselling writer Silas House, who first worked with Oberhausen when she was his student at Spalding University’s Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing. “Years after I served as her mentor there, I kept thinking about this novel. The characters stuck with me all that time, and I recalled the vivid sense of place, the wonderful way she is able to balance both concise description and a page-turning pace, so I reached out to her to see if she’d let us publish it,” House says. “It is a nuanced, funny, moving, and hugely entertaining read.”

A great book calls for a great cover, and The Evolution of the Gospelettes certainly has a striking one, designed by David Jones, a native of Glasgow, Kentucky, who now lives in Bowling Green, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Art at Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. The author is a fan of his work and handpicked him for the cover.

“I sent him photos of gospel albums from the early 1970s with suggestions of how to capture each character—the clothes from this one, the hair from that one, the pose from another,” Oberhausen, who was raised in South-central Kentucky, says. “I also sent him one short passage from the novel, describing the characters’ appearance and expressions in their first album cover photo. He captured them perfectly. The three sisters look alike from a distance. That’s certainly how their parents raised them, to dress a certain way and follow the rules. But if you look closely at their facial expressions, you can see their distinct personalities: one is smiling happily, one has a nervous smile, and one looks like she’s ready to walk out of this nonsense.”

Jones says the book was relatable to him because his father played country and gospel music “I seem to remember my father [who passed 30 years ago] even having a suit very similar to the father in the book. I may have also sported one at 10 years old,” Jones says. “Tammy’s descriptions of the family were so detailed, it was inspiring to bring these characters to life. Her details, even down to the expressions, made it a joy to capture the personalities.”

Even though readers receive the story from the point of view of Jeanie, Oberhausen says she’s glad that the cover is a reminder that this is the story of an entire family and a gone way of life.

“From the beginning I felt that it was the story of not just her evolution but that of her family and her culture. Maybe that’s one way literature of our region departs from the American idea of individualism. Our stories often seem to be about families and communities, even if the protagonists are desperately trying to assert their individual wills.”

You can listen to the songs that are featured in and inspired the novel at a specially curated playlist available here. The Evolution of the Gospelettes is available wherever fine books are sold.