The Gospel Ranger

This is the story of a song, "Ain't No Grave Gonna Hold My Body Down." It was written by a 12-year-old boy on what was supposed to be his deathbed. But the boy didn't die. Instead, he went on to become a Pentecostal preacher, and later helped inspire the birth of Rock & Roll. The boy's name was Brother Claude Ely, and he was known as The Gospel Ranger. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

You can listen to The Gospel Ranger online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Gospel Ranger is an episode from Radio Diaries by Radio Diaries & Radiotopia.

This episode is 16:38 long.

This episode was published on Oct 2, 2025.

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