Feed Your Ears

[Luigi]

The old warhorse "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" as performed by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1980. I doubt you've heard it this way before, with electric fiddle, piano glissandos, and lyrics personalized (occasionally) to Jerry Lee. 

 

[Luigi]

Sister Ida Maxey sings "I Don't Know Why," written by Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey. This was recorded in 1974 but the song was written well before that. It's just a piano and Sister Ida's voice. 

 

[Luigi]

Picking up on Jesus' teaching in today's Gospel, here is Out of the Dust with their song "Love Your Enemies." This is a husband and wife group from Tennessee; they married, divorced after Christopher lost his faith, and remarried when he recovered his faith. The song has an interesting beat/syncopation, and I like Stephanie's voice on the offset repeated lines. (And it doesn't hurt that their name picks up on our own dUSt!)

 

Edited September 13 by Luigi

[Luigi]

This one's just for fun - Ed Bruce singing "Jesus Loved the Hell Out of Me," a song he co-wrote with John Thompson. It's a sort of Texas swing recounting of what happened after his conversion. 

 

[Luigi]

The Salem Travelers with "When on the Cross." This is "slow Gospel." It's got some shouted highlights here and there, but the beat is slow and steady throughout. It also has an interesting explanation that I've never heard before about why the sky went dark during the crucifixion. May you have a fruitful feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. 

 

[Luigi]

A quick little bluegrass song called "Get Behind Me, Satan." It doesn't tell the story from today's Gospel; it addresses the singer's struggles and determination. By Wayne Yocom in 1977. I can find exactly NO information about him online - he must have been a minor recording artist, but his song is still available on YouTube!

 

[Luigi]

Here are The Sensational Nightingales singing "Take Your Burden to the Lord." This is a male quartet, but the three harmony singers sound almost like a choir. It's a fairly slow, quiet song of encouragement. 

 

[Luigi]

Aretha Franklin, 1972, at the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles with her soulful version of the old classic "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." She was in top form. I also love the choir director - he's getting an aerobic workout! 

 

[Luigi]

In 1939, when radios were still pretty new but most people had one, and also when Gospel stations had been been established, Lulu Belle and Scotty released "Turn Your Radio On." It's been recorded by dozens of others since then. It's a classic, and it ties in with the overarching theme of this topic/thread. This isn't really bluegrass music (no mandolin or banjo, no harmony), and it's not what most people today would call "country music," but it was the style of country music in 1939. 

 

[Luigi]

Natalie Merchant singing "Poor Weeping Pilgrim." Interestingly, the lyrics don't include the word "weeping;" only "mourning" shows up in the lyrics. I don't know anything about the song, but it sounds like it's traditional Appalachian, maybe originally shape note singing. Melodically and lyrically, it's very simple; she has just banjo and fiddle for accompaniment. But it's haunting enough that it can stay in your mind. 

 

Edited September 20 by Luigi

[Luigi]

This is Charles Johnson & the Revivers with some revival music, "Going On With (My) Jesus." They not only sing, they play their own instruments, and they do a little holy dancing, too. 

 

[Luigi]

Kitty Wells, one of the great women singers of early country music, sings "Dust on the Bible," written by Johnnie and Walter Bailes in 1945. Wells recorded it in 1959 and it has since become a standard. She's got a voice like rough-cut pine, and the twangy instrumentation matches it well. 

 

[Luigi]

Heaven's Mountain Band was formed in 1986 and they're still performing. Their music is straight-up country Gospel. What makes them somewhat different is that it's a multigenerational group - Grandpa & Grandma, their son (and his wife, I think), and a grandson (ten years old and playing the fiddle!), with a couple of other people, too. Like a lot of groups, they've gone through a bunch of personnel changes, so the lineup is somewhat different today. Another thing that makes them different is that the Grandpa writes most of their songs; it's not just old standards. And he writes very natural lyrics as opposed to the often poetically contorted lyrics of the old standards. This is "I Went Under the Blood" from 2016.  

 

[Luigi]

Bruce Springsteen and the Sessions Band sing (or maybe 'shout' would be more accurate) "This Little Light of Mine" at The Point in Dublin in 2006. It's a classic American spiritual, rocked out by a classic American rocker with a whole bunch of other Americans and Irish folks. It picks up on today's Gospel about not hiding one's light under a bushel basket. There are, of course, dozens of other versions by other singers on YouTube, but I like this version because the sing a couple of the lesser known verses. 

 

[Luigi]

Here's another one by the (original) Carter Family - Sara on autoharp and lead vocal, Maybelle on guitar and harmony, and A.P. singing bass. It was recorded about 1930, and even though the sound has been remastered, it's still a little raw sounding. The song is "I'm on My Way to Canaan's Land."