Feed Your Ears

[Luigi]

A Southern Gospel Revival is a group, not an event. I think it's really just a group of friends in Texas who like traditional gospel music, so they came up with a name for the group, just for this project. The lead singer on this song is Courtney Patton; she has a strong alto voice. The song was written by J. D. Jarvis in 1967 and it's been recorded a couple of times by name brand bluegrass singers. The structure of the song is pretty simple, but that means it's easy to sing along with, and one could make up additional verses pretty easily, too. The song is called "Take Your Shoes Off, Moses." 

 

[Luigi]

Jean Redpath is a Scottish folk singer. Here she delivers the Quaker hymn "How Can I Keep from Singing" in a pretty straightforward version, accompanied by mostly violins. 

 

Edited March 8 by Luigi

[Luigi]

I posted a song by Willie Mae Ford Smith previously, and I'm posting another one now - "I'll Never Turn Back No More" - written by Dr. Thomas Dorsey, also recorded by Mahalia Jackson. But I prefer Willie Mae Ford Smith's version. It's got a little bit of a spoken introduction; she performed this at a church celebration of her 80th birthday, so she's talking to a lot of people who know her. It's taken from the documentary "Say Amen, Somebody." If you haven't seen it, I recommend it - it's about gospel music and features Smith, Dr. Dorsey, Sallie Martin, The O'Neill Twins, The Barrett Sisters, Zella Jackson Price, and maybe some other folks. 

 

[Luigi]

The Williams Brothers have been around for over 60 years in one form or another. They have a real smooth sound. This song and video are from 1985. That was around the time music videos were new and innovative. Another interesting feature of this song is the word play of NObody, EVERYbody, SOMEbody, and ANYbody - you see the same kind of word play in a lot of country songs. Here's "I'm Just a Nobody." 

 

 

[Luigi]

Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote "I Say a Little Prayer for You" for Dionne Warwick in 1967. She had a hit with it on pop radio (#4 on the pop charts). Indicating that there was a time in this society when people could not only talk about prayer in public, they could sing about it! And they did. And no one complained. Of course, the vamp-out lines of this indicate that this is a love song - everything on the radio in those days was under cover of a love song. BTW, Dionne Warwick is Whitney Houston's aunt. 

 

Edited March 11 by Luigi

[Luigi]

Here's another pop song that unashamedly features prayer - "This Is Dedicated to the One I Love." Written by Lowman Pauling and Ralph Bass in 1957 and recorded by The 5 Royales (Pauling was their bassist); they re-released it in 1961 - it reached #81 on the pop charts; the Shirelles also recorded it and released it in 1961 - it went to #3; then the Mamas and Papas released their cover in 1967 and it went to #2. So it's been around for a long time and been up and down the charts. I post the Mamas & Papas version because I like their harmony and the piano - it sounds like a slightly out of tune piano in a high school gym.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUr5_QVPCAI

Edited March 12 by Luigi

[Luigi]

I really like Sister Shirely Caesar. She puts her whole self into every song she sings. So here's "I Found Jesus and I'm Glad." It's from 1967, but since it's in Gospel style, it doesn't sound dated. It relates somewhat to today's first reading of the river that is first ankle deep, then knee deep, then waist deep. But it's also about her conversion experience and baptism. And I love the high notes by the chorus singer at the end!   

 

Edited March 13 by Luigi

[Luigi]

Mahalia Jackson was one of the great Gospel singers of the 20th century. She had a big voice, she meant every word she sang (as opposed to some people who approach Gospel music as a business), and she worked very closely with Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey, who is known as the Father of Gospel Music. I hadn't planned on posting this song today, but I stumbled upon it while I was scouting up another song. I know the song, and I like it, so I gave it a listen. And some of the themes in it overlap with today's reading from Isaiah, so I decided to post it. The link didn't embed, so you have to click on the hyperlink. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_xXdU4L2Qw

Edited March 14 by Luigi

[Luigi]

Marty Stuart has been around Nashville for a long, long time - as a singer, songwriter, studio musician, producer, and husband of Connie Smith. Here, he and his group sing "The Unseen Hand," a song that comes out of the Primitive Baptist Church. A. J. Sims wrote it in 1927. Sims was a preacher and hymn writer, but his full-time job was in a cotton mill. Stuart's arrangement is somewhat unusual - only one guitar, very spare, and three voices in harmony. I especially like the green guitar, the glittering magenta ties, and the band's name "The Fabulous Superlatives."

 

[Luigi]

"Farther Along" was first published in 1911. Who composed it has never been nailed down definitively. Here, The Trio - Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, and Linda Ronstadt - sing it very much in the style of Harris' former lover Gram Parsons of Flying Burrito Brothers fame. The Trio's harmonies are terrific! Minimal instrumentation in the first half, but then that good ol' Gospel Piano kicks in. 

 

Edited March 16 by Luigi

[Luigi]

Paul Simon claims that he's not religious, but he's written a lot of songs that mention God, heaven, the sacred, etc. This is "Love Is Eternal Sacred Light." He summarizes The Big Bang to the present in four minutes. He sings in his 'God Voice' in the bridge. Interesting instruments and percussion. I like an awful lot of Paul Simon's music. I post the lyrics, too - most people can hear and understand most of them most of the time, but one wants to be complete sometimes. 

[Chorus]
Love is eternal sacred light
Free from the shackles of time
Evil is darkness, sight without sight
A demon that feeds on the mind

1. How did it all begin? Started with a bang
Couple of light years later, stars and planets sang
Fire warmed the cold, waves of colors flew
Moonlight into gold, earth to green and blue                [Chorus]

2. Earth becomes a farm, farmer takes a wife
Wife becomes a river and the giver of life
Man becomes machine, oil runs down his face
Machine becomes a man with a bomb in the marketplace
Bomb in the marketplace, bomb in the marketplace              [Chorus]

[Bridge]
Big Bang, that's a joke that I made up once when I had eons to kill
You know, most folks, they don't get when I'm joking
Well, maybe someday they will
Love me, love me, that's the main request I receive
Well you know I love all my children
And it tears me up when I leave

[Outro]
But sometimes you gotta fly down that highway
Free as a bird, knock on wood, thank the Lord
I am driving along in my automobile
It's a brand new pre-owned '96 Ford
Check out the radio, pop music station
That don't sound like my music to me
Talk show host, what's that boy's name?
Politics is ugly
At the end of the dial there's the gospel show
Maybe now I can exit and rest
There's a blizzard rolling down off the banks of Lake Michigan
Gonna cover the roads of the icy Midwest

[Luigi]

Another from Bob Dylan. Not from his 'religious period,' but prior to that. It seems to fit with today's Gospel (not the verses but the chorus) about Jesus getting ready for the Passion. I've heard a lot of covers of this song, but I consider the original to still be the best - the backup singers sound like a choir. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

 

[dUSt]

I love this thread!

[Hna.Caridad]

Indeed!  This thread is the reason Phatmass needs to continue for all eternity.  Sorry dUSt--no "retirement" for you!  Long live good music and good music recommendations!

[Luigi]

Well, thanks, you guys! Everyone is welcome to post their own contributions, whenever the spirit moves you! 

Today's selection is by Brother Joe May (died of a heart attack at age 60 in 1972). He was a protege of Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith; I've posted a couple of her songs previously. His first and biggest hit was Dr. Thomas A. Dorsey's "Search Me, Lord" which articulates very congenially with Lent.