Feed Your Ears

[Luigi]

Picking up on the story within the story in today's Gospel, here's Sam Cooke with one of his greatest Gospel recordings with the Soul Stirrers - (If I Could Just) Touch the Hem of His Garment, released in 1956. 

 

[Luigi]

Paul Williams was a successful bluegrass musician starting in the Fifties, and he's still with us today. He wanted to marry a particular woman, but she told him he couldn't be a bluegrass musician and still serve the Lord. So he gave up secular bluegrass and switched completely to Gospel bluegrass. He plays the mandolin and sings, in what's known as "the high lonesome" style. The subdued instrumentation allows the voices and the lyrics to take center stage. Here's "God Saves Old Sinners." 

 

[Luigi]

Here's Stevie Wonder with his 1970 Top Ten hit "Heaven Help Us All" written by Ron Miller. It's as relevant today as it was then. 

 

Edited July 3 by Luigi

[Luigi]

"(Don't Doubt Me Thomas) I Am That Man" apparently started out as a bluegrass Gospel song. Jimmy Swaggart Ministries (in this video) sort of expanded on it and arranged it for mass choir. It tells the highlights of the passion and resurrection, with each chorus referring back to Thomas, whose feast day is today. This is the only song I've posted that has Gospel harmonica for the instrumental break!

 

[Luigi]

For Independence Day, Ray Charles sings "America the Beautiful" - not quite Gospel, but Christian references throughout. 

 

[Luigi]

Gillian Welch comes from a musical family. Her parents wrote music for The Carol Burnett Show. Welch was raised in Hollywood, and she used to play bass for a punk band and a psychedelic band. Then she discovered bluegrass and other forms of Americana music. I don't think she's a Christian - at least she's never come out and said so. But she's written some Gospel songs, and she has a real knack for capturing the spirit and the sound of that Americana style. This is "By the Mark." Other people have recorded it and made it a hit on the bluegrass charts, but this is the original, Welch singing with her musical partner Dave Rawlings, who also co-wrote the song. 

 

[Luigi]

Sounds Like Reign is an interesting group, although I can find little information about them. It started out as a married couple, but they've added their two sons on this song. Brackin KIrkland is a sound engineer and plays a number of instruments; his wife, Lindsay, plays guitar and sings. So they're a Mom & Pop music shop. I know they're Christians but I don't know what denomination. They sing a lot of traditional hymns but also newly composed ones like this one "Oh Christ Surround Me" (written by Richard Bruxvoort Colligan), which seems to be a variation on St. Patrick's Breastplate. 

 

[Luigi]

Here's Tammy Wynette singing about country singers singing Gospel songs. It's called "Jesus Send a Song." It was written by Mark Lowry. A lot of country songs include references to other country songs or singers, and this one does that. It's a light piece of music, but I like it. 

 

[Luigi]

Tom Prasado-Rao was born in Ethiopia to parents of Indian parents. He was raised in Washington, DC. He was a successful sing, songwriter, and music teacher. He battled cancer the last five years, and died on June 19th, 2024 at the age of 66. He has a warm voice and a restrained guitar style. He was actually Muslim, of the Rumi branch. But in this song, he asks "Was Jesus a Sailor?" It's a slow, contemplative song. 

 

[Luigi]

Darrell Webb is a current-generation bluegrass musician. He's been in a number of other people's bands and founded his own, too - The Darrell Webb Band. This is "False Idols." It's not all that new or different in terms of sound or style, but today's first reading and the psalm are about false idols, and I like Webb's chorus line about "it's not their fault that we become disciples." 

 

[JoaquinOrexy]

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[Luigi]

^ Thanks, Joachin! I appreciate the feedback! ^
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Zella Jackson Price was mentored by Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, both featured in the documentary "Say Amen, Somebody!" Price sang "I'm His Child." But this rendition is by Amber Riley who played Mercedes in "Glee." This is from Season Six, Episode Twelve. It's a very simple song, but that lets the voice take center stage, and it's uplifting. 

 

 

Edited July 11 by Luigi

[Luigi]

Iris DeMent is the 14th - and youngest - child of a Pentecostal family. She didn't release her first album until 1992; age 31 is rather late to start a recording career, but she has continued steadily since then, in the folk-country-roots genre. On her first album, she recorded the old Gospel standard, "Higher Ground." But what makes it interesting is that her mother, Flora Mae, actually sings lead, with Iris singing harmony. That's a pretty gutsy move for a first album. Flora Mae's voice shows her age - she was 74 when she recorded this - but she gives it a straightforward treatment and hits all the notes. Iris speaks a very short introduction before the song begins. 

 

[Luigi]

That theme of 'higher ground' shows up pretty frequently in Gospel music. One of the verses in "Swing Down, Sweet Chariot" by the Staple Singers mentions it, and Flora Mae & Iris Dement sang about it yesterday. So here are The Bullock Brothers with their 6+ minute rendition. Their father was Singing Walter from North Carolina, The Bullock Brothers are his six sons (only two of the original singers are still with the group) who started singing as a group in 1950, and their sons started a group in 1967 called - appropriately enough - The Sons. The Bullock Brothers have a very smooth, calm sound - relaxing, and perhaps bordering on meditative. 

 

[Luigi]

Fontella Bass singing "All of My Burdens," which I often refer to as "Ain't That Good News?" After the news of the day, I think we could all use some Good News. BTW, this songs features some righteous sax playing as well as singing.