As with many notable gospel recordings from the so-called “hillbilly,” rural country-gospel field, whose origins lie in Appalachia, the early work of the Ritchie and Shepherd Gospel Singers was first introduced on the internet by the YouTube channel Fixed Elsewhere, which uploaded tracks from their debut album, A Man of Sorrow. The Ritchie and Shepherd…
A beautiful release of Ella Hanshaw’s home recordings from her big and her little black book. This release features original gospel songs and secular country tunes that appear to span several decades. In addition to a few semi-professional recordings with her gospel group, the Hallelujah Hill Quartet, most tracks are simple tape recordings “made in…
Five different versions of the same song, by Joe And Blanche Lewis, The Smith Trio, The Ritchie And Shepherd Gospel Singers, The Looper Trio, and a field recording of an Unknown Singer from Berea, KY. 1.Preaching by the roadside, under a tree;Folks come along and make a mock of me.They say we’re crazy, soon we’ll…
Amazing documentation about the music and the people of the Southern Appalachians. An exploration of the religious music of the southern Appalachian mountains, and the conflict between the sacred, political, and profane. Religious music of the South Appalachians covers a wide panorama. At one extreme, the fundamentalist Baptists regard any music as “the devil’s work,”…
High-lonesome gospel esoterica from West Virginia on Salem Records. The group started in 1948, and this seems to be their first album, released in 1964. A little bit of an odd mix, with the guitars in the foreground, as if they were too close to the microphone. Nonetheless, a handful of good songs, beautiful mountain…
A fellow record collector and contributor to this blog (thanks Devon) gifted me a stack of gospel records. In my attempt to digitize as many records as possible, I went on and transferred a bunch of them, cleaned them up a little (the click removal these days is so much better than 15 or so…
While Walter Brown and Son Floyd’s 45 on Melody Records is raw country gospel, this album by Brown with his daughter is much more calm and piano based. Theda Brown became a gospel singer herself. What’s the proper sub-genre to describe this kind of gospel music, just gospel? Quite a rare album, I believe. Enjoy!…
This Kingsport, TN trio consists of William E. Osborne on lead vocals and guitar, his wife Marlyn Jean on alto, and Ronnie East handling tenor and occasional bass parts. There is an self-titled album out there on the Jayla Records label out of Georgia, which might be their debut, this one on the Bibletone Record…
A decent bluegrass gospel album on the Crusade Enterprise/Records label out of Illinois. The Country Valley Singers Leonard Smith, Pete Price, Mary Martin, Bob Martin, and Gene Weeks Bluegrass gospel music (often referred to as country or mountain music) is one of the most popular genres today. During the recording session, The Country Valley Singers…
Beautiful debut album by The Singing Burke Family from Bypro, Kentucky. The Singing Burke Family – Clinging To A Saving Hand By Faith I Believe by The Singing Burke Family Today, we are beset with fad religions, false prophets, fake gurus, and complicated religious doctrines that are confusing, and often, misleading. There are so many…
I love making mixes for myself and, while I’m at it, for others as well. Over the years I tried several formats for digital mixtapes. There was 8tracks (dead), mixcloud (wants money), a zip with mp3 files (only nerds download music files) and YouTube (advertising hell and bad UX). I now ended up with a…
Harlan Co., KY born, Detroit, MI implant Byon F. Smiddy on Tommy Crank’s IRMA label. On this record, Bro. Byon sings and plays many of his own songs in the Bluegrass Gospel style. Byon F. Smiddy – Jesus Said To Pray He Called My Name by BYON F. SMIDDY IRMA Records – Compatible Stereo ILP-107…
This gospel quartet, out of Indiana, had ties to both Russell County and Pulaski County in Kentucky and the Separate Baptist Church denomination. “Sing his praises” was written by the mother of two of the band members. The Springtime Gospel Quartet proudly presents this first album of songs which have been the most requested since…
Joe Bussard‘s gospel group Sunny Side Sacred Singers, released on the Fonotone Records compilation on Dust to Digital.
A wonderful singing, indeed. Links
The Phipps Family from Kentucky was known as a musical family “in the Carter Family tradition”. Founded in the last years of the depression, Arthur Leroy Phipps and his wife Kathleen Norris Helton started to play their own songs of traditional mountain music. Their friendship with A.P. Carter and the Carter Family, as well as…
I heard about Bowles and Cook first on the Smithsonian Folkways “People’s Pick’s” playlist series that got kicked off by my friend Daniel Bachman in 2015. He described their music best in his notes, writing: It seems appropriate that this is the first song on the playlist because it was the first I ever heard…
Ernest C. Martin was a bluegrass and country gospel musician and evangelist from Clay City, Kentucky. Born on January 27, 1914, in Clay City, he began his career in music at an early age, playing the banjo, guitar, and banjolina, and singing in church, school dances, and pie suppers. He gained his first steady radio…
Dallas Alexander was a prominent figure in the Ohio bluegrass scene, born in Jackson County, Kentucky. He began playing guitar at age 14 and moved to Ohio in 1954. After his spiritual conversion in 1961, Alexander devoted his music to spreading the gospel message. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Alexander recorded and produced several albums…
It’s hard to tell if this is a genuine Mayes cross. I’ve seen images of crosses with a similar typeface attributed to him. Those were older, and given the bad paint job and the time frame of William R. Ferris photo, this might be one of those older crosses, painted over by someone who “took…
