Sunday morning gospel: The Singing Farmer--Bob Parrish (GMA Records, circa 1964)

A thrift gift from Diane (thanks, Diane!), this LP features robust, loud, take-no-prisoners gospel singing of the Jerome Hines/George Beverly Shea type.  A fourteen-track revival in your living room!  This is Milford, Illinois' Bob Parrish, "The Singing Farmer," and of course "Singing Farmer" had me expecting something twangy or cowboy.  I certainly wasn't expecting concert-style vocalizing, but that's what we get, and I'm not complaining.  Turns out that Bob studied under the once-famous lyric tenor Dimitri Onofrei (misspelled as "Onofrie" in the liner notes):

... who was the husband of once-famous soprano Bianca Saroya.

This LP hails from circa 1964 (UPDATE: See comment of 5/27/22, which establishes the release year as 1967), which I was able to guesstimate from a sentence in the March 21, 1964 issue of Cash Box: "Bob Parrish--the singing farmer--paid us a visit last week and advised us that he recently waxed some material for upcoming release."  I'm thinking that today's offering was that upcoming release, since it's the only Parrish LP listed at Discogs--or anyplace else, it seems.   (UPDATE: Cash Box was referring to Bob's first LP, Old Favorite Hymns.)  Meanwhile, at eBay, three other singing farmers show up, in addition to Bob--"Ireland's Singing Farmer" John Wait; country artist Lake Howard of North Carolina (on a 1977 reissue of 1930s material); and someone named Marlan Peterson.  I guess no one quibbled over who owned the handle.

These are all sacred selections, of course, and the song listing had me liking the thing before I even laid the needle down--fourteen beautifully chosen gospel numbers, including some of my all-time favorites: One Day, Leave It There, Ivory Palaces, Rock of Ages (with the standard U.S. tune by Thomas Hastings), When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder, One Day, and the Fanny Crosby-Phoebe Knapp masterpiece, Blessed Assurance.  Crosby, the greatest popular hymnist of them all, is partially responsible for my addiction to what were once dubbed "Sunday School" or "revival" songs--she astonished me with her brilliantly straightforward lyrics, and I started to suspect that "the old songs" in gospel music were something to be taken seriously.  Assurance (parodied as "Blessed Insurance, Please pay on time.") may be her best text.  Remember, even though this distinction is rarely made anymore, that a hymn is a text--it can be joined to any tune that fits the syllable count.  That's why standard hymnals still have a metrical index, though most ministers no longer swap tunes and texts.

Anyway, back to Bob, whose career had a second wind in the 1990s, apparently thanks to an "On the Road" (Charles Kuralt) segment that featured him.  That career had been interrupted in the mid-1960s when his wife, at age 47, died from a cerebral hemorrhage.  He then devoted himself to running his farm while raising his two daughters.  He had been singing at Chicago's McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America, the internet tells me.  And he had been invited to sing at Carnegie Hall.  It appears that never happened.

But we have this wonderful LP.  I suppose Parrish could be compared to Jim Nabors, in the sense of operatic singing coming from someone whose rural image belies the vocal reality.  And I have no idea what I just typed.  I found no obit on Parrish, so I hope he's still with us.  If so, he'd be around 95.  My thanks to him for making this gem and to Diane for finding it for me.

DOWNLOAD: The Singing Farmer--Bob Parrish




What a Friend We Have in Jesus (Scriven-Converse)
In My Heart There Rings a Melody (Elton M. Roth)
Are Ye Able (Marlatt-Mason)
Battle Hymn of the Republic (Howe-Steffe)
Leave It There (Tindley)
Ivory Palaces (Barraclough)
When They Ring the Golden Bells (De Marbelle)--Instrumental by Rev. Paul Clarke (or Clark)
In the Garden (Miles)
When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder (Black)
Rock of Ages (Toplady-Hastings)
Open My Eyes (Clara H. Scott)
Blessed Assurance (Crosby-Knapp)
One Day (Chapman-Marsh)
Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown--Instrumental by Rev. Paul Clarke (or Clark)


Bob Parrish, Baritone--"The Singing Famer"--accompanied on piano and organ by Rev. Paul Clarke (or Clark).  Produced by Ensminger (??).  (GMA Records SS-8438-018; circa 1964.)


Lee