This is a thrift find from maybe ten years ago. I'd never heard of Joe Emerson, but the track listing convinced me to plunk down 99 cents, or whatever the sticky label said. I peeled it off long ago, so lost is the history of what I paid.
Anyway, familiar gospel hymns--Higher Ground, Near the Cross, and Under His Wings--and two pop-sacred numbers, including one I was vaguely familiar with: You Go to Your Church, and I'll Go to Mine. It was the number that made this a must-have, and Emerson's version is very good.
You Go to Your Church is credited to Seth Parker and Phillips H. Lord, who were actually the same person--Seth was a character Lord played on the radio. The number dates from a period when evangelical Christianity, a.k.a. evangelicalism, was still a much more inclusive and progressive thing than anyone today might imagine unless he or she had studied its history. The other pop-sacred number, (When They All) Get Together with the Lord, with words by Moe (Collegiate) Jaffee, is less distinguished, though it contains a great line: "Then the right go on livin', the wrong get forgiven, When they all get together with the Lord." Well, it sounded great the first time around. Anyway, a more forgiving and ecumenical type of everyday faith on display here. Things would change.
As a singer, Joe Emerson displays the kind of emotional involvement we'd expect from someone who had his own radio and TV series, plus regular gigs with Billy Graham. I like the line-up of mostly old standards, but I don't like the omission of author credits--what we get instead are arranging credits for Emerson and music director Lee Erwin. So I looked up the words-and-music info and provided it below.
RCA's Living Stereo sounds good here, despite some minor disc wear,
LINK: Joe Emerson's Hymntime (RCA Victor LSP-2190; 1960)
Closer Still (Beattie-Gabriel)
'Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus (Stead-Kirkpatrick)
On Jordan's Stormy Banks (Stennett-Durham)
My Jesus, I Love Thee (Featherston-Gordon)
Under His Wings (Cushing-Sankey)
You Go to Your Church, and I'll Go to Mine (Phillips H. Lord)
Near the Cross (Crosby-Bradbury)
Shall We Gather at the River (Lowry)
(When They All) Get Together with the Lord (Moe Jaffe-Bickley Reichner)
Lead Me Savior (Frank M. Davis)
Let Him In (Atchinson-Excell)
Higher Ground (Oatman, Jr.-Gabriel)
Lee
3 comments:
Thanks, Lee - I've never heard of this fellow.
Thanks, Lee. I always wonder about the albums I see where I have no idea who the artist is. Now I know. :)
Thank you Lee, Joe Emerson is my father’s uncle on his mother’s side. I have searched over the years and this is the first time I got a hit. I downloaded the album and listened to it. Sounds fabulous.
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