I wish I had time to write notes, but I don't--except to explain that the Billy Sunday Chorus, heard here on a 1917 Victor 78, was a mixed chorus of 2,500 voices. Why Victor attempted to record 2,500 voices using the acoustical method, who can say. But the song--Sail On--is magnificent, and it got me immediately looking into the composer, Charles H. Gabriel. That's when I discovered he'd written standards like Send the Light, Higher Ground, Brighten the Corner..., and tons more. I had figured that whoever penned Sail On had to be a major gospel music force, and my instincts were spot on. He's all over today's playlist. Here's a young Gabriel--rather handsome dude. Courtesy of the internet's best website, The Cyber Hymnal.
Enjoy!
DOWNLOAD: Favorite gospel tracks, Part 2
Hear Jerusalem Moan--Carl Story
Angel Band (Bradbury)--The Southlan Trio, 1964
One God--Jill Corey w. Percy Faith and His Orch., 1954
Sail On (Chas. H. Gabriel)--Janz Quartet, 1955
Sail On (Gabriel)--Billy Sunday Chorus, Dir. Homer Rodeheaver (Victor 18322; 1917)
Since Jesus Came Into My Heart (McDaniel-Gabriel)--The Merrill Staton Choir, 1958
Same--Chuck Wagon Gang, 1973
Same--Christian Couriers Male Quartet
Same--Revivaltime Choir, 1969
His Eye Is on the Sparrow (Martin-Gabriel)--Harry K. Shields, Tenor Solo (Columbia Phonograph Company 91396; poss. 1924)
Same--Oak Ridge Boys, 1964
All Hail, Emmanuel (Gabriel)--William McEwan (Columbia A1365; 1912)
All Hail Emmanuel (Gabriel)--The Van Impes
He Lifted Me (Gabriel)--Don Marsh Singers and Orchestra, 1981
A Picture from Life's Other Side--Cowboy Copas, 1963
Picture from Life's Other Side--Bradley Kincaid, 1932?
Brighten the Corner Where You Are (Ogdon-Gabriel)--Chuck Wagon Gang, 1973
Same--The Blackwood Brothers, 1967
Same--Burl Ives, 1963
Same--The Shorb Brothers
Same--Red Foley, 1959
Same--Lewis Family, 1967
Sunshine in My Soul (Hewitt-Sweney)--Burl Ives w. Owen Bradley Choir and Orch., 1962
Palms of Victory (Matthias)--The Journeymen
The Meeting in the Air (Isaiah G. Martin)--Prairie Grove Gospel Messengers
Lee
12 comments:
OWCH!!!!!! Is what I saw true????? Please say it isn't so.....I don't know what to say......another one of the crutches in my life to be gone.....I sure hope you are O.K.
I was having a wretched morning--sorry. I'll probably keep going, but with my magnificent MAGIX program blinking out on Windows 10, and the new replacement a total piece of trash--it has a huge glitch I was able to bypass, but now it's eliminating my files whenever I use "Apply All Real-Time Effects"--I don't know what I'm going to use for ripping and editing. I got spoiled with MAGIX's audio cleaning labs--back before MAGIX moved from software to crapware. The word on line is that getting help from MAGIX is about as easy as photographing the Loch Ness Monster, but I'm going to try one of their boards, anyway. I'm sure I'm wasting my time. I'll probably get a bunch of answers which assume I'm a tech (I am not), or incredibly stupid suggestions ("Is your PC on?"), so, having flushed $80, my budget is shot (MAGIX doesn't refund for its defective junk), and I'll have to try VinylStudio, which is so amateurishly laid out, it's not funny. Sound-editing was one of the joys of my life, and to lose it is all I need right now. Anyway, thanks for commenting.
You sure do have a lot of favorites! It's like me posting my favorite Christmas songs! :)
These are wonderful. Thanks for the post. They remind me of my childhood and my parents.
Lee - Great post! Many thanks for this.
My pleasure. I wish I'd had time for comments, but struggling with MAGIX and all, it was all I could do to get this up. Plus, I always underestimate the amount of work these various-artist things are going to take. Even when my PC is behaving, and even when I'm simply pulling previously-ripped tracks from CD-Rs, these things take two or three times longer to finish than the average post.
My favorite gospel track among these Favorite Gospel Tracks is Cowboy Copas' version of A Picture from Life's Other Side.
That Blackwood Brothers number doesn't sound like them - must be a later (and live) recording.
I heart this stuff, Lee.
As Red Foley used to say, "Thankety thank ya!"
As far as I know, it's studio. It's from an RCA Camden LP, "With a Song on My lips (And a Prayer in My Heart)." But the group looks awfully young on the jacket. It looks like a junior version of them. In fact, I think there was a younger version of the quartet, though they were usually billed as such. I may be wrong. At any rate, they look awfully young:
https://www.discogs.com/The-Blackwood-Brothers-Quartet-With-A-Song-On-My-Lips-And-A-Prayer-In-My-Heart/release/4878846
I love the "Picture" version, too. Something about the incredible catchiness of the simple waltz melody--ingenious in its own way--and the marvelous lyrics. The first line is genius, pure and simple:
"In the world's mighty gallery of pictures hang the scenes that are painted from life." A hilarious number of sites credit it to Hank Williams, who did a spoken version of it, as you probably know, but it's at least as old as the 1890s and, imo, likely older. It's a social gospel classic along the lines of "Father's a Drunkard and Mother Is Dead." It doesn't seem to exist in a standard version, and I've tracked down four or so variations (finding them would be a chore in my mess of a music collection). The title goes from "A Picture of" to "A Picture from" to "Pictures of." It's that fairly common phenomenon of a composed number that got picked up in the oral tradition and semi-folk-ized (is that a term?). "Father's a Drunkard," which i should try to dig out in my CD-Rs had a totally different melody in its original circa-1878 version and, at some point, became a mountain gospel standard. Unfortunately, it didn't become the standard that "Picture/Pictures" did. (It's hard to type about these topics without sounding drunk!)
I actually have that Blackwood LP but remember nothing about it. The back cover says that the members are all veterans except for the bass. The whole sonic disconnect must be in my imagination.
Pictures does sound like a composed number, for sure. What a wonderful song.
It's gotten to where everything Hank Williams ever sang -- including all those cover songs he transcribed in Shreveport -- is credited to him. On a surviving 1951 radio show, he tells the audience how old "Pitchers From Life's Other Side" is, then does a protracted reading that includes the "two brothers" verse that was cut from his Luke the Drifter record.
There's also a recording of the piece by Woody Guthrie. It has its charms, despite his refusal to play a ii chord.
Cowboy Copas was one of the greats. Unfortunately, he has been reduced to a historical footnote: a passenger on Patsy Cline's doomed airplane. The best of his recordings are well worth seeking out, as you already know.
Will there be a Volume 3 of this series?
Volume 3 coming up tomorrow morning!
Never heard the Guthrie version. I'll have to see if that's on YouTube. It probably is. Anymore, in/on the Information Superhighway, any standard is attributed to whoever's recording is being showcased!
I'll have to give the rest of my Cowboy Copas LP a listen....
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