The best-known hymn by "Miss Gospel Music," Doris Akers (1923-1995), may be 1962's Sweet, Sweet Spirit, which was sung at the 1977 funeral of her close friend Elvis Presley. Another famous Akers song, Lead Me, Guide Me, appeared on Presley's 1971 Grammy-winner, He Touched Me. But here we have Doris, from 1963 or 1964, directing the Harvest Time Choir of Vancouver, BC's Glad Tidings Temple, home of pastor Reg Layzell (1904-1984), a major name in the post-WWII Latter-Rain Movement, about which I know nothing, except that it happened within the Pentecostal movement and remains very controversial (says Wikipedia). Though the choir--which is very fine--appears to be all-Caucasian, there's a strong black gospel feel on these tracks, what with Doris' lovely mezzo(?)-soprano voice, which was capable of leaping to some impressively high notes, and her fabulous piano playing. Also, by virtue of the superb organ of Doug Moody, the young man pictured on the lower left, above. Not to racially stereotype, but for a white musician, Doug gives Billy Preston a run for his money. What soul! I've tracked down a few LPs he was involved with, but he doesn't seem to have made a musical splash commensurate with his talent. That'll happen. He's not to be confused with the owner of the Clock label.
Three of today's numbers are by Akers--My Expectation, Sweet Jesus, and I Felt the Spirit. Looking at the back-jacket scan, you'll notice "Manna Music" showing up quite often. Akers' song catalog appears to be owned by same, and it was founded in 1955 by Tim Spencer (1908-1974), who, with Roy Rogers and Bob Nolan, had founded The Sons of the Pioneers 22 years earlier. At one point, Tim was also in charge of RCA's religious record division. Busy guy. He wrote two of today's numbers--Praise God, Hallelujah, and the lovely I'll Be There.
Joy, Great Joy, To My Soul was a tricky one to track down. A famous spiritual, it's known by various titles, including Yes, He Did; I Can Tell the World; He Took My Feet from the Miry Clay; and You Can Tell the World. Simon and Garfunkel recorded it under that last title for their Wednesday Morning 3 A.M. album. It was a pop-folk standard, apparently, performed by Bob Gibson, The Chad Mitchell Trio, The Seekers, The Tarriers, and (live in concert) Peter, Paul, and Mary. One site claims that the song was first recorded in 1926, and that would be the Taskiana Four's Victor recording, Then He Brought Joy to My Soul. Could well be, though this assumes there were no earlier recordings. "First recorded by..." claims should be made with caution, because it only takes one exception to sink the boat. Such claims can very easily be qualified (and thus protected) with simple phrases like "first known" (as in, "the first known recording of..."), but I guess people are no longer taught about the risks involved in making universal claims. Nothing I can do about it.
After much searching off line, I found this single (hard copy) copy of the number in a youth hymnal in my collection:
To the sounds...
DOWNLOAD: Glad Tidings--Doris Akers, Harvest Time Choir (c. 1964)
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