Tag Archives: Inspirational

The Wilburn Brothers: Songs of Inspiration

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Anthology of country brothers’ songs of inspiration

The Arkansas-born Wilburn Brothers began their career as part of a family act, starring  as regulars on the legendary Louisiana Hayride before breaking off as a brotherly duo in 1953. They signed with Decca and had hits throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s, starred in a syndicated television show and developed both a publishing house and talent agency; the latter found them discovering both Loretta Lynn and Patty Loveless. Their two albums of inspirational song, 1959’s Livin’ in God’s Country and 1964’s Take Up Thy Cross, are excerpted on this fourteen-track collection, anthologizing nineteenth century southern gospel hymns, Negro spirituals and a few titles, such as Dorsey Dixon’s “Wreck on the Highway,” from the ‘30s and ‘40s. The backings are unadorned arrangements of fiddle, steel, piano, guitar and bass, leaving the focus to fall upon the Wilburn’s brotherly harmonies and individual lead vocals. Highlights include the revival atmosphere of “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder,” the peaceful surrender of “Angel Band,” the bouncy tempo and intertwined vocals of “I Feel Like Traveling On,” the Louvin-esque “Medals for Mothers” and the dramatic recitation of “Steal Away.” With neither of the original albums having made the leap to digital reissue, it’s a shame this couldn’t have been a complete two-fer, but it’s hard to argue with the fourteen tracks of this budget reissue. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Buck Owens & The Buckaroos: Songs of Inspiration

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Anthology of country legend’s songs of inspiration

Varese’s fourteen-track anthology combines titles from Buck Owens’ chart-topping 1966 album Dust on Mother’s Bible, and the 1970 release Your Mother’s Prayer. The former album was reissued in 2003, but has since fallen out of print, and the latter album has yet to see digital release; all of which makes this anthology a good get for fans that missed (or wishes to upgrade from) the original vinyl. The song list combines original compositions, including the title pieces of the original albums, along with new arrangements of traditional tunes. Owens’ voice is equally suited to the mournful “Dust on Mother’s Bible,” the dramatic recitation in “I’ll Go to the Church Again with Momma” and the joyful “Old Time Religion,” capturing sorrow, hope and expectant faith in both lyrics and tone. The Buckaroos turn down their Telecaster-fueled sting, though there’s plenty of fiddle and steel, and the harmonies feature Owens’ trademark doubled vocals. While a two-fer of the original albums would have been more fully satisfying, fourteen tracks in a budget release is a great buy for Owens’ fans. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Ray Price: Songs of Insipration

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Country hall-of-famer sings inspirational songs of faith

Varese Sarabande extends their lineup of country legends singing songs of faith with this remastered reissue of K-Tel’s The Old Rugged Cross (something K-Tel also reissued as Country Gospel). The tracks were originally recorded in the mid-90s, and though Price’s voice wasn’t the polished instrument of his earlier hit-making years, he still sang strongly; there’s some wavering in his pitch, but it’s balanced by passion and conviction. The arrangements are mostly by-the-books (or by-the-clock, as per Nashville recording practice), though the uncredited steel and fiddle players add some nice lines. If you’re a fan of the singer, or simply a fan of inspirational song, you’ll enjoy hearing the older Price sing these works of praise, but if you’re new to Price’s catalog, you’ll want to start four decades earlier with his 1950s honky-tonk sides and his subsequent turn to crooning in the 1960s and 1970s. For the bigger picture, check the anthology The Essential Ray Price. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com]

Ray Price Fan Club

Roy Clark: The Last Word in Jesus is Us

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Reissue of Clark’s 1981 album of gospel and country faith

Roy Clark’s worn a number of hats during his career. He’s been an ace guitar and banjo picker, a national television star (both on Hee-Haw and as a guest host for Johnny Carson), a country and pop hit maker, a pioneer in the Branson theater scene, and a member of both the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame. Lesser known is his work in singing gospel and songs of faith. His 1971 release The Magnificent Sanctuary Band cracked the Top 40, and though he dropped the occasional album track like “Life’s Railway to Heaven” and “Dear God,” it was ten more years before he released a second new album of praise, 1981’s The Last Word in Jesus is Us.

Varese new CD collects all ten tracks of the 1981 album and adds three from the 1971 release. The song list combines traditional hymns (“Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” “Onward Christian Soldiers” and a wonderfully blue reading of “Peace in the Valley”) with contemporary tunes by Nashville songwriters. The sentiments include traditional bible stories, testimonies of faith, and contemplations of Jesus’ place in contemporary society. Bobby Braddock’s “Would They Love Him Down in Shreveport” highlights the un-Christian nature of prejudice and Bobby Goldsboro’s “Come Back Home” anticipates the savior’s deliverance from hate.

The productions have the clean Nashville sound of the 1970s, with the ‘80s only peeking through in the guitar of “Heaven Bound.” The three selections from 1971 are earthier, with “Wait a Little Longer, Please Jesus” adding harmonica, Roy Nichols-styled guitar riffs, and a Western edge. The Jordanaires provide their typically fine backing vocals, augmented by the female voice of Wendy Suits. Eight of the ten album tracks (along with two of the bonuses from 1971) were included on Time-Life’s out-of-print Gospel Songs of the Strength, but this is the first reproduction of the full 1981 release, and a welcome addition to the Roy Clark digital catalog. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Roy Clark’s Home Page

Ed Bruce: In Jesus’ Eyes

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Original country, folk and gospel songs of faith

Singer-songwriter Ed Bruce’s career evolved from  songwriting (“The Man That Turned My Mama On,” “Restless,” “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” “Texas (When I Die)” for Crystal Gale, Waylon & Willie, and Tanya Tucker) to hit making in the mid-80s, but by the end of the decade he’d turned to acting. He released albums sporadically over the next decade, including the inspirational titles Changed in 2004 and Sing About Jesus in 2007. Varese’s new collection pulls together a dozen originals from that pair of self-released albums, offering testimony of rebirth and giving witness to the warmth of faith’s family. Bruce sings of Christian charity, makes the most of his resonant voice on the bluesy “Tougher Than Nails,” and works through feelings of loss on “I Know.” There’s folk, country, blues, two-steppers and gospel swing that will please everyone, and plenty of praise to please the faithful. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Ed Bruce’s Home Page

Various Artists: Look to the Light – Songs of Faith from the Pen of Rick Lang

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Contemporary bluegrass and gospel songs of faith

Rick Lang is a contemporary songwriter whose works have been recorded by a who’s-who of modern bluegrass players, including the Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out and Southern Rail. Mandolinist Jesse Brock and guitarist John Miller have teamed with a collection of crack singers and acoustic instrumentalists to record fourteen of Lang’s tunes. The lead vocalists include Russell Moore, Junior Sisk, Jeff Parker, and Dale Perry, with Brock, Miller and the supremely talented Dale Ann Bradley adding harmonies. Lang writes songs of praise that are filled with musical spirit, which makes them enjoyable by bluegrass fans of all religious and irreligious stripes. The arrangements focus on the lyrics and vocals, but the players show their wares in support and in short instrumental breaks; Roger Williams’ dobro is particularly compelling. This is a low-key, at times an almost meditative album whose religious conviction is laid into both the words and beautiful music. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Rick Lang’s Home Page

Various Artists: I Wanna Play!

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Fund-raising collection of country and pop classics

Former Arkansas governor, part-time bass player and conservative television pundit Mike Huckabee has joined with singer-songwriter Aaron Tippin and producer James Stroud to create this collection in support of the National Association of Music Merchants Foundation’s Wanna Play Fund. The fund sponsors research and public education, raising awareness of music making’s educational and health benefits. This CD project will help fund community-based programs that provide music education and instruments to children. Five of the ten tracks (1, 5, 7, 9 and 10) are newly produced (though you’d be hard-pressed to tell Neil Sedaka’s re-recording of “Laughter in the Rain” from the original), while the rest are pulled from the artists’ existing catalogs. Governor Huckabee plays bass on Aaron Tippin’s celebratory title tune, as well as on Louise Mandrell’s cover of Don Gibson’s “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” There doesn’t seem to be an underlying theme to the song selections (and “Honky Tonk Women” is an odd pick for an album associated with children’s education), but the joy heard in these performances aligns perfectly with the fund’s messages about the enriching nature of music making. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

The I Wanna Play CD’s Home Page
The Wanna Play Fund’s Home Page

Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper: Songs of Inspiration

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A terrific, if too short, collection of the Coopers’ songs of faith

Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper were one of country music’s most popular husband-and-wife duos for over 40 years, particularly during their stints on the Wheeling Jamboree and the Grand Ole Opry. Lee (nee Leary) began singing gospel music with The Leary Family in the early 1930s, and upon marrying Cooper in 1939 she began singing bluegrass and country as well. The duo signed with Hickory (the house label of the Acuff-Rose publishing empire) in the mid-50s, and hit it big with Don Gibson’s “There’s a Big Wheel,” the blazing mono mix of which opens this collection. All twelve of these tracks are all gathered from their years with Hickory, selected from singles and the early-60s albums Family Favorites and Songs of Inspiration. Throughout, Wilma Lee sings in forceful, open-throated testimony that simply can’t be ignored. The songs are primarily from country songwriters (Don Gibson, Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Charlie & Ira Louvin, Fred Rose), though two tunes from one of Judaism’s most successful Christmas songwriters, Johnny Marks, are also included in terrific fiddle-and-steel arrangements. The Coopers recorded many inspirational titles, including singles, album tracks and full theme albums. At only twelve songs, this set merely scratches the surface (notably absent are “There’s a Higher Power” and “Tramp on the Street” – there are also no credits or liner notes), but what’s here is uniformly great. You can find a few more on Varese’s earlier Very Best Of or go all in with Bear Family’s Big Midnight Special. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Dolly Parton: Letter to Heaven – Songs of Faith and Inspiration

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Parton’s 1971 album of faith and praise + 7 bonuses

Letter to Heaven returns to print 1971’s Golden Streets of Glory, Dolly Parton’s first full album of inspirational song. The seventeen tracks of this 45-minute collection include the album’s original ten and six bonuses cherry-picked from Parton’s albums and singles of the 1970s. As a treat for collectors, the original album session track “Would You Know Him (If You Saw Him) is released here for the first time. The latter is among Parton’s most compelling vocals in the set, and a real mystery as to how it was left off the original release. Parton wrote or co-wrote ten of the seventeen titles and puts her vocal stamp on standards (“I Believe”), country (“Wings of a Dove”), gospel (“How Great Thou Art”) and classic spirituals (“Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” here reworked as “Comin’ For to Carry Me Home”). The album’s originals are surprisingly generic songs of faith and praise, unsatisfying in comparison to the following year’s brilliant “Coat of Many Colors.”

The bonus tracks fare much better. Parton’s tribute to her grandfather, “Daddy Was an Old Time Preacher Man” is joined by memories of childhood church-going in “Sacred Memories.” Her appreciation of creation’s majesty, “God’s Coloring Book” is personal and intimate, and “Letter to Heaven” retains its power to evoke a lump in your throat forty years after it was recorded. Producer Bob Ferguson dials back his Nashville Sound to light arrangements of country, soul and gospel; the twang is still minimized, but neither the strings nor backing choruses overwhelm. RCA Legacy’s single-CD reissue includes recording details and liner note by Deborah Evans Price. Fans will be glad to have this back in print, but those new to the Parton catalog might check out other key album reissues first, such as Coat of Many Colors, Jolene, or My Tennessee Mountain Home. [©2010 hyperbolium dot com]

Dolly Parton’s Home Page

Tracy Lawrence: The Rock

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tracylawrence_therockSolid album of inspirational country music

After a string of hit singles and albums with Atlantic throughout the 1990s, the label’s country division was closed. He found continued success on Warner Brothers and DreamWorks, but in 2006 he started his own Rocky Comfort imprint. The typical arc for a country star of Lawrence’s vintage would be continued success at smaller live venues, and little or no commercial reaction to his indie releases. But Lawrence’s first self-released album, For the Love, worked its way to #6 on the country chart and spun off three singles, including the #1 “Find Out Who Your Friends Are.” The latter was the slowest climbing chart topper in the history of the Billboard singles chart, taking forty-one weeks to achieve the top spot. Lawrence followed up with the holiday album All Wrapped up in Christmas, but its title track, limited to holiday play, fell shy of the country top forty.

This third release on Rocky Comfort is Lawrence’s first album of inspirational country music. Lawrence sings songs of praise, such as the opening prayer of thanks, “Dear Lord,” but the meat of the album explores how faith intertwines with every day life. He sings of evolving past bad habits, petty bitterness and destructive behaviors to lead a more productive life on Earth. He draws a moving allegory between Jesus and those around you whose dedication you take for granted, and ultimately draws upon his faith to keep going from day to day. A pair of songs, “The Book You Never Read” and “The Rock,” are voiced by inanimate objects (a family bible and a foundational church stone, respectively), providing multigenerational views of faith and worship.

The rocking “Jesus Come Talk to Your Children” is a plea for explanations of war and natural disaster, but its suggestion that “politics and fear and hate create the great divide” misses the irony of fundamentalist religious beliefs at the root of many of the world’s largest conflicts. That said, Lawrence offers his inspirational convictions in good faith; the only proselytizing here is by virtue of good examples rather than calls for the lost to straighten up and find Jesus. The album’s messages will appeal strongly to the faithful, but the welcoming tone also makes this interesting to non-Christians. Best of all, Lawrence is still producing music that sounds as good as anything he released in the ’90s. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Tracy Lawrence’s Home Page