Sons of the Pioneers

Artist: Sons of the Pioneers

LP: Sons of the Pioneers Sing Hymns of the Cowboy

Song: "Lord, You Made the Cowboy Happy"

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I found a copy of this 1963 Sons of the Pioneers record at The Shady Lady antique store in Centralia over the weekend. It ended up being one I already had on my shelves...but this copy is mono, rather than stereo, and it also doesn't have the previous owner's name streaked across the top of the cover in permanent black ink...so I've unintentionally upgraded my collection! 

I know it probably seems like I'd think this about all of the songs on this record, but I can't help feeling that "Lord, You Made the Cowboy Happy" would make an excellent soundtrack to a homoerotic soft-core Western-themed short film. And to anyone who would accuse me of not honoring "Reverence in the Western Tradition," I have just two words: Brokeback Mountain. I bet there are lots of lesser-known Western Traditions these lonely, rugged cowboys engaged in that didn't make it into the final cuts of all those John Ford Western films.

[ Sons of the Pioneers in 1963 ]

The Five Blind Boys

 Artist: The Five Blind Boys

LP: Can I Get a Witness

Song: "Shall We Come?"

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Song: "I'll Trust In God"

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Song: "Come Up the Back Door"

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I can only assume that, after losing their first five copies of this terrific gospel record by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama to theft by sticky-fingered staff and students, the folks at Tufts University Radio (WTUR) were forced to take extraordinary security measures regarding their WTUR-property-labeling protocols upon acquiring this subsequent copy of the record.

 

The Five Blind Boys of Alabama (not to be confused with the five blind gospel-singing boys from the state next door) released more than one LP under the "Can I Get a Witness" title. According to Discogs, the one I've posted above is from 1969. The other is from 1965 and then there's yet another one from 1970 that has the same tree-and-clouds cover as the one from 1965:

 

According to the Discogs listing, my Buddah Records release of the LP with the farming cover is a 1969 reissue of the 1965 release on Vee-Jay Records that features the tree-and-clouds cover. (The track list titles are slightly different, but they seem like they might still be the same songs.) And then the 1970 release, with the tree-and-clouds cover again, on Exodus Records has the same track list as the 1965 listing, but for some reason Discogs doesn't list that one as a re-issue of the earlier releases. (Discogs also says there's yet another re-issue with the tree-and-clouds cover on Trip Records, release date unknown.) So it seems there are at least three LPs released by The Five Blind Boys of Alabama on three different labels over the span of five years, all with this same title. I suppose this points to the difficulty of securing a witness when nobody in the group is able to see. 

 

Speaking of dates unknown, the group photo below may or may not include actual members of The Five Blind Boys of Alabama at around the time this LP was recorded. But based on hairstyles, I'd say there's a good chance the photo was taken sometime between the years 1965 and 1970.

 

[ The Five Blind Boys of Alabama ]

The Dixie Hummingbirds

Artist: The Dixie Hummingbirds

LP: The Best of The Dixie Hummingbirds

Song: "Our Prayer For Peace"

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Song: "Christian Automobile"

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I have nothing but unstained praise for this 1967 "Best Of" compilation from The Dixie Hummingbirds, who have been together, with various lineup changes, since forming in South Carolina in 1928. (I think I've found the group photo—included below—that was used to create the six Hummingbird portraits on the cover of the LP!) 

We sure could use a prayer for peace right about now, eh? "It's a sin to hate your brother because of the color of his skin." (This includes orange.) It's a drag that we even have to make this point still in the year 2020...and I guess I'd throw in "because of the color of his state" too, in a brand new verse for our current times.

 

[ The Dixie Hummingbirds ]

Edna Gallmon Cooke

Artist: Edna Gallmon Cooke

LP: Stop Gambler
Song: "Leaking In This Building"
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Song: "Stop Gambler"

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Song: "The Lord Still Answers Prayer"

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Here's an old gospel record in bad condition that I picked up at a shop in Mobile, Alabama back in 2014. Born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1918, Edna Gallmon Cooke attended school in Washington, DC and became known as the "Sweetheart of the Potomac" as she toured the USA. But according to the "Stop Gambler" LP liner notes, Edna G. Cooke's musical career as both a recording artist and a public performer didn't really take off until after her first waxing.

 [ Edna Gallmon Cooke: 1918 — September 4, 1967 ]

Clarence Fountain

Artist: Clarence Fountain

LP: Soul, Spirit and Song
Song: "Oh! Happy Day"

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Song: "Sending Up My Timber"

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I figured some good old fashioned gospel music would make a nice tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. on this special day. What I didn't realize until doing a little research just now is that Clarence Fountain was one of the original founding members of The Blind Boys of Alabama, the famous gospel group that actually performed at benefits for Rev. King during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. 

This 1974 LP is one that Fountain released during his ten-year hiatus from The Blind Boys, when he decided to try his hand at a solo career. His solo work sounds pretty terrific to me (that voice! And he makes particularly nice use of the electric organ as accompaniment), but in the late 1970s Clarence went back to perform with the group he'd founded. When Fountain passed away last June at the age of 88, he left Jimmy Carter as the only remaining founding member of The Blind Boys of Alabama; Jimmy still performs with the group today. Happy Martin Luther, King Jr. Day!

[ Clarence Fountain: November 28, 1929 — June 3, 2018 ]

The Mariners

Artist: The Mariners

LP: Ship Ahoy

Song: "Keep Walkin'"
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Song: "In My Home Over There"
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Today my city sued President Trump. Seems Donald wants to withhold $$ from us unless we all join up with his Nazi witch-hunt for undocumented immigrants. It's almost kinda' cute how he thinks the USA is a corporation he bought and we're all employees that he can do with whatever he wants.

As a tribute to Seattle, I'm posting a few tracks by our city's baseball team, who also just happen to sing gospel music! Who knew! Wait. Can a "gospel quartet" have five people in it? Whatever. I'm definitely a Mariners fan—especially since they stuck a drawing of a fancy mustache on the back of their album. For lots of information and plenty of confusion about who sang bass in the group, read the comments here. 

I'm posting "In My Home Over There" as a tribute to immigrants and refugees, including the undocumented ones, who have come to the USA to find a better life for themselves and for their families. "Keep Walkin'" is a little bit of a tribute, but mostly it's to all the Christians aligned with Trump's pledge to "Make America Great Again," a musical reminder that they're not supposed to be treating people like shit.

[ The Mariners ]

Teen Challenge Addicts Choir

Artist: Teen Challenge Addicts Choir

LP: Teen Challenge Addicts Choir

Song: "The Addict's Plea" (soloist: Andrae Crouch)
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Song: "He Included Me" (soloist: Laura Lee Myers)
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Song: "I Cannot Tell It All" (featuring: Gordon Woods & Gale Stalhman)
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Song: "Psalms 40"
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It's mystifying that executives at Word Records, "The Finest Name In Sacred Music," would have given the go-ahead for the release of an LP that features a graphic depiction of somebody (with a tattoo, naturally) actually shooting up on the front cover. But voilà! Imagine what they'd stick on the front of their LP by the Teen Challenge Sex Addicts Choir. 

Produced by gospel legend Andrae Crouch and released in 1968, this record includes notes and artwork that confirm once and for all that yes, all drug addicts do indeed carry a switchblade—even Laura Myers, the young housewife who became addicted to prescription pills. Thank God she exchanged her switchblade for a chance to go solo on the lovely-ish "He Included Me."

Swan Silvertones

Artist: Swan Silvertones

CD: Amen, Amen, Amen: The Essential Collection

Song: "The Day Will Surely Come"
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Song: "Mary Don't You Weep"
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The fifth Buffalo record store I went to was the oldest one in town—Doris Records, founded in 1962. Their advertising suggested that they've got jazz, gospel, hip-hop, R&B, blues, etc. so I was pretty excited to check them out. Sadly, though they're called Doris Records and they've got a vinyl LP painted over their doorway, they don't actually sell any records. They do sell CDs though, and cassettes, and clothing, and other odds and ends. Since I was determined to obtain a Doris Records souvenir and my rental car had a CD player, I decided to poke around to see what I could find. 

I asked the young guy working there (not Doris, I presume) if they had any old gospel music from the 1950s or '60s, but he said no. All their gospel music was from the 1980s or newer. To make conversation, I suggested that they should consider offering used LPs there, since I bet people would probably bring in all kinds of neat stuff that they could sell. He replied only that he'd forgotten that white people like to buy other people's used stuff. I was taken aback, so only grinned and agreed, "They sure do!" 

As I continued to browse the gospel section and the helpful sales clerk continued to tell me that they didn't have what I was looking for, I suddenly came across this sun-faded Swan Silvertones CD on the shelf. Bingo! From that point on, this wonderful gospel group became a major contributor to the musical soundtrack of my road trip. Swan Silvertones serenading you at top volume at 7:30 in the morning while you're zipping through the misty, sun-lit farmlands of upstate New York, headed toward bacon and eggs...it just doesn't get much better than that.

Swan Silvertones on YouTube:

[ "Only Believe" ]

[ Doris Records, Inc. — Buffalo, NY ]