Holiday Music | Other Country Styles
Nashville Mission: Keith, Terry, Bill "Some Good Of Me" (Granny's Sound Studio, 19--?) (LP)
Leonard Neely "Sings The Sacred Songs Of Hank Williams" (Cardinal Records, 1979) (LP)
Singer-picker Leonard Neely grew up in Spottsville, Kentucky and was working as a pastor in an Indianapolis church when he recorded this album, sometime in the mid-to-late 1970s, from the looks of it. This is a stripped-down acoustic tribute to the religious side of country legend Hank Williams, and as many fans will already know, ol' Hank certainly wrote some great gospel songs.
Neilsen, Sumner & Baty "Distilled Gospel" (BMC Records, 1973-?)
(Produced by Bob McCullum & Duane Allen)
Norman Nelson "A Touch Of Country" (Nelson Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Joseph Linn)
A "touch of country"? Really? Where? This is, sadly, just another album of super-bland pop-vocals-inflected gospel, the kind of religious that's entirely denuded of any signs of life or joy... Or, more charitably put, it's not my cup of tea. There is one song, "Psalm 121," which has an uptempo, legitimately country arrangement, courtesy of guitarist Dan Whittemore, who recorded several albums of his own... But the rest of it is just melodically inert white-bread gospel material with purposefully unexciting orchestral-pop backing. Skip it.
Willie Nelson "The Troublemaker" (Columbia Records, 1976) (LP)
An extraordinary country gospel album, recorded by Nelson in 1973 during his brief stint on Atlantic Records, but shelved for several years until the time was right for the world to hear his hippiedelic version of the holy word. Fellow Texan hippiebilly Doug Sahm, who was also on Atlantic at the time, provides backup and major musical assist. The title track is a real humdinger, a brief little Vietnam War-era ditty that decries a longhaired troublemaker who stirs the kids up and tell them not to go to war... Hey, turns out it's that Jesus fella! But separate from Willie's rare venture into topically oriented protest music, there's a remarkable brace of rough-hewn, sincerely rendered versions of a dozen-plus old-fashioned, washed-in-the-blood, Bible-thumpin' great old gospel songs -- songs like "Uncloudy Day," "Precious Memories" and "Where The soul Never Dies" -- all delivered by Willie and his band with a rawness and affection that puts life back into the country canon. Hearkening back to the soulfulness of Albert E. Brumley and his generation of country gospel pioneers, Willie approaches the music with reverence and feeling, but also with a lustiness and looseness that acknowledges the soaring, searching aspect of down-home religion. It really is a remarkable record, well worth tracking down. The 2004 CD reissue includes several live tracks with Nelson's drunken hippie fan base rompin' and stompin' their way along with Willie and the boys, as Willie makes 'em soak up some of the holy spirit. It would have been easy for him to pass it off as a campy joke, but that wasn't where his head was at on this one. He's sincere, and the music is swell.
Willie Nelson "How Great Thou Art" (Finer Arts Records, 1996)
The New Coon Creek Girls "Everything You Do" (Pinecastle Records, 1996)
The Coon Creek gals, featuring vocalist Dale Ann Bradley, recorded a bunch of other gospel songs on various albums, but this is a nice all-gospel set, if you want to skip the secular stuff.
The New Horizons "Don't Miss That Train To Glory" (Ozark Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Buddy Lane)
A country/bluegrass gospel band from rural Lebanon, Missouri, just north of Branson... According to their website (still active in 2023!) The New Horizons was a family band, first formed in 1973 by siblings Becky Rhodes, Danny Rhodes, and Max Rhodes, who share vocal duties on all their albums. They grew up listening to classic southern gospel groups such as the Blackwood Brothers, the Happy Goodmans and the Oak Ridge Boys, and took those vocal harmonies into their own performances, which intersected with the whole Branson/Lake Of The Ozarks "mini-opry" scene, and their association with indie-label producer Buddy Lane, who ran a studio in nearby Mountain Grove, MO. [Note: the Best Of collection includes material from the New Horizons band's first two albums -- this one, and The Gospel Truth, below.]
New Horizons "The Gospel Truth" (Ozark Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Buddy Lane)
New Horizons "The Best Of The New Horizons" (Ozark Records, 1978-?) (LP)
(Produced by Buddy Lane)
New Horizons "Plant A Seed" (Ozark Records, 1979-?) (LP)
(Produced by Buddy Lane & Danny Rhoades)
Although I couldn't find the names of the musicians playing on their other two albums, this disc included a complete rundown. There are the Rhodes siblings, backed by a group that seems to have been drawn from producer Buddy Lane's stable of studio pickers, with several pickers who worked with him on several other uber-indie country and gospel albums, notably including guitarist Gene Reasoner, steel guitarist Tony Smith, dobroist Ferrell Stowe and Glenda Stowe on piano.
New Life "Back To Basics" (New Parallel Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Scott Geinett & Bob Spengler)
I try not to be a big meanie in my reviews, but in all honesty, this is a pretty annoying record. A bluegrass-y, folkie hippie gospel set by some young'uns out of Westover, Pennsylvania, this not a "bad" record, per se, but it is amateurish and overly-earnest in a way that bleeds into pure folk-scene dorkiness. Though there's a quintet pictured on the back cover, the whole group seem to have been larger, including keyboardist Donna Breth, John Breth (bass), Walter S, Marr (drums), Dave Morgan (banjo), LuAnn Small (vocals and tambourine), and Jim Smith on guitar, with additional pedal steel from Barry Kremser (who was pretty good!) The picking is okay, though the vocals are a uniformly wobbly and the production and arrangements were a little lackadaisical. I suppose this is a good example of how the hippie-era "Jesus people" songwriting scene trickled down to more local, amateur performers -- these guys really dug Chuck Girard, for example, and cover three of his songs here. Also, thy covered the Depression-era classic, "Life's Railway To Heaven," which is the reason I bought this one, and speaks well to their taste and musical ambitions. Still, even though I'm unusually tolerant of (and often actively seek) musical imperfections, I have to confess I found a lot of this record to be just too clumsy, and a bit taxing. Well-meaning, but spotty.
Jim Newcomb & Larry Terherst "Country Gospel" (Calvary Records, 19--?) (LP)
An absolutely delightful, unusually rambunctious religious album, recorded sometime in the 1960s by the duo of mandolin player/lead singer Jim Newcomb and rhythm player/harmonist Larry Terherst, who were fellow church members at a congregation in Concord, California. Newcomb is the star, but the whole band was totally rocking: they blend Southern gospel sentiments with bouncy Buck Owens-y West Coast honkytonk and raw, undisciplined bluegrass, with a ragged fiddle (played by Jim LaRoque) playing off an equally energetic steel guitar (Daymour Moses), with Newcomb's mandolin coming in for resonant, Jesse McReynolds-style leads. There's a pleasant amateurishness to the project, but also a ton of energy and enthusiasm... This is an album by true believers, sure, but it's also a lot of fun, and certainly accessible to more secular-minded twangfans. A gem. (Note: Jim Newcomb also recorded with The Countrymen, a Stockton-based country gospel group with a similar affinity for true twang.)
Jeff Newman "The Gospel Steel Guitar Course" (Jeffran Records, 1972) (LP)
Pedal steel player Jeff Newman was a Nashviller who played on various indie albums, Nashville sessions, bluegrass records and other projects, in addition to running his own label, Jeffran label. Among the many secular sets there's also this gospel gem, with Newman backed by guitarists Jimmy Capps and Steve Chapman, Paul Charron on drums, Billy Linneman playing bass and pianist Jerry Whitehurst.
Joe Paul Nichols "The Old Country Church" (Custom Records, 1976-?)
Lone Star twangster Joe Paul Nichols (1941-2011) was apparently a longtime member of the Hank Thompson band, though he recorded several indie albums of his own, as well as singles dating back to the mid-'60s. He also played in the same band with Ernie McDuff when they had a gig on the Dallas-based "Big D Jamboree" in the early 1960s, and recorded plenty of secular honkytonk before turning to gospel material for this mid-'Seventies offering.
Glenda Faye Nicholson "Jesus, You're My Everything" (Glenda Records, 197--?) (LP)
(Produced by Steve Dyer)
An all-original set of Christian country, or at least that's what she says... Actually the term they use on the cover is "Country Elegance," a phrase they liked so much they made it a registered trademark. The musicians were all students at a place called New Life Bible Center, with Guy Smith and Fran Zabloudil on backing vocals, and a band that included Bill Buchanan on guitar and bass, Ed Fultz (bass, piano and synthesizer), Charles Howell (percussion) and Roy Zachary (piano and organ). And, yes, I noticed a distinct lack of fiddle, banjo or steel... But, hey, maybe that's what made it elegant! The liner notes tell us that Ms. Nicholson had her own ministry at a place in Cleveland, Tennessee called Campus Challenge Mission School, where as the director she took students on "soulwinning meetings," which is a fancy way of saying evangelizing, or "witnessing" to the unsaved. Also, even though Steve Dyer is credited as the engineer, the liner notes inform us that the album was "Produced by God The Father, Arranged by the Holy Spirit, Written and Performed by Jesus Christ," which is one heck of a studio crew. (And is bass player Ed Fultz the same guy from Kentucky who released his own, raw-edged, hillbilly evangelical albums in the early '80s with help from J. D. Jarvis? If so, then that's kinda cool.)
The Noblemen "Noble Productions Presents The Noblemen" (Capitol Custom Records, 19--?) (LP)
(Produced by Hank Brown & Norma Brown)
Pretty standard issue southern gospel vocals, nothing too remarkable, and definitely nothing too country-sounding. I got all excited about their billing themselves as "hootenanny" performers, but it's not reflected in their sound. There used to be a whole slew of groups called The Noblemen, including about a dozen garage-rock bands all across the country, as well as the vocal ensemble used by dance band leader Ray Noble. This particular group seems to have been from California, and also appeared (as Bill Murray & The Noblemen) on a concert album called THE TEEN SCENE from a show in LA that was organized by Andre Crouch. The vocal quartet included Gordon Ingersoll, Larry Lewis, Bill Murray and Steve Owens, with instrumental backing by Norma Brown on bass, Gary Brown (drums), Merle Walker (guitar), Warren Walker (banjo) and Loren Whitney on organ.
Larry Norman "Only Visiting This Planet" (Solid Rock Records, 1972)
Nu-Blu "Nail By Nail" (Pinecastle Records, 2012)
Nu-Lite Trio "I Made It Home" (Pine Tree Records, 1976-?)
cd = 11/21/03