Holiday Music | Other Country Styles
Butch Yelton & Upbound "Swing That Gospel Axe" (19--?) (LP)
For some reason, the sub-breed of hipster bloggers who like to post pictures of "bad" album covers have seized upon this album as one of their ultimate holy grails... Yes, it's a little dopey -- the cover shows the fairly clean-cut, not-that-weird-looking Upbound band standing in a pasture, with singer Butch Yelton holding a axe in his hands, as a visual cue for the metaphoric weapon of prayer in the album's title song. Whatever. Some people are Christians; some of these people also like and/or play country music. Get over it. Personally, I think mocking people you consider hicks or muggles, or even just people (gasp!) dressed in fashion styles from decades ago is a boorish, intellectually empty pastime. It reveals more about the mockers than the mocked. (Like, for example, that most of you snotty city slickers have never chopped any wood? Just saying.) I haven't heard this album yet, but I do look forward to checking it out some day. And when I do, I'll let y'all know what I think about it, without resorting to facile irony or sarcasm.
Rusty York & J. D. Jarvis "Blue Grass Gospel Songs" (Rural Rhythm Records, 1968) (LP)
Faron Young "My Garden Of Prayer" (Capitol Records, 1959) (LP)
This is honkytonk legend Faron Young's lone religious album... Faron's heart was obviously more into the riotous secular material he was recording at the time and his approach to gospel material was pretty flat, but still pretty enjoyable... The arrangements are generally pretty stark, with plain acoustic accompaniment and matter-of-fact vocals, with a subdued but authentic twang. All the songs on here are also included on a lavish Bear Family box set, along with a few more ornate songs and less traditional tunes such as "God Bless God," and several tunes recorded with a vocal chorus. But the original Garden LP is also pretty swell, and certainly worth tracking down.
Harvey Yeoman "Mightier Than The Sword" (19--?) (LP)
A super-twangy, absolutely wonderful, real-deal bedrock country gospel set from mandolin picker, singer and songwriter James Harvey Yeoman (1926-2009), longtime member of the San Joaquin Valley's Christian Troubadours. This "solo" album features several of his usual bandmates, including bass player Bill Carter, Frank Petty, Philip Price (banjo and guitar) and Wayne Walters (guitar), providing solid, unflashy accompaniment on a set dominated by original material, with all but two tracks credited to Mr. Yeoman. It's great stuff, pure acoustic hillbilly twang, defined by Mr. Yeoman's rough-cut, resolutely rural vocals, which heavily echo the tone of Bakersfield icon Buck Owens, with a bit of Hank Snow's plainspoken monotone in the mix. Born in Hartford, Arkansas, Harvey Yeoman was the son of a Pentecostal preacher, and took up the mantle himself as a Pentecostal minister and evangelical musician; the contours of his career are a little fuzzy, but he seems to have been a member of the Troubadours when it was in Southern California, and moved to Tennessee when bandleader Wayne Walters set up shop in Nashville in the mid-1960s. It's not clear where or when this album was made, though it has a distinctly West Coast vibe, particularly when Yeoman leans into his Buck Owens-style vocals. Probably of 1970s vintage.
Alex Zanetis & Jim Ward "Songs Of Inspiration" (Royal Master Records, 19--?) (LP)
Alex Zanetis "Are You Ready For The Lord" (Royal Master Records, 19--?) (LP)
Zion Mountain Folk "Grass Roots Music" (Light Records, 1978) (LP)
(Produced by Jack Joseph Puig)
An all-gospel folk-bluegrass set from a longhaired band from the Kona coast of the island of Hawaii. This group featured Steven Smith (guitar), Ruth Smith (mandolin) Harry Browning (banjo), Herb Melton (bass) and Jim Pennington (harmonica), with fiddler Byron Berline sitting in as well. Mahalo!
More Country Gospel -- Compilation Albums
