Classic Southern Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways

Rate It! Avg: 4.0 (17 ratings)
Sample Album
Classic Southern Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways album cover
Album Information
EDITOR'S PICK

Total Tracks: 22   Total Length: 60:51

eMusic Review 0

Avatar Image
John Morthland

eMusic Contributor

John Morthland has been writing about music since the days of electronically rechanneled stereo and duophonic sound. His name has darkened the mastheads of Roll...more »

04.22.11
A strong collection of music that balances household names and unjustly forgotten wonders.
Label: Smithsonian Folkways

This sampler balances household names like Bill Monroe and Doc Watson (including a rare, stirring duet of them on the perennial “What Would You Give in Exchange for Your Soul”) with the likes of the Old Harp Singers of Eastern Tennessee, whose “Wondrous Love” is indeed wondrous, to say nothing of eerie. And don't overlook something called the Indian Body Association of Old Regular Baptists'funereal “I'm Going to a City.” The sound is as harsh as the fundamentalist philosophy.

Write a Review 0 Member Reviews

Please register before you review a release. Register

Recommended Albums

eMusic Features

0

Folkways Country

By John Morthland, eMusic Contributor

When he founded Folkways Records with Marian Distler in 1948, the irascible Moses Asch took it as his mission to document "people's music," and a variety of other sounds, from around the world. When he died in 1986, just before the label was sold to the Smithsonian Institution, Asch's catalogue contained 2,168 albums, few of which sold more than a couple hundred copies. (The Smithsonian has since added about 300 albums of its own.) Yet… more »

They Say All Music Guide

After combing through their large vaults, the compilers at Smithsonian Folkways collected 22 performances — largely from the late ’50s and early ’60s — by a raft of Southern gospel artists to produce an excellent disc, Classic Southern Gospel. Southern gospel, in most contexts, means country or bluegrass-gospel as performed by whites, and these performances are no different. Opening with a live 1956 performance by Bill Monroe, the collection includes tracks by familiar names (Dock Boggs, Doc Watson, the Country Gentlemen) and many that are less familiar. It is the obscure performances, many released on CD for the first time, that shine here, including “Away Over in the Promised Land” by A.L. Phipps and the Phipps Family, “No Tears in Heaven” by Kilby Snow, and “Old Country Church” by Tom Morgan. Appearing in the liner notes is an essay, “Modern Southern Gospel Music,” that may be educational for listeners, although it can’t escape the dry academicism of a museum. Even the comments on the songs are rather pedantic too, adding four parenthetical commas to an earlier Bill Monroe quote. – John Bush

more »