Religious music for less than devout

I don’t own the entire Fairfield Four catalogue, but I own a decent sampling. Not to neglect the “the Dixie Hummingbirds”but technically they are not a capella.  Neither is “Mighty Clouds of Joy” but they get the job done.

 & Thank you Oregonpapa for recommending: Kathleen Battle "So Many Stars.", I have a few of her CDs but not that one. (add to my orders.)

 I was looking for Oh Happy Day, Edwin Hawkins Singers. But it slipped my ADD mind.

 Ladysmith Black Mambazo will sometimes include a Gospel tune.

 O Sifuni Mungu (All Creatures of Our God and King) is worth looking up. The original was done by “First Call”

 Hezekiah Walker had a run away hit with his danceable song “Every Praise” which drew many imitators from Korea and Japan some of which are rater funny.

I am pleased this topic is well received.

There was a time forty years ago I when I lived in Gallup NM, a small town in the middle of nowhere with only 4 radio stations. One station was all in Navajo, one was rock/pop, one was Country and the last was Gospel format. Yes the quality of the Gospel genre was not what one might hope and I listened to very little of it then. It was explained to me that since most listeners listen in their vehicle and only for a few minutes it was perfectly acceptable to play the song “9 to 5” twice and hour all day long.

I have a recollection of driving across all of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on a Sunday in August steering a badly over loaded 24’ Ryder truck towing my pickup behind me.   Maximum speed may have been 50 mph, no AC and only an AM radio. Under those conditions the only acoustic selections were not so much religious as what I would call “red neck toothless gospel”. My yellow Lab named Bismark was riding shotgun, so we turned up the “Old time Gospel” and Bismark and I had our personal revival the width of all of 3 states combined.

I agree with your general point, that the quality and variety of religious music is vastly improved.

Twila Paris, Phil Driscol, David Meece, John Fahey are examples of those who write and perform as well as anyone. Many C&W acts have worthwhile religious content in their repertoire.

Their version of “John the Revelator”, while not a cappella, is a show stopper. The version from their 2000 “Live from Mountain Stage” CD is a favorite speaker demo selection of mine. If you don’t think you like the Fairfield Four, try that cut before you rule them out.

On the Ry Cooder soundtrack CD from 1986 “Crossroads” is a blues (once gospel) funeral dirge “Somebody’s Callin’ My Name” sometimes titled “Hush hush…” Jessey Norman also performs this song on one of her CDs. When I die that song is what I want played at my funeral entrance.

On the soundtrack from “The Color Purple” is a song worth your time titled “Maybe God Is Tryin’ to Tell You Somethin’”.

If secular music demonstrates the diversity of the human race so does religious music even more so. On 1992 “Blues Masters, Vol. 04; Harmonica Classics” is Charlie Musselswhite’s hymn “Christo Redemptor”. By any measure it is excellent recording of amazing music.

not long ago I would have said it was the worst music of all. It wasn't good pop. It wasn't good gospel. No catchy tunes. Overly emotional and sentimental. Shallow and vapid. And that always makes me a little sad, as a Christian

I can’t believe Dylan’s Slow Train Coming, Saved, and Shot Of Love haven’t already been mentioned.

Aretha Franklin: Songs Of Faith. Recorded in 1956 in a Baptist church in Detroit (Aretha was 14 years old!), originally released on J-V-B Records, rereleased in ’65 (with extra tracks) in ’65 on Checker Records.

Larry Norman was a very well-known figure in the Christian Rock movement (and may still be). He made a bunch of albums, and if his name sounds familiar (unless you’re from San Jose or are a Rock historian, I doubt it ;-), he was one of the two lead singers in the 1960’s 1-hit wonder group People, known for their cover of The Zombies "I Love You".

Ritchie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and Poco also went Christian, making a fair number of albums for the Christian Rock market.

Almost all the music composed by J.S. Bach is of a spiritual nature, much of it written to be performed at his day job, a church organist.