Various Artists – I’m Glad About It: The Legacy of Gospel Music in Louisville 1958-1981 (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 03:10:51 minutes | 1,23 GB | Genre: R&B, Soul, Gospel
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Louisville Story Program
In the mid-20th century, Louisville gospel music was occasionally recorded when members of the local gospel community pressed 45rpm records and LPs, and released them through grassroots record labels such as Sensational Sounds, Grace, Blessed, and D.J.S. Over the years, a substantial body of work was produced in our city, but those recordings are in danger of being lost forever.The Louisville Story Program has been working with dozens of people in the local gospel music community to locate, digitize, and preserve hundreds of these recordings and to develop a book that documents and honors the legacies of the people and communities that produced them.For decades, the passion, hard work, and support of countless people across dozens of Black church communities in Louisville have nurtured and sustained a rich gospel music ecosystem. This music has served as a central part of people’s religious practice and as an expression of Black pride, joy, affirmation, love, dignity, determination, and hope. This legacy continues to this day.With support from The Owsley Brown II Family Foundation and Owsley Brown III Philanthropic Foundation, LSP has partnered with members of the gospel community and a local advisory group of local gospel historians and luminaries:To locate, clean, and digitize gospel records of local artists released by small local labelsTo accompany the local Black gospel music community in developing a 4 CD box set that includes a 200+ page hardcover book with first-person documentation of their rich historyTo create an accompanying double LP featuring 26 of those songsTo create and maintain a public-facing digital archive of 1, 000 songs and 1, 000 photographsTo celebrate the final release with a large concert at the Brown Theatre (September 28, 2024)
An amazing look at a sometimes-overlooked scene in the world of gospel music – the upsurge of strong local talent on the stages and churches of Louisville, Kentucky – a key border city between the north and the south, especially during the Civil Rights years in which much of this music was recorded! Louisville has always been a really compelling crossroads – and while most folks think of punk bands and post-rock when thinking of the city, the scene actually has a much larger legacy in African American styles – including soul, funk, and jazz – which all seem to echo in the gospel work within! The set is meticulously done – with a superb selection of rare 45s that we’d never have heard otherwise, all dripping with the kind of deep soul vocals and sharp instrumentation you might expect.
Tracklist:
1-01. The Golden Tones – Just a Closer Walk with Thee (02:59)
1-02. Eastern Star Chorale – Until You Try Jesus (02:18)
1-03. The Religious Five Quartet – Running for a Long Time (03:40)
1-04. The Riverview Spiritual Singers – A Great Gathering (02:47)
1-05. The Butlerairs – He’s so Good to Me (02:11)
1-06. Kingdom Land Baptist Church Mass Choir – Oh What a Blessing (03:20)
1-07. Rev. Eddie James and Family – Storm Is Passing Over (05:05)
1-08. The Sacred Four – Hymn Books and Bibles (03:18)
1-09. Joe Thomas – I Won’t Mind (03:43)
1-10. The Indiana Wonders – Thank You Jesus (04:12)
1-11. The Heavenly Five – Jesus Sits High and Looks Down Low (03:37)
1-12. Rev. Cornelius James and Family – Time Is Winding Up (03:11)
1-13. The Ambassordors – I Just Can’t Make It by Myself (02:52)
1-14. Deep River Song Birds – Twelve Gates to the City (02:53)
1-15. The Gospel Ensemble of Kentucky State College – I’ve Decided (03:40)
1-16. The Singing Son of Zion – Steal Away (02:28)
2-01. Evangelist Lucille Jones and The Traveling Notes – Night Life (05:22)
2-02. The Sensational Bells of Joy – Come on Sinner (02:06)
2-03. The Gospel Descendants – Jesus Is All I Need to Get By (03:19)
2-04. The Echoes Of Zion – Just a Closer Walk with Thee (02:34)
2-05. Newburg Radio Chorus – Calvary (03:14)
2-06. The Gospel Motivators – Trust Him (03:24)
2-07. Kentucky No. 1 Singers – Wonderful Jesus (03:03)
2-08. The Religious Five Quartet – Move These Things (04:25)
2-09. Mighty Inspirations – A Sinner’s Prayer (03:29)
2-10. The Blakey Specials – I Shall Be Free (02:19)
2-11. Bishop Cliff Butler – This Old World (02:43)
2-12. The Antioch Majestic Voices – Peace Unto My Soul (03:01)
2-13. The Webster Singers – Stay by Our Side (03:52)
2-14. Rev. James MCcord – Lord I’ve Tried, Pt. 2 (02:31)
2-15. Rev. Eddie James and Family – Stood on the Banks of the Jordan (07:00)
3-01. The Gospel Voices of Soul – Woke Up This Morning (03:41)
3-02. The McCollom Singers – The Power of God (02:43)
3-03. Rev. Thomas N. Pride – He Knows It All (02:59)
3-04. The Sensational Bells of Joy – Lord Take My Hand (03:10)
3-05. Cable Baptist Church Mass Choir – Lord Help Me to Hold Out (06:59)
3-06. The Religious Five Quartet – He’s Sweet, I Know (03:54)
3-07. The Ecclesiastics – He Made a Way for Me (03:34)
3-08. Rev. Charles E. Kirby – Lord You Been Good to Me (03:53)
3-09. the Tones of Joy – Life’s Evening Sun (02:12)
3-10. The Rising Stars Spiritual Singers – I’ve Got to Run On (03:10)
3-11. John Thomas and the Voices of Faith – This Is My Story (03:43)
3-12. Beatrice Brown Singers – You Are Special (02:36)
3-13. Newburg Radio Chorus – Stand Up for Jesus (02:27)
4-01. Cleo K. Joiner III and The Metropolitan Community Choir – Spirit of the Living God (04:28)
4-02. The Religious Five Quartet – Let Me Lean on You (03:29)
4-03. The Gospel Chanteurs – Lord Don’t Leave Me (02:05)
4-04. Joe Thomas – I Feel Like Pressing My Way (02:50)
4-05. The Antioch Majestic Voices – Just to Behold His Face (03:13)
4-06. The Golden Crowns – We Are Trying (02:50)
4-07. The Gospel Voices of Soul – Somewhere Around God’s Throne (03:41)
4-08. James Martin – Soldiers That’s What We Are (02:25)
4-09. The Lee Brothers – Keep on Trying to Make It In (02:58)
4-10. Jessie Marbley – Confusing Times (03:02)
4-11. Rev. Eddie James and Family – Jesus Will Fix It (03:27)
4-12. God’s Girls – My Time Ain’t Long (03:10)
4-13. Larry Adams Limited – Show Me the Way (03:36)
