Feed Your Ears

[Luigi]

"He Saw It All" (The Blind Man Song) is the most recently composed song I've posted. I'd classify it as Christian Pop. The Booth Brothers are real clean-cut, polished performers. The song borders on cheesy, but I like it anyway. 

 

[Luigi]

Here's the composer, Daryl Mosley, telling about composing the song, how it came to be recorded by the Booth Brothers, and some of the aftereffects. And he preaches a little, too. Then he sings his solo acoustic rendition. Best line in the whole monologue is, when a big recording company asked if he'd be interested in the Booth Brothers recording his song, "I prayed and fasted for about 3 or 4 seconds!" I might have to use that line myself at some point in the future.

 

[Luigi]

Connie Smith, backed by Ralph Stanley and friends, singing Beautiful "Star of Bethlehem," written by Robert Boyce and published in 1940. Connie Smith sings like rough-hewn pine! 

 

[dUSt]

 

[Luigi]

4 hours ago, dUSt said:

 

I like this! In fact, I like just about everything the Staple Singers perform. Below is one of my personal favorites. And within that personal favorite, my personally favorite line is "Wake me! Shake me! Don't let me sleep too late!" I slept through an earthquake once, and I'm afraid I might sleep through the Second Coming, too. 

 

[Luigi]

Steeleye Span was a British folk-rock group in the 1970s, 80s, and following. Here's a traditional British carol call Down in Yon Forest. I post the lyrics first because they're a little difficult to decipher sometimes - British accent, exaggerated pronunciation for the sake of singing, instrumentation sometimes drowns out the voice, etc. 

Down in yon forest there stands a hall:
The bells of Paradise I heard them ring:
It's covered all over with purple and pall
And I love my Lord Jesus above anything.

In that hall there stands a bed:
The bells of Paradise I heard them ring:
It's covered all over with scarlet so red:
And I love my Lord Jesus above anything.

At the bed-side there lies a stone:
The bells of Paradise I heard them ring:
Which the sweet Virgin Mary knelt upon:
And I love my Lord Jesus above anything.

Under that bed there runs a flood:
The bells of Paradise I heard them ring:
The one half runs water, the other runs blood:
And I love my Lord Jesus above anything.

At the bed's foot there grows a thorn:
The bells of Paradise I heard them ring:
Which ever blows blossom since he was born:
And I love my Lord Jesus above anything.

Over that bed the moon shines bright:
The bells of Paradise I heard them ring:
Denoting our Saviour was born this night:
And I love my Lord Jesus above anything.

 

[Luigi]

Fontella Bass (daughter of Martha Bass, above) singing "The Light of the World." I posted this some years ago, but I post it again - it's that good! And it's related to the Christmas season. 

 

[Luigi]

"The Wexford Carol" by Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss. Wexford is one of the Irish counties (south and easterly on the map), so I suppose this is a traditional Irish carol, appropriate for Christmas eve. Nice contrast between Krauss' soprano vocal and Ma's baritone cello, with overtones of violin, bodhran, and bagpipe. 

 

[Luigi]

Here's a Christmas standard, "I Wonder as I Wander," but this is an unusual arrangement by Bobbie Gentry of "Ode to Billy Joe" fame. Most people sing this as a showcase for vocal pyrotechnics, but Gentry sings in a very relaxed, reflective style. That three-quarter-sized guitar is also pretty unusual. 

 

[dUSt]

▶︎ Jerusalem | Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru (bandcamp.com)

"Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – an Ethiopian nun whose recordings have funded orphanages back home since the early ’60s. Her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear."

 

[Luigi]

49 minutes ago, dUSt said:

▶︎ Jerusalem | Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru (bandcamp.com)

"Emahoy Tsege Mariam Gebru is a true original – an Ethiopian nun whose recordings have funded orphanages back home since the early ’60s. Her compositions and unique playing style live somewhere between Erik Satie, Debussy, liturgical music of the Coptic Ethiopian Church, and Ethiopian traditional music. It is some of the most moving piano music you will ever hear."

 

Very interesting, indeed! Her music has  very unique sound and feel. I looked her up online - she lived to be 99 and died in March of 2023. 

[Luigi]

"Bright Blue Rose" by Mary Black, one of Ireland's most popular and enduring singers. I think it's a meditation on Mary, and perhaps on a contemplative vocation. 

 

[Luigi]

Norman Greenbaum, who is Jewish, watched Porter Wagoner singing a Gospel song on television. Greenbaum was an aspiring but floundering musician/songwriter at the time - he was inspired, by purely commercial motives, to write his own Gospel song. He wrote  "Spirit in the Sky" in about 15 minutes. He released it in 1970. It still sounds as fresh and relevant today as it did then. The background singers are The Stovall Sisters from Oakland, CA. They seldom get mentioned, but I think they're part of the song's distinctive sound. 

 

[Credo in Deum]

I wasn't a fan of the first video in this thread; I don't really like it when sacred music is done in secular styles of music. On the other hand, I love what the Hillbilly Thomists are doing. I have all of their albums, so a lot of good songs to choose from. One of my favorites is Sing Redeeming Love.

 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Credo in Deum

[Luigi]

^  LIKE!

I think one of the big differences between Catholic music and other forms of Gospel music is that almost all of the Catholic music I can think of was written to be sung in church, in Mass or other sorts of liturgies. A lot of Gospel music was written to be sung in church, but (other than Lutherans and Episcopalians) Protestant churches don't really have liturgies as such. 

And, even though I'm Catholic, I want some "church" music that I can listen to while I'm cleaning the basement, or folding laundry, or driving long distances - not exactly liturgical settings. Gospel music in all its different strains provides that. Admittedly, it's not all theologically aligned with Catholicism, but most of it doesn't outright conflict with Catholic theology. 

Also, I grew up on the Carter Family, one of country music's first successful groups. They always included some Gospel numbers in their recordings and their stage performances. And a lot of other country groups have done the same. So in country pop music, Christianity has always gotten some representation and expression whereas most other forms of pop music (rock & roll, Broadway, cabaret, the American Songbook) it's almost exclusively love, sex, drugs, rock & roll. In Black music, most of the pop singers can do Gospel music - most of them were raised on it and got their start in church choirs. But while they might put out a Gospel album (Aretha Franklin, for instance), most of them don't include gospel numbers on their standard albums or in their stage shows. Including religious themes in pop music sort of reminds the listening audience that there's more to life than love songs, or sex, drugs, rock & roll. 

Anyway, that's just some random thoughts about why I like this sort of stuff. Most of it wouldn't fly in church, but I don't expect to hear it in church either. 

Edited December 31, 2023 by Luigi