Various Artists, "Fire in My Bones: Raw, Rare & Otherworldly African American Gospel, 1944-2007" (Tompkins Square)
For those of you who are serious about putting "Christ" back in Christmas then I have just the album for you. Pack away all those saccharine holiday carols and prepare yourself for some good old fashioned devotional music that will not only move your spirit, but promises to shake it as well. I'm referring to the excellent 3-CD compilation, "Fire in My Bones: Raw, Rare & Otherworldly African American Gospel, 1944-2007." This impeccably curated collection spotlights dozens of gospel traditions, some going back more than a century, others seemingly created on the spot.
There's a nice diversity in terms of both lyrical approach and musical style. On one end of the spectrum you have uplifting songs of praise like the rollicking stride piano devotional "Where Could I Go" by Lucille Barbee, or the rockabilly gallop and sweet harmonies of "How Much I Owe" by The Radio Four. On the other end are fire and brimstone sermons and pleas for mercy like the harrowing "Don't Let the Devil Ride," a skeletal blues track featuring a muddy electric guitar, the primitive percussion of a tapping foot and Ike Gordon's banshee wail. Other highlights of the more hellfire fare is the reverb-drenched dirge, "Get Back Satan" by Bonnie Woodstock and Rev. Roger L. Worthy, and my favorite cut, the primitive drum and fife stomp of "Why Sorrow Done Passed Me Around."
Kudos to Tompkins Square for presenting these recordings with the respect and in the context they merit. Given the raw and downright strangeness of the proceedings, it would have been easy for the label to frame the release as a peak into a freakish, "naive" subculture rather than the vibrant American folk tradition that it is. That said, there are times when the compilation ventures too far into ethnographic territory with field and congregational recordings that are fascinating but feel a bit too academic. That minor quibble aside, "Fire in My Bones" is a must have for open-minded music fans who have an interest in early blues and gospel traditions and for those who simply seek a respite from the plastic, overly-commercialized Christmas music that's blasted into our consciousness at every turn.
Listen to "Don't Let the Devil Ride" by Ike Gordon
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Listen to "Get Back Satan" by Bonnie Woodstock and Rev. Roger L. Worthy
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Listen to "Why Sorrow Done Passed Me Around" by Georgia Drum & Fife
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