Topic: Theology - Evangelicals
Evangelical attempts to harness the commercial folk-music revival to their outreach programs for adolescents and college students led to a spate of songbooks that selected the most appropriate songs for young Christians. In 1978, Young Life used Cat Steven’s "Morning Has Broken," Peter, Paul, and Mary’s "Hammer Song," and, of course, "Kum Ba Yah." [1]
The Bill Gaither Trio included an a capella version of "Kumbaya" on a 1970 album. Heart Warming Records wanted to expand the market for gospel music, and had hired producers and arrangers familiar with Nashville recording techniques. They may have thought this song would attract the attention of new listeners, who would then buy the album to hear the rest of the Gaithers’ work.
The group originated when Bill, his brother Danny, and sister Mary Ann sang at local functions in Alexandria, Indiana. By 1970, Bill’s wife, the former Gloria Sickal, had replaced Mary Ann. She was the daughter of a Church of God minister from Missouri. [2] The Gaithers were raised in the Church of the Nazarene.
Both religious groups developed when the Holiness movement spread from the New York City area to the diverse Methodist traditions in the Midwest. John Winebrenner was born in Maryland to descendants of migrants from the German-speaking Palatinate. [3] He was ordained as a Calvinist Reformed pastor, then had a conversion experience in 1817.
Members of his Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, congregations complained in 1822 when he introduced revival techniques later promoted by Charles Finney. [4] Winebrenner continued evangelizing and allowing Methodists to speak. The synod removed him in 1827. He was rebaptized by full immersion in 1830, then organized an Eldership of the Church of God that placed religious experience and adult baptism above creed. [5]
One follower of Winebrenner was Daniel Sidney Warner. He was born in 1842 in the county north of Canton, Ohio, to a father who ran a tavern. His mother, the former Leah Dierdorf, was from York County, Pennsylvania. [6] He spent a semester at Finney’s Oberlin College in 1865, [7] and had a conversion experience. He preached in a Methodist church, then was licensed by Winebrenner’s Church of God in 1867.
He spent six years in Ohio and Indiana, then two in Nebraska, before returning to Ohio where his wife’s parents introduced him to Holiness. The Winebrenner church told him, in 1877, he could only continue under its auspices if he ceased promoting Holiness. The next year it expelled him, and he became an independent evangelist. [8]
He became the strongest voice against the existence of denominations as perversions of the original intent of the apostles. His call to people to "come out of Babylon" precipitated the Southern Methodist church ban on Holiness speakers mentioned in the post for 25 November 2017.
After news of the Azusa Street revival spread, a number of these "come-outer" Holiness groups that rejected speaking in tongues joined together in 1908 under the leadership of Phineas Bresee into the Church of the Nazarene. [9] In 1984, they joined the National Association of Evangelicals. [10]
When Warner died in 1895 in western Michigan, his followers organized the Church of God. Although it had a denominational name, it kept no rosters of members and had no organizational hierarchy. Enoch Byrum took over the publishing business, and, in 1906, moved it to Anderson, Indiana, fifteen miles from Alexandria. The reasons probably were pragmatic: it was on a river that could supply steam power to the presses, and had good rail connections for suppliers and distribution. [11]
The Holiness movement took a different form in Madison County, Indiana, than it did in Ohio, since it was settled later and drew upon other population pools. [12] Wesleyan Methodists had held camp meetings after the Civil War, but they grew less popular in the 1880s [13] when Warner was active.
In 1914, Alexandria had the usual denominations - Methodist, Baptist, Episcopal, Roman Catholic - some German congregations, and a number of smaller churches. One was a Christian Church, another a Mission church, and the third a New Light. [14] Any of them could have affiliated with the Church of the Nazarene later, or a new religious community could have formed after John Forkner published his county history.
The Warnerites and Nazarenes differed on small points of doctrine, but both were Holiness groups. Music was one area of disagreement. Warner’s congregations sang a capella, [15] while the bible school established by Bresee offered a course in instrumental music in 1908. [16] By 1960, those differences were gone: Anderson College, the school sponsored by Warner’s Church of God, installed a new pipe organ. [17]
The economics of the recording industry erased any remaining theological distinctions. Bill said that, on his first record for Heart Warming, he was required, by contract, to include songs controlled by the company owners. [18] On Back Home in Indiana, seven songs were by him and his wife Gloria and two, including "Kumbaya," were joint arrangements by "Gaither/Benson." [19]
Denominational attitudes might no longer have defined what was released on albums, but they still influenced whether or not individuals with talent ever considered singing in public. Danny once told a reporter, "It all started when we started singing with mother at the piano and my first solo was when I was three years old. My folks, Lela and George Gaither, took me to the Nazarene Church and I sang ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’." He added, his father took them to concerts by touring gospel quartets. [20]
When Gloria was a child, her father worked in a small village twenty some miles south of Battle Creek. A woman whose husband attended the Burlington church, wrote "When someone had a prayer need, the Rev. and Mrs. Sickal included their two daughters. They called the girls inside, joined hands in a circle, and the four of them started doing business with the Lord." [21]
Thus, when Mary Ann retired, Gloria was hesitant to take her place on stage. She told Bill, she could not sing. She finally agreed to appear with Bill and Danny at a Church of God concert in Ohio. During the program, he asked her to pray. He remembered, "People all over the auditorium were weeping. God had anointed that place and that crowd and His three singers, even though two of us were truly weak." [22]
After that, Bill recalled, Heart Warming let Gloria do spoken interludes and used Betty Fair [23] to sing with Bill and Danny. In 1970, their producer told Gloria that must stop; she had to sing in the studio because their fans expected to hear the same voice live and on records. [24] Perhaps a dollop of Bob MacKenzie’s evangelical Presbyterian probity was added to the blend of Holiness traditions.
Performers
Vocal Soloists: Gloria Gaither, Danny Gaither
Vocal Group: Gloria Gaither, alto; Danny Gaither, tenor; Bill Gaither, baritone
Vocal Director: produced by Bob MacKenzie
Instrumental Accompaniment: most a capella; one section with orchestra arranged by Rick Powell
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
arr. Gaither/Benson
ASCAP
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: as a group they sang koom by yah, with no syllable accented. On his solo, Danny sang "comb" once. Gloria barely pronounced the /m/.
Verses: kumbaya, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: three-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: repeated "oh Lord, Kumbaya" twice
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Tempo: slow
Basic Structure: simple repetition. On the singing verse, Danny sang the statement and the group joined him on the refrain and final line. On the praying verse, an orchestra was added when Gloria sang the first two lines alone. It stopped when the two men joined her on the third and fourth lines.
Singing Style: chordal harmony with one syllable to one note, except for the final Lord. They held the last notes of each phrase so the harmony could be heard. On the final line of the first verse, they raised, then lowered the pitch for the final "ya."
Vocal-Orchestral Dynamics: the group apparently recorded a capella in the studio, then the tape was sent to Rick Powell to add the strings. [25]
Notes on Performers
The only Gaither mentioned in the 1914 county history was Martha Gaither Dyson. Her daughter Angeline had married Washington Knopp, whose ancestors had come from the German-speaking Westphalia. [26] He was identified as a member of Warner’s Church of God. [27]
Bill and Danny’s immigrant ancestor, John Gaither settled in Norfolk County, Virginia, [28] and was likely one of the Puritans recruited to colonize Anne Arundel County, Maryland, in 1649. [29] His great-grandfather, William, moved from North Carolina to Alexandria. His wife was Mary Elizabeth Dyson, the daughter of another Martha Gaither.
There appear to have been many Gaithers and Dysons in central North Carolina in those years who intermarried. Once in Indiana, the different branches must have continued close relations. Gaither said his father’s parents "were of strong, determined German stock." [30]
He said his mother’s mother was Irish, and her father, who had an English surname, was half-Native American. They too merged into the German musical culture. They lived in the Innisdale addition, [31] where there had been a United Brethren church in 1914. [32] Burl Hartwell had been orphaned as a child, and later sang bass in the Brethren choir. [33]
Gaither had his first religious experience after he graduated from high school, when his first gospel quartet failed to attract an audience. [34] He then started college at the Methodist’s Taylor University, which he found uncongenial. [35] After a year, he transferred to the Anderson College, which was closer to his parents’ house. [36] He met Gloria when he was teaching in the local high school, and she was an Anderson student working as a substitute teacher. [37]
He absorbed Warner’s antidenominationalism. Although he and most members of his immediate family attended her church, Gaither never mentioned his religious affiliation in his autobiography. He told an interviewer, he never had been comfortable with singing in churches where his pay depended on the local minister passing the plate. As soon as the trio could command an audience, it moved into auditoriums and sold tickets. [38]
Gaither remarked, his neutral sites made it possible for "people from all church denominations gathered under one roof to hear the music and the message" and "subtly, the walls between denominations began to crumble, and Christians began to realize that they had more in common than they had ever imagined." [39]
Bob MacKenzie produced the album containing "Kumbaya." He was a trumpet player [40] raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. He moved to Nashville to manage the symphony, and went to work for the Bensons. His memorial service was held at Christ Presbyterian Church, Nashville, [41] which was affiliated with the conservative Presbyterian Church in America. [42] Wikipedia described the dissident PCA as "a blend of Reformed practice and broad evangelicalism." [43]
Rick Powell made the decision to add strings to Gloria’s solo and leave the rest a capella. He was born in Seffner, Florida, had a masters degree in composition, [44] and was an early innovator with MOOG synthesizers. In the late 1960s, he built his own studio [45], which was used for the Gaither sessions.
Availability
Album: At Home in Indiana. Heart Warming HWS 3083. Athena Recording Studio, Nashville. 1970.
End Notes
1. Sing with Young Life. Colorado Springs: Young Life, 1978. 147. It described itself as a "member of Evangelical Publishers Association" on the title page. The verses were kumbaya, singing, crying, praying, and come by here. It suggested people could add their own verses to the traditional song, and told them to sing freely. The guitar chords were: C-F-Em-G.
"If I had a hammer" was written by Lee Hays and Pete Seeger, and introduced by The Weavers. "Morning Has Broken" was written by Eleanor Farjeon for Percy Dearmer’s 1931 edition of Songs of Praise to an existing tune by Mary MacDougal MacDonald.
2. The Gaithers usually said Gloria was from Battle Creek, Michigan. Her mother was from Milan, Missouri, and her sister was born in Leonard, Missouri, in 1932. Her father, served the Church of God congregation in Burlington, Michigan, from 1946 to 1956; one in Clare, a lumber town in the northern lower peninsula, from 1956 to 1961, and one of the Battle Creek congregations from 1961 to 1971. She graduated from high school in Clare, but her family was in Battle Creek by the time she was a student at Anderson College. (Obituary for Dorothy Sickal, Battle Creek Enquirer, 8 May 1993, 2, and obituary for Evelyn Sickal Baylor, Gaither website, 2015).
3. J. Harvey Gossard. "John Winebrenner: From German Reformed Roots to the Churches of God." United Church of Christ website.
4. Finney’s techniques were mentioned in the post for 12 August 2017.
5. Wikipedia. "Churches of God General Conference (Winebrenner)."
6. Penny Noneman. "Leah Dierdorf Warner." Find a Grave. 7 September 2012.
7. "Oberlin Alumni Hymn Writers Exhibit." College website.
8. Wikipedia. "Daniel Sidney Warner."
9. "History." Church of the Nazarene website.
10. Wikipedia. "National Association of Evangelicals."
11. John L. Forkner. History of Madison County, Indiana. Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1914. 472.
12. Ohio had combined people from Connecticut in the northeast with Revolutionary war veterans from Virginia in the southwest and Germans remigrating from eastern Pennsylvania. While some early settlers in Madison County, Indiana, were from the east, a number came from North Carolina. Many of its German-speaking immigrants came after 1848 or after the Civil War.
13. Forkner. 233.
14. Forkner. 247.
15. Wikipedia. "Daniel Sidney Warner" and "Church of God (Anderson, Indiana)."
16. Deets Bible College advertisement. The Nazarene Messenger 12:10:2 April 1908.
17. "Park Place Church of God." Anderson University website.
18. Bill Gaither. It’s More than the Music. With Ken Abraham. New York: Warner Faith, 2003. 96.
19. Heartwarming was owned by the Bensons. Its empire was begun by John Benson, who left the Methodist church to found a Holiness church in Tennessee that later affiliated with the Nazarenes. ("John T. Benson Sr." Dove awards website.)
20. Item. The Alexandria [Indiana] Times-Tribune 25 May 1988. 1.
21. B. J. Funk. "Celebrating the Small Church." Good News website. 22 July 2011. The occasion was her father-in-law’s 95th birthday.
22. Mark Ward. The Lord’s Radio. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2017. 214-215.
23. Gaither. 98. Fair lived in Anderson. Both she and her husband were active in local Churches of God.
24. Ward. 215.
25. This was the only a capella song on the album. For the rest, Gaither said the rhythm tracks were recorded and sent to Powell in London. After he added the strings, the trio recorded its parts. 112.
26. Research by Danny Knopp and anonymous genealogists published on Geni website.
27. Forkner. 636.
28. Deborah Holsinger traced Bill’s ancestry back to their common relative, Zachariah Gaither. ("Re: Gaither Singers." Genealogy website. March 10, 2005). Ric Dickinson, Jerry Gaither, and an unidentified family genealogist tracked back from Zachariah to the immigrant on the Geni website.
29. "County History." Anne Arundel county website.
30. Gaither. 23.
31. Gaither. 22.
32. Forkner. 240.
33. Gaither. 22.
34. Gaither. 43.
35. Gaither. 49.
36. Gaither. 51.
37. Gaither. Chapter 4, "Gloria."
38. Gaither. 114-115.
39. Gaither. 115.
40. Gaither. 96.
41. Obituary for Bob MacKenzie. The [Nashville] Tennessean, 22 October 2000. 35.
42. "Our History." Christ Presbyterian Church website.
43. Wikipedia. "Presbyterian Church in America."
44. GerbLady. "Richard Dean ‘Rick’ Powell." Find a Grave website. 15 March 2010.
45. William Tyler. "Totally Wired." Nashville Scene website. 18 January 2001.
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