Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
The founder of the John T. Benson Publishing Company died in 1930. [1] John 1’s youngest son, John 2, [2] assumed his role as song leader in the local Nazarene church. [3] His older sons ran the printing company, which produced high school yearbooks. [4] John 2 spent most of the 1920s and 1930s as its traveling salesman. [5]
John 2 said he learned the elements of the printing trade in the Depression. [6] His work in his church and on the road brought him into contact with people who kept him informed on their preferences in religious music. [7] With the revival of the economy in 1940, the music publishing company began issuing new song books. The first may have been Camp Meeting and Revival Songs. [8]
World War II and material shortages halted that business resurgence.
At the end of the war, Youth for Christ began holding its rallies. [9] John 2 sensed a new market was developing, and left the printing company in 1948 [10] to devote his energies to publishing songbooks.
The business grew in the 1950s. John 2 signed Elmo Mercer as a songwriter in 1951, [11] and, like Lynn Rohrbough, was producing customized versions of his songbooks for private groups by 1952. [12] He also expanded into sheet music sales. [13]
The emergence of Elvis Presley coincided with an increased interest in gospel music. John 2 published Ira Stanphill’s Heartwarming Songs in 1956 in a spiral-bound format. [14] His All American Church Hymnal was marketed to churches. [15]
Benson’s oldest son, John 3, went to work for his uncles in the printing company. [16] The younger boy, Bob, was ordained as an elder by the Nazarenes, [17] and served congregations in Florida, Missouri, California, and Tennessee. [18] He left the church to join John 2 in the publishing venture in 1961. [19]
Soon John 2 and Bob launched a music label for southern gospel music. [20] To support the increased demand, the company hired Mercer as a full-time music editor in 1961. [21] In 1966, they hired Bob MacKenzie as creative director for Heartwarming Records. [22]
When the Now Generation emerged, MacKenzie began experiments to reach it. In 1968, he had the youngest member of the Rambos [23] record a solo album titled On the Folk Side of Gospel. [24] At the same time, he produced The Now Sound of Ed Lyman. [25] It included two uplifting songs from Broadway musicals ("Climb Ev’ry Mountain" [26] and "The Impossible Dream" [27]), along with a spiritual popularized by Peter, Paul, and Mary ("All My Trials" [28]). The rest were contemporary religious songs.
John 2 retired in 1969, [29] and John 3 moved over to the publishing house from the printing company. [30]
In 1970, MacKenzie sponsored two projects that included "Kumbaya." One was the record by The Bill Gaither Trio that was discussed in the post for 17 December 2017. The other was the Now Sing Now songbook. Its version of "Kum Ba Yah" was close to the original. It did not use the verse order introduced by Tommy Leonetti.
Ed Lyman composed seven songs in Now Sing Now. Howard Lovett wrote six. Lyman billed himself as a sacred folk singer. [31] Lovett was part of a Florida band that was pioneering Christian Rock. [32]
In total, 60% of the 85 songs in Now Sing Now were controlled by the Benson company. Another 25% were in the public domain. The remaining 15% included songs by country-music artists, like Glen Campbell [33] and Roger Miller, [34] who had been accepted by the audience for Easy Listening music. [35]
The connection to the commercial folk-music revival in Now Sing Now was through the traditional music. Most were spirituals, though only "There Is Joy in the Land" was identified as "American Negro." The company seemed to think the others, like "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Study War No More," had been sung so often by whites that they were part of a shared religious tradition. "Kum Ba Yah" was identified as "African."
While MacKenzie was attempting to reach the Now Generation, he maintained some ties to the past. He included contemporary settings for three Psalms that satisfied Presbyterians who believed only psalms should be used in services. [36]
The collection also included "Brethren, We Have Met To Worship" from the shaped-note tradition. The last line of the first verse was "All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down." [37]
Performers
Vocal Soloist: single melodic line
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar chords
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
African
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: no comment
Verses: kumbaya, come by here, praying, crying, singing
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: 5-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 4/4
Tempo: Gently, with feeling
Key Signature: no sharps or flats
Guitar Chords: C F G7
Basic Structure: strophic repetition; volume varies by verse with "come by here" and "praying" softer and "singing" loud.
Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for final "Lord"
Ending: none
Notes on Performance
7" x 10" octavo sheet music format. The cover was a wash of colors dominated by purples. It did not contain photographs or references to recording artists.
Audience Perceptions
The copy of Now Sing Now I purchased from Amazon had been used. All the public domain songs were marked with a pencil with a note "Negro Spirituals in here." Another song was identified as a Christmas one, and performance cues were added to three songs. "Kum Ba Yah" was not particularized.
Notes on Performers
MacKenzie was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts. [38] He studied conducting at Houghton College, and choral music with Harry Wilson at Columbia. He was choir director at Carl McIntire’s Shelton College [39] when he accepted an offer in 1964 to manage the Nashville Symphony. [40] Two years later, Benson hired him. [41]
Nothing is known about MacKenzie’s religious affiliation in 1970. The conservative Presbyterian church that handled his memorial service [42] was not founded until 1981. [43] Houghton was a Wesleyan Methodist college. [44] Shelton was McIntire’s conservative Presbyterian school in New Jersey. [45]
In 1984, MacKenzie and Ron Kerr bought the publishing company established by Ralph Carmichael. [46] Fred Bock, who worked for Sacred Music, recalled "Bob MacKenzie is the greatest creative catalyst that I’ve had in my life." [47] Both Carmichael and Bock were associated with Word Records, mentioned in the post for 5 July 2020 and 12 July 2020.
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Yah." In Now Sing Now. Edited by Bob MacKenzie. Nashville: John T. Benson Publishing Company, 1970. 29.
End Notes
1. Jno T. Benson, Sr (1). Obituary. Nashville Tennessean. 25 June 1930. 5.
2. The forms of the Benson names changed when men died; I’m standardizing on a simple number to make clear the identities of men through three generations.
3. John T. Benson (2). A History 1898-1915 of the Pentecostal Mission, Inc. Nashville: Trevecca Press, 1977. 11. John 2 took over leading songs after John 1 had a stroke in 1927.
4. Benson 2. 10.
5. Benson 2. 11.
6. Benson 2. 11.
7. John 2 remembered his work as song leader "took me to meetings outside church." [48]
8. Camp Meeting and Revival Songs. Nashville: John T. Benson Publishing Company, 1940. [Amazon]
9. Youth for Christ was discussed in the post for the post for 15 December 2017.
10. Benson 2. 11.
11. Pat Barker. "Where Are They Now?" Singing News Magazine. February 2014. Republished by Bruce Jeffers. "Elmo Mercer’s Journey into Southern Gospel Music History." W. Elmo Mercer’s website. 2 March 2014. His most popular song was "Each Step I Take My Savior Goes Before Me." [49]
12. For example, the John T. Benson Publishing Company released Spiritual Power in 1947. [Amazon] In 1952, it included a special insert for an edition created for the Churches of Christ in Christian Union’s mid-winter indoor camp meeting in Indianapolis. [Amazon]
13. There’s no complete bibliography or discography for the Benson companies. I used Amazon on 21 April 2020 to find books that had survived long enough to be offered for resale. I supplemented it with a search in WorldCat. One example of the sheet music was Ira F. Stanphill’s "Follow Me" in 1953. [Amazon] Several people told Amazon users how much they liked his compositions. [50]
14. Ira Stanphill and John T. Benson. Heart Warming Songs. Nashville: John T. Benson Publishing Company, 1956. Amazon described the binding as comb.
15. Earl Smith and John T. Benson. All-American Church Hymnal. Nashville: John T. Benson Publishing Company: 1957 eleventh edition. Periwinkle wrote "this is the hymnal we’ve used in our church for over fifty years so I’m probably biased in my opinion of it. Since I was very young the contents of this book have been both a treasure and a comfort to me." [51]
16. "John T. Benson III." Gospel Music Hall of Fame website. 1 January 2018.
17. "Robert ‘Bob’ Benson, Sr." Gospel Music Hall of Fame website. This entry has been removed.
18. "God Chose You." James Dobson’s Family Talk website. 13 July 2012.
19. Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Bob Benson.
20. Gospel Music Hall of Fame, John 3.
21. "W. Elmo Mercer, Gospel Music." His website.
22. Item in Bob Green. "Shaped Notes." Billboard 78:50:4 June 1966.
23. The Rambos were Dottie Rambo, her husband Buck Rambo, and their daughter Reba Rambo. Dottie became an important songwriter.
24. Reba Rambo. On The Folk Side Of Gospel. Heart Warming Records HWM 1985. 1968. It included songs by Ed Lyman, [52] Glen Campbell [53] and Sonny Salisbury. [54] Most were by Dottie Rambo. [Discogs]
25. "Ed Lyman – The Now Sound Of Ed Lyman." Impact Records HWS 1948, and Heart Warming Records HWM 1948. 1968. [Discogs entry.] Both record labels were owned by Benson.
26. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. "Climb Ev’ry Mountain." From the 1959 Broadway musical Sound of Music. [55]
27. Mitch Leigh and Joe Darion. "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)." From the 1965 Broadway musical Man of La Mancha. [56]
28. Peter, Paul, and Mary’s version of "All My Trials" was mentioned in the post for 28 June 2020. It first was popularized by Joan Baez in 1960 on Joan Baez. Vanguard VSD 2077.
29. John 2. 11.
30. Gospel Music Hall of Fame, John 3.
31. Item in "Shaped Notes." Billboard 80:34:6 January 1968.
32. "Howard Lovett." Discogs website. The group was Joyful Noise. The name is common, and I couldn’t find any information for this particular group.
33. The Glen Campbell song was "Less of Me."
34. Roger Miller. "Walking in the Sunshine." Nashville: Tree Publishing Company, 1967. This also appeared in Now Sing Now.
35. Easy Listening music was discussed in the post for 19 April 2020.
36. The Presbyterian preference for psalms was discussed in the post for 25 November 2017.
37. George Askins. "Brethren, We Have Met to Worship." Social and Camp-Meeting Hymns for the Pious. Baltimore: John J. Harrod, 1817. [57] The melody was "Holy Manna." [58]
38. MacKenzie’s early life was discussed in the post for 17 December 2017.
39. Item. Doylestown [Pennsylvania] Intelligencer. 3 April 1964. 22. Harry Robert Wilson was the subject of the post for 15 July 2018.
40. "Bob MacKenzie." Gospel Music Hall of Fame website. 1 January 2018.
41. Item in Bob Green. "Shaped Notes." Billboard 78:50: 4 June 1966.
42. Bob MacKenzie. Obituary. The [Nashville] Tennessean. 22 October 2000. 35.
43. According to its website, Nashville’s Christ Presbyterian Church was founded in 1981, and affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America. The mainline denomination is the Presbyterian Church U. S. A.
44. Wikipedia. "Houghton College."
45. Wikipedia. "Shelton College." McIntire founded a separate denomination, the Bible Presbyterian Church. [60]
46. The Tennessean, MacKenzie.
47. Fred Bock. Quoted by Gospel Music Hall of Fame, MacKenzie.
48. Benson 2. 11.
49. W. Elmo Mercer. "Each Step I Take My Savior Goes Before Me." Nashville: Benson Publishing, 1953. The Hymnary entry for the song said it had been included in 17 hymnals.
50. Sheila Wells. Comment on Amazon website for Heart Warming Songs No. 3. 16 March 2016.
Mom. Comment on Amazon website for Heart Warming Songs No. 3. 6 November 2014.
51. Periwinkle. Comment posted to Amazon website for hardcover edition of All-American Church Hymnal. 12 June 2017.
52. Ed Lyman. "In A Silent World." Copyrighted by The Rodeheaver Company, 1967. This also appeared in Now Sing Now.
53. Glen Campbell. "Less of Me." Copyrighted by Beechwood Music, 1965. This also appeared in Now Sing Now.
54. Sonny Salisbury. "Psalm 19." Copyrighted by Sacred Songs, 1968. This also appeared in Now Sing Now and Warren Stitt’s Sing In, which was discussed in the post for 12 July 2010.
55. Wikipedia. "Climb Ev’ry Mountain."
56. Wikipedia. "The Impossible Dream (The Quest)."
57. C. Michael Hawn. "History of Hymns: ‘Brethren, We Have Met to Worship’." The United Methodist Church Discipleship website. 18 July 2019.
58. William Moore. "Holy Manna." The Columbian Harmony. Cincinnati: William Moore, 1825. [59]
59. Hawn.
60. Wikipedia. "Carl McIntire."
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Sunday, July 19, 2020
John T. Benson
Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
Religious publications that supported independent clergymen date back at least as far as John Wesley’s The Armenian Magazine. [1] After Cane Ridge, Alexander Campbell began issuing the Christian Baptist in 1823 [2] to spread ideas that led to the Disciples of Christ. [3]
These publications did more than provide a means for evangelists to spread their ideas. They generated income for men who earned little from their religious meetings.
John McClurkan was an itinerant Cumberland Presbyterian [4] preacher in Tennessee who also worked as a school teacher before the Civil War. His son James was ordained in 1881. He too worked as both a minister and a teacher. He probably only received some financial security when he became pastor of a congregation in San Jose, California. [5]
McClurkan lost that income when he became sanctified, and left the church to preach his own interpretation of Holiness doctrine in 1895. [6] His daughter said he always peddled tracts, velvet mottos, and other religious objects from a basket. [7]
He moved to Nashville in 1897, [8] where Methodists were in turmoil over the Holiness movement. The year before the state convention spent a day debating the status of Benjamin Franklin Haynes, before voting against his Tennessee Methodist monthly. [9] It continued under the name Zion Outlook. [10]
John T. Benson, henceforth called John 1, [11] was converted to Holiness at a tent meeting McClurkan held in 1897. [12] A year later, he and Haynes helped McClurkan organize a Holiness convention in Nashville. [13] It may have been Benson’s first exposure to "the fervency of shouts, testimonies, preaching, praying and singing" that characterized some Holiness meetings. [14]
Two years later John 1 purchased Haynes’ publication for McClurkan’s Pentecostal Mission. [15] He quit his job with a mercantile brokerage in 1901 [16] to organize the Pentecostal Mission Printing Company in 1902. [17] He and his wife, the former Eva Green, edited the first songbook in 1904. [18]
The Azusa Street revival erupted in Los Angeles in 1901. [19] McClurkan rejected speaking in tongues in 1907. [20] Phineas Bresee began agitating for an association of Holiness groups who did not accept glossolalia. [21] John 1 was among those who went to the exploratory meeting in Pilot Point, Texas, in 1908. [22] The same year, he publicized Soul Stirring Songs [23] by sending a quartet to provide music at revivals and camp meetings. [24]
The market for songbooks must have been expanding with the growth of the Holiness movement after Azusa Street. John 1 opened a commercial printing company in 1909. [25]
McClurkan resisted a merger with Bresee, but John 1 suggested they invite Bresee to hold his next general assembly of the Nazarene in Nashville in 1911. Stephen Hoskins thought one reason Bresee accepted was he wanted a joint venture with Benson’s printing company. [26]
John 1 prepared the third edition of Jewel Songs for the event. [27] Hoskins said:
"Nazarenes from around the country and the world sang from the book at the nightly services conducted in the Ryman Auditorium, and visitors took Jewel Songs home and ordered large quantities for their camp meetings, revivals, and gospel choirs."
He added: "Jewel Songs helped establish the spiritual life of the denomination in its formative decades and has continued to do so." [28]
McClurkan died from typhoid fever in 1914, [29] and his Pentecostal Mission merged into the Nazarene in 1915. [30] Bresee didn’t get John 1’s company, but Benson did reorganize its publishing operations in Kansas City. [31] Haynes already was editing its weekly Herald of Holiness. [32]
End Notes
1. Samuel J. Rogal. "John Wesley’s Arminian Magazine." Andrews University Seminary Studies 22:231-247:Summer 1984. Wesley began publishing his popular magazine in 1778.
2. The Christian Baptist was replaced by the Millennial Harminger in 1830. [33]
3. The Disciples of Christ in Pamlico County, North Carolina, were mentioned in posts about Minnie Lee, especially the one for 26 January 2020.
4. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in 1810 by men who had been expelled by the Presbyterian Church for perpetuating the Cane Ridge revival. [34]
5. "James O. McClurkan." Interchurch Holiness Convention website.
6. John T. Benson (2). A History 1898-1915 of the Pentecostal Mission, Inc. Nashville: Trevecca Press, 1977. 16.
7. Merle McClurkan Heath. Cited by John 2. 38.
8. John 2. 16.
9. "Tennessee Methodist Wakes Up a Mighty Lively Discussion." Nashville American. 28 October 1896. 3.
10. Stan Ingersol. "Man of Zeal and Courage: the Methodist Roots of B. F. Haynes." Herald of Holiness 76:11:15 June 1987.
11. The forms of the Benson names changed when men died; I’m standardizing on a simple number to make clear the identities of men through three generations.
12. John 2. 16.
13. John 2. 26. The executive committee elected by the first convention included John 1 as secretary and Haynes.
14. John 2. 33.
15. William J. Strickland. J. O. McClurkan: His Life, His Theology, and Selections from His Writings. With H. Ray Dunning. Nashville: Trevecca Press, 1998. 37. The original name was Pentecostal Alliance. It was changed to Pentecostal Mission in 1902 for the same reasons Campbell changed the name of the Baptist Christian: to broaden its appeal and eliminate any connotations of associations with other religious groups.
16. Benson 2. 38. Cummins, Benson, and McKay was "one of the largest firms of mercantile brokers in the south." [35]
17. Strickland. 42.
18. John 2. 209. It might have been Living Waters Songs. World Cat listed it with a publication date that probably was derived from latest copyright date of 1894. Zion Outlook’s name had been changed to Living Waters after a merger with a group of that name in 1903. [36] Eva played piano. [37]
19. William Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival were the subject of the post for 7 December 2017.
20. John 2. 94.
21. Vinson Synan. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997 edition. 147–148.
22. John 2. 100.
23. Soul Stirring Songs. Nashville: John T. Benson Publishing Company, 1908. [Amazon entry]
24. Steven Hoskins. "Singing Jewel Songs: Innovative Evangelism in the Church of the Nazarene." Grace and Peace website. 2 October 2012.
25. Jno T. Benson, Sr (1). Obituary. Nashville Tennessean. 25 June 1930. 5.
26. Hoskins. "Nazarenes also longed to launch a joint publishing venture with Benson’s printing company for the denomination’s many publishing enterprises and its new paper, Herald of Holiness, launched after the General Assembly."
27. Mr. and Mrs. John T. Benson. Jewel Songs. Nashville: Pentecostal Mission Publishing Company, 1910. [Amazon entry]
28. Hoskins. He noted it contained older hymns by Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts, Holiness songs like Fannie Crosby’s "Blessed Assurance," newly written gospel songs by men like Charles H. Gabriel, and Southern favorites like "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."
29. Rev J. O. McClurkan. Obituary. Nashville Banner. 6 September 1914. 2. Reprinted by NashvilleTony. "Rev James Octavius McClurkan." Find a Grave website. 5 August 2012.
30. Benson 2. 179.
31. John 1.
32. "Centennial Celebrations: Herald of Holiness and NNU." Holiness Today website.
33. Wikipedia. "Christian Baptist" and "Millennial Harbinger."
34. Wikipedia. "Cumberland Presbyterian Church."
35. "Cummins-Kirkman Co. to Succeed Cummins, Benson & McKay." The [Phoenix] Arizona Republican. 1 February 1902. 1.
36. John 2. 56.
37. John 2. 154.
Religious publications that supported independent clergymen date back at least as far as John Wesley’s The Armenian Magazine. [1] After Cane Ridge, Alexander Campbell began issuing the Christian Baptist in 1823 [2] to spread ideas that led to the Disciples of Christ. [3]
These publications did more than provide a means for evangelists to spread their ideas. They generated income for men who earned little from their religious meetings.
John McClurkan was an itinerant Cumberland Presbyterian [4] preacher in Tennessee who also worked as a school teacher before the Civil War. His son James was ordained in 1881. He too worked as both a minister and a teacher. He probably only received some financial security when he became pastor of a congregation in San Jose, California. [5]
McClurkan lost that income when he became sanctified, and left the church to preach his own interpretation of Holiness doctrine in 1895. [6] His daughter said he always peddled tracts, velvet mottos, and other religious objects from a basket. [7]
He moved to Nashville in 1897, [8] where Methodists were in turmoil over the Holiness movement. The year before the state convention spent a day debating the status of Benjamin Franklin Haynes, before voting against his Tennessee Methodist monthly. [9] It continued under the name Zion Outlook. [10]
John T. Benson, henceforth called John 1, [11] was converted to Holiness at a tent meeting McClurkan held in 1897. [12] A year later, he and Haynes helped McClurkan organize a Holiness convention in Nashville. [13] It may have been Benson’s first exposure to "the fervency of shouts, testimonies, preaching, praying and singing" that characterized some Holiness meetings. [14]
Two years later John 1 purchased Haynes’ publication for McClurkan’s Pentecostal Mission. [15] He quit his job with a mercantile brokerage in 1901 [16] to organize the Pentecostal Mission Printing Company in 1902. [17] He and his wife, the former Eva Green, edited the first songbook in 1904. [18]
The Azusa Street revival erupted in Los Angeles in 1901. [19] McClurkan rejected speaking in tongues in 1907. [20] Phineas Bresee began agitating for an association of Holiness groups who did not accept glossolalia. [21] John 1 was among those who went to the exploratory meeting in Pilot Point, Texas, in 1908. [22] The same year, he publicized Soul Stirring Songs [23] by sending a quartet to provide music at revivals and camp meetings. [24]
The market for songbooks must have been expanding with the growth of the Holiness movement after Azusa Street. John 1 opened a commercial printing company in 1909. [25]
McClurkan resisted a merger with Bresee, but John 1 suggested they invite Bresee to hold his next general assembly of the Nazarene in Nashville in 1911. Stephen Hoskins thought one reason Bresee accepted was he wanted a joint venture with Benson’s printing company. [26]
John 1 prepared the third edition of Jewel Songs for the event. [27] Hoskins said:
"Nazarenes from around the country and the world sang from the book at the nightly services conducted in the Ryman Auditorium, and visitors took Jewel Songs home and ordered large quantities for their camp meetings, revivals, and gospel choirs."
He added: "Jewel Songs helped establish the spiritual life of the denomination in its formative decades and has continued to do so." [28]
McClurkan died from typhoid fever in 1914, [29] and his Pentecostal Mission merged into the Nazarene in 1915. [30] Bresee didn’t get John 1’s company, but Benson did reorganize its publishing operations in Kansas City. [31] Haynes already was editing its weekly Herald of Holiness. [32]
End Notes
1. Samuel J. Rogal. "John Wesley’s Arminian Magazine." Andrews University Seminary Studies 22:231-247:Summer 1984. Wesley began publishing his popular magazine in 1778.
2. The Christian Baptist was replaced by the Millennial Harminger in 1830. [33]
3. The Disciples of Christ in Pamlico County, North Carolina, were mentioned in posts about Minnie Lee, especially the one for 26 January 2020.
4. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in 1810 by men who had been expelled by the Presbyterian Church for perpetuating the Cane Ridge revival. [34]
5. "James O. McClurkan." Interchurch Holiness Convention website.
6. John T. Benson (2). A History 1898-1915 of the Pentecostal Mission, Inc. Nashville: Trevecca Press, 1977. 16.
7. Merle McClurkan Heath. Cited by John 2. 38.
8. John 2. 16.
9. "Tennessee Methodist Wakes Up a Mighty Lively Discussion." Nashville American. 28 October 1896. 3.
10. Stan Ingersol. "Man of Zeal and Courage: the Methodist Roots of B. F. Haynes." Herald of Holiness 76:11:15 June 1987.
11. The forms of the Benson names changed when men died; I’m standardizing on a simple number to make clear the identities of men through three generations.
12. John 2. 16.
13. John 2. 26. The executive committee elected by the first convention included John 1 as secretary and Haynes.
14. John 2. 33.
15. William J. Strickland. J. O. McClurkan: His Life, His Theology, and Selections from His Writings. With H. Ray Dunning. Nashville: Trevecca Press, 1998. 37. The original name was Pentecostal Alliance. It was changed to Pentecostal Mission in 1902 for the same reasons Campbell changed the name of the Baptist Christian: to broaden its appeal and eliminate any connotations of associations with other religious groups.
16. Benson 2. 38. Cummins, Benson, and McKay was "one of the largest firms of mercantile brokers in the south." [35]
17. Strickland. 42.
18. John 2. 209. It might have been Living Waters Songs. World Cat listed it with a publication date that probably was derived from latest copyright date of 1894. Zion Outlook’s name had been changed to Living Waters after a merger with a group of that name in 1903. [36] Eva played piano. [37]
19. William Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival were the subject of the post for 7 December 2017.
20. John 2. 94.
21. Vinson Synan. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997 edition. 147–148.
22. John 2. 100.
23. Soul Stirring Songs. Nashville: John T. Benson Publishing Company, 1908. [Amazon entry]
24. Steven Hoskins. "Singing Jewel Songs: Innovative Evangelism in the Church of the Nazarene." Grace and Peace website. 2 October 2012.
25. Jno T. Benson, Sr (1). Obituary. Nashville Tennessean. 25 June 1930. 5.
26. Hoskins. "Nazarenes also longed to launch a joint publishing venture with Benson’s printing company for the denomination’s many publishing enterprises and its new paper, Herald of Holiness, launched after the General Assembly."
27. Mr. and Mrs. John T. Benson. Jewel Songs. Nashville: Pentecostal Mission Publishing Company, 1910. [Amazon entry]
28. Hoskins. He noted it contained older hymns by Charles Wesley and Isaac Watts, Holiness songs like Fannie Crosby’s "Blessed Assurance," newly written gospel songs by men like Charles H. Gabriel, and Southern favorites like "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."
29. Rev J. O. McClurkan. Obituary. Nashville Banner. 6 September 1914. 2. Reprinted by NashvilleTony. "Rev James Octavius McClurkan." Find a Grave website. 5 August 2012.
30. Benson 2. 179.
31. John 1.
32. "Centennial Celebrations: Herald of Holiness and NNU." Holiness Today website.
33. Wikipedia. "Christian Baptist" and "Millennial Harbinger."
34. Wikipedia. "Cumberland Presbyterian Church."
35. "Cummins-Kirkman Co. to Succeed Cummins, Benson & McKay." The [Phoenix] Arizona Republican. 1 February 1902. 1.
36. John 2. 56.
37. John 2. 154.
Sunday, July 12, 2020
Warren Stitt - Kum Ba Ya
Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
Young people stopped joining youth groups in the 1960s. Jon Pahl said many local Walther League groups languished. [1] Cub Scouts no longer were graduating into Boy Scouts. [2] Membership in the Girls Scouts began dropping. [3]
Churches responded to the decline of Youth for Christ by hiring specialists to manage in-house youth programs. [4] Sunday school superintendents were rendered redundant.
Pastors needed materials, which their denominations may or may not have provided. One of the first to fill the need was George Santa’s Christian Worker’s Service Bureau. [5] He had been active in the same Chicago church as the first presidents of Youth for Christ, Torrey Johnson and Robert Cook. [6]
The rise of church youth ministries obsoleted many of its functions, and Santa sold the company to Doug Ross. He had been a Youth for Christ rally director. The name was changed to Success with Youth. It provided more materials and training seminars for youth ministers. [7]
In 1969, Word issued a "songbook for Christian youth." Joel McCracken [8] said he got the idea from Russ Reid of Success for Life in 1968. [9] It obviously was inspired by the 1967 Moral Re-Armament conference. The title of the collection was Sing In, a phrase used on Mackinac Island before MRA settled on Pete Seeger’s Sing Out. [10]
McCracken turned the compilation of Sing In over to two men on his staff, Fred Bock and Warren Stitt. He also hired the man who had worked on the first two volumes of the Lutherans’ Hymns for Now to design the layout. There were no photographs, but Paul Firnhaber juxtaposed headlines from advertisements with each song.
"Kumbaya" shared spaced with Martin Luther’s "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." The advertisement that spread across the two pages read "Call the mover who can make it look easy. Quick."
The use of familiar words in new contexts was part of an aesthetic shared by people who treated language as a literal tool. The discovery of secondary meanings created a frisson, as if one were discovering the true meaning.
There was little new in Sing In. While McCracken said it included some "fun songs, camp songs, pop and folk tune" to "insure suitability for nearly any occasion," 62 of its 67 songs were religious. [11] Only three were hymns like "Mighty Fortress," and eight were from the gospel song tradition that developed after the Civil War. The best known was "Just a Closer Walk with Thee."
The largest number, 61%, were written after World War II. Not surprisingly, 45% of those were published by McCracken and 37% were written by men associated with Youth for Christ or Billy Graham. The most prolific composers were Ralph Carmichael and John W. Peterson. The latter edited collections for Singspiration, [12] which had been patronized by Graham. [13]
The other group of songs were variously identified as "traditional" or "traditional Negro spiritual." It was an intermediate area between the official songs of churches and those of American folk religion. It included the old standbys, "Jacob’s Ladder" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and ones introduced by popular singers like "Amen" [14] and "Go Tell It on the Mountain." [15]
Many of the 13 songs used the AAAB format of camp meeting songs like "Rocka My Soul" and "Standing in the Need of Prayer." The version of "Kumbaya" was unchanged from the original publication.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: single melodic line
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Traditional
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom-bah-yah
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: 4-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 3/4
Tempo: not indicated
Key Signature: no sharps or flats
Guitar Chords: C F G7
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for final "Lord"
Ending: none
Notes on Performance
Cover: it showed the hands of one person strumming a guitar decorated with filigrees, and the back of the head of a person playing piccolo. The hair on the piccolo player was below the ears, and could have been on a boy or girl. The size of the knee of the guitar player suggested he was a man.
Audience Perceptions
One person who owned the copy of Sing In that I bought from Amazon lived in Wesleyville, Pennsylvania. The individual marked eight songs including three by Carmichael ("He’s Everything to Me") and three by Peterson ("Jesus Is Coming Again").
Notes on Performers
Bock was born in Great Neck, New York, [16] in 1939. [17] He learned to play piano when he was 6 years old, started on organ when he as 12, [18] and and studied music education at Ithaca College. [18] Bock then moved to California for graduate work in church music at the University of Southern California. [19]
McCracken hired him in 1963. [20] The same year, Brock set up a legal entity to copyright his own material. [21] He supplemented his income by directing the choir at Bel Air Presbyterian church [22] and working as a studio or free-lance musician. In 1966, he was responsible for introducing Elva Miller to Capitol Records. [23] Her first album had some success as a novelty item. [24]
Less is known about Warren Stitt. His named appeared as a record and video producer for Sandi Patty [25] and The Oak Ridge Boys. [26] She began working with Bill Gaither, [27] who was mentioned in the post for 17 December 2017. Later she appeared at some Graham events. [28]
Firnhaber was discussed in the post for 28 June 2020.
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Ya." Sing In. Edited by Warren G. Stitt and Fred Bock. Waco, Texas: Sacred Songs, 1969. 7.
End Notes
1. Jon Pahl. Hopes and Dreams of All. Chicago: Wheat Ridge Ministries, 1993. 261.
2. Wikipedia. "History of the Boy Scouts of America."
3. James Barron. "Girl Scouts Lower Membership Age." The New York Times. 28 October 1984.
4. Mark Houston Senter III. "The Youth for Christ Movement as an Educational Agency and Its Impact upon Protestant Churches, 1931-1979." PhD dissertation. Loyola University of Chicago, March 1989. 319–320.
5. Senter. 322.
6. Senter. 321. The origins of Youth For Christ were discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.
7. Senter. 322.
8. McCracken and Word were discussed in the post for 5 July 2020.
9. Jarrell McCracken. "Introduction." Sing In. Reid was vice-president of Word Records in 1963. [29] He later founded his own marketing company in Waco in 1964. [30]
10. MRA and Sing In were discussed in the post for 23 February 2020.
11. The folk songs were "Shenandoah" and "On Top of Old Smokey," which had been recorded together by The Weavers in 1951. [31] The popular song was the theme from the 1966 film Born Free. [32] The others were the patriotic "This Is My Country" and the Doxology, which served many uses, including as a grace in camps.
12. Wikipedia. "John W. Peterson." He and Singspiration is discussed in the post for 2 August 2020.
13. Singspiration is discussed in the post for 2 August 2020.
14. "Amen" was introduced in the film Lilies of the Field. [33] The Impressions’ 1964 version [34] made the Billboard charts. [35]
15. Peter, Paul And Mary. "Tell It On The Mountain." In The Wind. Warner Brothers W1507. Released October 1963. [Discogs entry.]
16. Deborah Evans Price. Word: The Story. Word Music, 2011. 10.
17. "Fred Bock." Hope Publishing website.
18. "Fred Bock." Hymnary website.
19. Hope.
20. Price.
21. Nancy Gower. "Collection of Original Manuscripts by Fred Bock, 1953-1998." David Allan Hubbard Library, Fuller Theological Seminary. Last updated July 2018 by Andrew Wong. Date based on contents.
22. Item in American Guild of Organists. Las Vegas [Nevada] Sun. 15 January 1976. 19.
23. Skip Heller. "Searching for Mrs. Miller." Cool and Strange Music Magazine. 1999. Reprinted on Dana Countryman’s website. As mentioned in the post for 15 December 2017, Sacred Songs rented Capital Records facilities for its recording sessions.
24. Mrs. Elva Miller. Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits. Capitol Records ST-2494, 1966. [Discogs entry.]
25. "Sandi Patty: Christmas Live." Letterboxd website.
26. Wikipedia. "42nd GMA Dove Awards."
28. Wikipedia. "Sandi Patty."
28. By the 1980s, Billy Graham called his performers guests. He has tapes of Patty performing in 1983, 1985, 1990 and 1991. [36] Dale Argot remembered her singing in Philadelphia in 1992. [37]
29. "Like Texas, Word Records Is Big, Big, Big." Billboard. 21 September 1963. 13, 16.
30. "Founder Of Russ Reid Dies." PR Newswire website. 17 December 2013.
31. The Weavers And Terry Gilkyson. "Across The Wide Missouri / On Top Of Old Smoky." Decca 27515. Released October 1951. [Discogs entry.]
32. Born Free. Columbia Pictures. Released 22 June 1966.
33. Lilies of the Field. United Artists. Released 1 October 1963.
34. The Impressions. "Amen." ABC-Paramount 45-10602. Released October 1964. [Discogs entry.]
35. Wikipedia. "Amen (Gospel Song)."
36. "Records of BGEA: Films and Video - Collection 113." 10 April 2018. Wheaton College website.
37. Dale Argot. "Billy Graham Has Died." His website. 21 February 21.
Young people stopped joining youth groups in the 1960s. Jon Pahl said many local Walther League groups languished. [1] Cub Scouts no longer were graduating into Boy Scouts. [2] Membership in the Girls Scouts began dropping. [3]
Churches responded to the decline of Youth for Christ by hiring specialists to manage in-house youth programs. [4] Sunday school superintendents were rendered redundant.
Pastors needed materials, which their denominations may or may not have provided. One of the first to fill the need was George Santa’s Christian Worker’s Service Bureau. [5] He had been active in the same Chicago church as the first presidents of Youth for Christ, Torrey Johnson and Robert Cook. [6]
The rise of church youth ministries obsoleted many of its functions, and Santa sold the company to Doug Ross. He had been a Youth for Christ rally director. The name was changed to Success with Youth. It provided more materials and training seminars for youth ministers. [7]
In 1969, Word issued a "songbook for Christian youth." Joel McCracken [8] said he got the idea from Russ Reid of Success for Life in 1968. [9] It obviously was inspired by the 1967 Moral Re-Armament conference. The title of the collection was Sing In, a phrase used on Mackinac Island before MRA settled on Pete Seeger’s Sing Out. [10]
McCracken turned the compilation of Sing In over to two men on his staff, Fred Bock and Warren Stitt. He also hired the man who had worked on the first two volumes of the Lutherans’ Hymns for Now to design the layout. There were no photographs, but Paul Firnhaber juxtaposed headlines from advertisements with each song.
"Kumbaya" shared spaced with Martin Luther’s "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." The advertisement that spread across the two pages read "Call the mover who can make it look easy. Quick."
The use of familiar words in new contexts was part of an aesthetic shared by people who treated language as a literal tool. The discovery of secondary meanings created a frisson, as if one were discovering the true meaning.
There was little new in Sing In. While McCracken said it included some "fun songs, camp songs, pop and folk tune" to "insure suitability for nearly any occasion," 62 of its 67 songs were religious. [11] Only three were hymns like "Mighty Fortress," and eight were from the gospel song tradition that developed after the Civil War. The best known was "Just a Closer Walk with Thee."
The largest number, 61%, were written after World War II. Not surprisingly, 45% of those were published by McCracken and 37% were written by men associated with Youth for Christ or Billy Graham. The most prolific composers were Ralph Carmichael and John W. Peterson. The latter edited collections for Singspiration, [12] which had been patronized by Graham. [13]
The other group of songs were variously identified as "traditional" or "traditional Negro spiritual." It was an intermediate area between the official songs of churches and those of American folk religion. It included the old standbys, "Jacob’s Ladder" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and ones introduced by popular singers like "Amen" [14] and "Go Tell It on the Mountain." [15]
Many of the 13 songs used the AAAB format of camp meeting songs like "Rocka My Soul" and "Standing in the Need of Prayer." The version of "Kumbaya" was unchanged from the original publication.
Performers
Vocal Soloist: single melodic line
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: guitar
Rhythm Accompaniment: none
Credits
Traditional
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: koom-bah-yah
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, praying
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: 4-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: none
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Time Signature: 3/4
Tempo: not indicated
Key Signature: no sharps or flats
Guitar Chords: C F G7
Basic Structure: strophic repetition
Singing Style: one syllable to one note, except for final "Lord"
Ending: none
Notes on Performance
Cover: it showed the hands of one person strumming a guitar decorated with filigrees, and the back of the head of a person playing piccolo. The hair on the piccolo player was below the ears, and could have been on a boy or girl. The size of the knee of the guitar player suggested he was a man.
Audience Perceptions
One person who owned the copy of Sing In that I bought from Amazon lived in Wesleyville, Pennsylvania. The individual marked eight songs including three by Carmichael ("He’s Everything to Me") and three by Peterson ("Jesus Is Coming Again").
Notes on Performers
Bock was born in Great Neck, New York, [16] in 1939. [17] He learned to play piano when he was 6 years old, started on organ when he as 12, [18] and and studied music education at Ithaca College. [18] Bock then moved to California for graduate work in church music at the University of Southern California. [19]
McCracken hired him in 1963. [20] The same year, Brock set up a legal entity to copyright his own material. [21] He supplemented his income by directing the choir at Bel Air Presbyterian church [22] and working as a studio or free-lance musician. In 1966, he was responsible for introducing Elva Miller to Capitol Records. [23] Her first album had some success as a novelty item. [24]
Less is known about Warren Stitt. His named appeared as a record and video producer for Sandi Patty [25] and The Oak Ridge Boys. [26] She began working with Bill Gaither, [27] who was mentioned in the post for 17 December 2017. Later she appeared at some Graham events. [28]
Firnhaber was discussed in the post for 28 June 2020.
Availability
Book: "Kum Ba Ya." Sing In. Edited by Warren G. Stitt and Fred Bock. Waco, Texas: Sacred Songs, 1969. 7.
End Notes
1. Jon Pahl. Hopes and Dreams of All. Chicago: Wheat Ridge Ministries, 1993. 261.
2. Wikipedia. "History of the Boy Scouts of America."
3. James Barron. "Girl Scouts Lower Membership Age." The New York Times. 28 October 1984.
4. Mark Houston Senter III. "The Youth for Christ Movement as an Educational Agency and Its Impact upon Protestant Churches, 1931-1979." PhD dissertation. Loyola University of Chicago, March 1989. 319–320.
5. Senter. 322.
6. Senter. 321. The origins of Youth For Christ were discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.
7. Senter. 322.
8. McCracken and Word were discussed in the post for 5 July 2020.
9. Jarrell McCracken. "Introduction." Sing In. Reid was vice-president of Word Records in 1963. [29] He later founded his own marketing company in Waco in 1964. [30]
10. MRA and Sing In were discussed in the post for 23 February 2020.
11. The folk songs were "Shenandoah" and "On Top of Old Smokey," which had been recorded together by The Weavers in 1951. [31] The popular song was the theme from the 1966 film Born Free. [32] The others were the patriotic "This Is My Country" and the Doxology, which served many uses, including as a grace in camps.
12. Wikipedia. "John W. Peterson." He and Singspiration is discussed in the post for 2 August 2020.
13. Singspiration is discussed in the post for 2 August 2020.
14. "Amen" was introduced in the film Lilies of the Field. [33] The Impressions’ 1964 version [34] made the Billboard charts. [35]
15. Peter, Paul And Mary. "Tell It On The Mountain." In The Wind. Warner Brothers W1507. Released October 1963. [Discogs entry.]
16. Deborah Evans Price. Word: The Story. Word Music, 2011. 10.
17. "Fred Bock." Hope Publishing website.
18. "Fred Bock." Hymnary website.
19. Hope.
20. Price.
21. Nancy Gower. "Collection of Original Manuscripts by Fred Bock, 1953-1998." David Allan Hubbard Library, Fuller Theological Seminary. Last updated July 2018 by Andrew Wong. Date based on contents.
22. Item in American Guild of Organists. Las Vegas [Nevada] Sun. 15 January 1976. 19.
23. Skip Heller. "Searching for Mrs. Miller." Cool and Strange Music Magazine. 1999. Reprinted on Dana Countryman’s website. As mentioned in the post for 15 December 2017, Sacred Songs rented Capital Records facilities for its recording sessions.
24. Mrs. Elva Miller. Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits. Capitol Records ST-2494, 1966. [Discogs entry.]
25. "Sandi Patty: Christmas Live." Letterboxd website.
26. Wikipedia. "42nd GMA Dove Awards."
28. Wikipedia. "Sandi Patty."
28. By the 1980s, Billy Graham called his performers guests. He has tapes of Patty performing in 1983, 1985, 1990 and 1991. [36] Dale Argot remembered her singing in Philadelphia in 1992. [37]
29. "Like Texas, Word Records Is Big, Big, Big." Billboard. 21 September 1963. 13, 16.
30. "Founder Of Russ Reid Dies." PR Newswire website. 17 December 2013.
31. The Weavers And Terry Gilkyson. "Across The Wide Missouri / On Top Of Old Smoky." Decca 27515. Released October 1951. [Discogs entry.]
32. Born Free. Columbia Pictures. Released 22 June 1966.
33. Lilies of the Field. United Artists. Released 1 October 1963.
34. The Impressions. "Amen." ABC-Paramount 45-10602. Released October 1964. [Discogs entry.]
35. Wikipedia. "Amen (Gospel Song)."
36. "Records of BGEA: Films and Video - Collection 113." 10 April 2018. Wheaton College website.
37. Dale Argot. "Billy Graham Has Died." His website. 21 February 21.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
Jamall Badry - Kum Ba Ya
Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
The tension between the Now Generation and its parents and grandparents was not unique to Lutherans. Many denominations let their youth groups atrophy in the late 1950s. Mark Senter said Youth for Christ [1] meetings devolved from exciting rallies that featured popular music in the 1940s into SMOTS or Secret Meetings of the Saints [2] where Bible quizzes were the main activity.
When denominations failed to provide interesting materials for their members, entrepreneurs moved into the vacuum. Jarrell McCracken founded Word Records in 1951 when he was a student at the Baptist’s Baylor University in Waco, Texas. [3]
His first releases were influenced by his Baptist background. He probably began with 78-rpm records by local artists. They may have been sold through Bible book stores. [4]
By 1954, McCracken was producing albums that were being listed by the Schwann catalog. [5] This made his selections available to record stores, though most outside the Texas-Oklahoma area may not have been interested. In that year, he released albums by the Oklahoma Baptist University choir [6] and by Frank Boggs, [7] a 1948 Baylor graduate. [8]
Word was producing so many records by 1957 that it could start a record club. [9] The choices tended to be hymns, and many were by Baptists. Baylor’s Religious Hour Choir made its first album that year. [10] That may be when McCracken met Buryl Red, who was then a member of the choir. [11]
Elvis Presley ushered in the revolution in taste that began to alienate adults from their children. In 1959, McCracken hired Kurt Kaiser as a producer. [12] He recorded several soloists backed by the London Concert Orchestra. [13]
The expansion of Word’s business reflected a growth in the audience for religious music. Jamall Badry had been hired by Sunnyside Baptist Church in Oklahoma City in 1959 as its minister of music. Two years later, in 1961, he was able to leave steady employment and work full time as a musical evangelist. [14]
Youth for Christ leaders had rebelled against popular music trends in 1956 by firing Ralph Carmichael because his productions for its annual conventions were too worldly. [15] Word issued an album by Carmichael in 1961, [16] then bought his former employer in 1963. [17]
Sacred Music had been founded by the man who was working for Aimee Simple McPherson when she died in 1944. Earle E. Williams was the director of music and youth programs for the Pentecostal preacher. [18]
With the addition of Sacred Music, Word offered"the largest catalog in the religious field." [19] Russ Reid, Word’s vice-president, said they "know what religious people consider religious music" and offered a wide range of styles "from high church music to contemporary religious music." [20]
Generational and sectional differences were growing. Rather than turning Word into a "big tent" label like RCA and Decca that recorded all sorts of music under one imprimatur, McCracken created separate labels for different markets. In 1965, he introduced Canaan Records with the Goodman Family for fans of Southern gospel music. [21]
The repertoire offered by Word remained rooted in the hymn, rather than gospel tradition. [22] There was no room in the Word catalog for the music of the Now Generation. [23] The closest it came was an album by Badry that included an arrangement of "Kumbaya" by Red. It didn’t use guitars. Instead, Red alternated a hand drum and shakers with a flute.
Many of the other songs were in the Methodist tradition, including Charles Wesley’s "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" [24] and the title song, "Fill, My Cup Lord." [B] Although "Cup" was published by Word, [25] some were from other publishers like Walter Ehret’s "Jacob’s Vision" [26] and Bickley Reichner’s "If You Know the Lord." [27] Many of the rest were public domain.
Despite the inclusion of "Kumbaya," it was not a collection to disturb the equanimity of the older generation. The liner notes assured listeners they would find Badry’s "singing style easy listening."
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Jamall Badry
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: flute
Rhythm Accompaniment: hand drum, shakers
Instrumental Conductor: Buryl Red
Credits
(arr. Red) P.D.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: kum by YAH
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, come by here
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: 4-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: final iteration hummed
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Rhythm: marked down beats, with my Lord pronounced "mi LORD"
Basic Structure: strophic repetition after first verse
Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final Lord
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: Introduction was a flute solo. First verse was a capella with hand drum beaten on single note at the end of each phrase. Thereafter, the drum and shaker were played while he was singing, and the flute was heard at the ends of vocal lines.
Ending: fade away during humming; no change in tempo
Notes on Performance
The album cover showed Badry standing with his hand on a chair. He was wearing a brown suit, white shirt, and patterned red tie.
Notes on Performers
Badry’s father was a Syrian immigrant who moved to Houston in 1914, where he became a peddler. [28] The family moved about when Jamall was young: his older brother Jimell was born in Lubbock in 1932, [29] he was born in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1935, [30] and his sister Selma was born in Seminole, Oklahoma, in 1941. [31]
Both Jamall and Jimell graduated from high school in Norman, Oklahoma, and entered the University of Oklahoma School of Music. Jimell dropped out before he graduated to become a music minister in Wewoka, Oklahoma, while Jamall finished school. [32]
Red was born in Little Rock, and graduated from Baylor in 1957. [33] He later studied music at Yale. [34] In 1969, the year after he worked on Badry’s album, he organized The CenturyMen chorus for the Southern Baptist Convention. [35]
The conflicts between generations within the Southern Convention accelerated when conservatives took over the group’s annual meeting in 1979. [36] Like the Lutherans earlier in the decade [37], the new leaders purged anyone who disagreed with them.
Badry started an independent ministry in Colorado Springs in 1981. [38] His memorial was celebrated at the local conservative Presbyterian church. [39] Red’s service took place in a similar Presbyterian church in New York City. [40]
Availability
Album: Jamall Badry. "Kum Ba Ya." Fill My Cup, Lord. Word Records W-3422-LP.
End Notes
The history of Word records can be deduced from the multi-part "Word Album Discography" compiled in 2001 by Mike Callahan, David Edwards, and Patrice Eyries for the Both Sides Now website. It included:
Part 1. "The Early Years (1952-1955)." Last updated 16 November 2003.
Part 2. "W-3001 to W-3099 mono (1955-1960)." Last updated 17 April 2003.
Part 3. "W-3100 to W-3199 (1960-1962)." Last updated 17 April 2003.
1. The founding of Youth for Christ was discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.
2. Mark Houston Senter III. "The Youth for Christ Movement as an Educational Agency and Its Impact upon Protestant Churches, 1931-1979." PhD dissertation. Loyola University of Chicago, March 1989. 293.
3. Hannah Elliott. "McCracken, Founder of Prominent Christian Music Company, Dies." Associated Baptist Press. 9 November 2007. Published by Sam Hodges. "More on Jarrell McCracken, Baylor Grad and Christian Entertainment Giant." The Dallas Morning News. 10 November 2007.
4. "Like Texas, Word Records Is Big, Big, Big." Billboard. 21 September 1963. 13, 16. 13. The company also sent salesmen door-to-door in rural areas.
5. The monthly Schwann catalog was begun in 1949 by a record store owner, William Schwann. It listed all the currently available albums. [41] Mike Callahan indicated his group used the catalog to compile its Word discography. [42]
6. Bison Glee Club of Oklahoma Baptist University. A Mighty Fortress. Word W-2003. [43] The group’s director, Warren Angell, arranged Badry’s version of "The Lord My Shepherd Is."
7. Frank Boggs. The Old Rugged Cross. Word W-2000. [44] He was the first artist to be given a contract by Word. [45]
8. Jenna Press. "Co-Writer of the Baylor Fight Song Returns to Waco as Director for Georgia Festival Chorus Performance." Baylor University website. 8 April 2016. McCracken would have been a freshmen when Boggs was a senior.
9. Billboard, 21 September 1963.
10. Baylor Religious Hour Choir. Songs in the Night. Word W-3022. 1957. [46]
11. "Buryl Red." Hymnary website.
12. Kurt Kaiser was the subject of the post for 15 December 2017.
13. Claude Rhea and London Concert Orchestra. Majestic Themes. Word W-3087. 1959. [47]
Fague Springman and London Concert Orchestra. Time to Sing. Word W-3077. 1960. [48]
14. Articles about Badry were vague about dates. One said he "spent two years as minister of music at Sunnyside Baptist Church in Oklahoma City before entering full-time evangelism." [49] Another, published in 2010, said "Next year he would have celebrated 50 years in music evangelism." [50] Fifty years from 2011 is 1961; two years from 1961 is 1959. He received his ROTC commission in June 1958. [51]
15. This was mentioned briefly in the post for 15 December 2017. My source was Thomas E. Bergler. "‘I Found My Thrill’: The Youth for Christ Movement and American Congregational Singing, 1940-1970." 123–149 in Wonderful Words of Life. Edited by Mark A. Noll and Richard J. Mouw. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. 125–126.
16. Ralph Carmichael. A Carmichael Concert. Word W-3149. 1961. [52]
17. "Word May Buy Most of Sacred." Billboard. 2 November 1963. 6.
18. Patricia Clary, United Press International. "Hollywood Film Shop." Published by Santa Maria [California] Daily Times and Courier. 30 June 1947. 9. Copy posted to internet by terry_e_gordon on 5 December 2018.
19. Billboard, 21 September 1963. 16.
20. Billboard, 21 September 1963. 16.
21. Wikipedia. "Canaan Records." The Goodmans were mentioned briefly in post for 21 December 2017.
22. On Badry’s album, Word advertised itself as "The Finest Name In Sacred Music."
23. Many colleges, including religious ones, had groups performing in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. None may have been unique enough to appeal to McCracken, or he may have been aware of the resistence to such groups by older people. Del Delker recalled the reaction of many to the Wedgewoods when she toured Seventh Day Adventists camp meetings with them in the summer of 1967. This was discussed in the post for 3 December 2017.
24. Charles Wesley. "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." In John Wesley and Charles Wesley. Hymns and Sacred Poems. London: Strahan, 1740. [53] This version was arranged by Red.
25. Richard Blanchard. "Like the Woman at the Well I Was Seeking." Waco: Word Music, 1959. [54] Blachard’s parents were Methodist missionaries in China; he became a Methodist minister. [55] Jim Garvey said "His music combines the chords and harmonies of the Big Band era with the Christian message of southern gospel music." [56]
26. Walter Ehret. "Jacob’s Vision." Copyrighted by Theodore Presser Company in 1960. [57]
27. Bickley Reichner. "If You Know the Lord." Copyrighted by Malvern Music Company in 1951. [58]
28. Ed Jackson. "Sing Along with Me: Jimell Badry." 165–180 in Life Verses Alive! Garland, Texas: Hannibal Books, 2007. 168. The immigrant ancestor changed his name from Salah Badrya to Sam Badry.
29. Jackson. 169.
30. Jamall Badry. Obituary. Norman [Oklahoma] Transcript. 3 September 2010.
31. Selma Sue Badry. Obituary. Norman [Oklahoma] Transcript. 8 October 2010. "Selma loved Christian music and singing with her brother, Jamall." There were three other children in the family, Farris, Elizabeth, and Freda. [59]
32. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript. Information on Jimell from Jackson. 174.
33. "Buryl Red." Hymnary website.
34. "In Memoriam: Composer and Conductor Buryl Red, 77." Yale University website.
35. "Founding Musical Director – Conductor Buryl Red, 1969-2013." The Centurymen website.
36. Wikipedia. "Southern Baptist Convention."
37. The split in the Lutheran’s Missouri Synod was discussed in the post for 21 June 2020.
38. The organization was the Music Evangelism Foundation. [60]
39. Village Seven Presbyterian Church [61] is affiliated with the conservative Presbyterian Church in America. [62]
40. Central Presbyterian Church [63] is associated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. [64] That synod is more conservative than the Presbyterian U. S. A., and more tolerant of charismatic congregations. [65]
41. Wikipedia. "Schwann Catalog."
42. Callahan, Part 3. It said a particular album was "listed in the July 1965 Schwann catalog."
43. Callahan, Part 1.
44. Callahan, Part 1.
45. Press.
46. Callahan, Part 2.
47. Callahan, Part 2.
48. Callahan, Part 2.
49. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript.
50. Jamall Badry. Obituary. The [Oklahoma City] Oklahoman. 3 October 2010.
51. Item. The [Oklahoma City] Daily Oklahoman. 9 June 1958. 17.
52. Callahan, Part 3.
53. Tiffany Shomsky. "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." Hymnary website.
54. "Like the Woman at the Well I Was Seeking." Hymnary website.
55. Jim Garvey. "History of Hymns: ‘Fill My Cup, Lord’." The United Methodist Church Discipleship website.
56. Garvey.
57. United States Copyright Office. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third series. July-December 1960. 1190.
58. "[If you know the Lord]." Hymnary website.
59. Jackson. 169.
60. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript.
61. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript.
62. Village Seven Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, website.
63. Laura Erlanson. "A Memorial Tribute Concert Is Planned for April 29 at Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. - Composer, Hymn Writer Buryl Red Dies." Baptist Press News website. 3 April 2013.
64. Wikipedia. "Central Presbyterian Church (New York City)."
65. Wikipedia. "Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)."
The tension between the Now Generation and its parents and grandparents was not unique to Lutherans. Many denominations let their youth groups atrophy in the late 1950s. Mark Senter said Youth for Christ [1] meetings devolved from exciting rallies that featured popular music in the 1940s into SMOTS or Secret Meetings of the Saints [2] where Bible quizzes were the main activity.
When denominations failed to provide interesting materials for their members, entrepreneurs moved into the vacuum. Jarrell McCracken founded Word Records in 1951 when he was a student at the Baptist’s Baylor University in Waco, Texas. [3]
His first releases were influenced by his Baptist background. He probably began with 78-rpm records by local artists. They may have been sold through Bible book stores. [4]
By 1954, McCracken was producing albums that were being listed by the Schwann catalog. [5] This made his selections available to record stores, though most outside the Texas-Oklahoma area may not have been interested. In that year, he released albums by the Oklahoma Baptist University choir [6] and by Frank Boggs, [7] a 1948 Baylor graduate. [8]
Word was producing so many records by 1957 that it could start a record club. [9] The choices tended to be hymns, and many were by Baptists. Baylor’s Religious Hour Choir made its first album that year. [10] That may be when McCracken met Buryl Red, who was then a member of the choir. [11]
Elvis Presley ushered in the revolution in taste that began to alienate adults from their children. In 1959, McCracken hired Kurt Kaiser as a producer. [12] He recorded several soloists backed by the London Concert Orchestra. [13]
The expansion of Word’s business reflected a growth in the audience for religious music. Jamall Badry had been hired by Sunnyside Baptist Church in Oklahoma City in 1959 as its minister of music. Two years later, in 1961, he was able to leave steady employment and work full time as a musical evangelist. [14]
Youth for Christ leaders had rebelled against popular music trends in 1956 by firing Ralph Carmichael because his productions for its annual conventions were too worldly. [15] Word issued an album by Carmichael in 1961, [16] then bought his former employer in 1963. [17]
Sacred Music had been founded by the man who was working for Aimee Simple McPherson when she died in 1944. Earle E. Williams was the director of music and youth programs for the Pentecostal preacher. [18]
With the addition of Sacred Music, Word offered"the largest catalog in the religious field." [19] Russ Reid, Word’s vice-president, said they "know what religious people consider religious music" and offered a wide range of styles "from high church music to contemporary religious music." [20]
Generational and sectional differences were growing. Rather than turning Word into a "big tent" label like RCA and Decca that recorded all sorts of music under one imprimatur, McCracken created separate labels for different markets. In 1965, he introduced Canaan Records with the Goodman Family for fans of Southern gospel music. [21]
The repertoire offered by Word remained rooted in the hymn, rather than gospel tradition. [22] There was no room in the Word catalog for the music of the Now Generation. [23] The closest it came was an album by Badry that included an arrangement of "Kumbaya" by Red. It didn’t use guitars. Instead, Red alternated a hand drum and shakers with a flute.
Many of the other songs were in the Methodist tradition, including Charles Wesley’s "Jesus, Lover of My Soul" [24] and the title song, "Fill, My Cup Lord." [B] Although "Cup" was published by Word, [25] some were from other publishers like Walter Ehret’s "Jacob’s Vision" [26] and Bickley Reichner’s "If You Know the Lord." [27] Many of the rest were public domain.
Despite the inclusion of "Kumbaya," it was not a collection to disturb the equanimity of the older generation. The liner notes assured listeners they would find Badry’s "singing style easy listening."
Performers
Vocal Soloist: Jamall Badry
Vocal Group: none
Instrumental Accompaniment: flute
Rhythm Accompaniment: hand drum, shakers
Instrumental Conductor: Buryl Red
Credits
(arr. Red) P.D.
Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Pronunciation: kum by YAH
Verses: kumbaya, crying, singing, come by here
Vocabulary
Pronoun: someone
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: none
Basic Form: 4-verse song
Verse Repetition Pattern: none
Ending: final iteration hummed
Unique Features: none
Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-3-5
Rhythm: marked down beats, with my Lord pronounced "mi LORD"
Basic Structure: strophic repetition after first verse
Singing Style: one syllable to one note except for final Lord
Vocal-Accompaniment Dynamics: Introduction was a flute solo. First verse was a capella with hand drum beaten on single note at the end of each phrase. Thereafter, the drum and shaker were played while he was singing, and the flute was heard at the ends of vocal lines.
Ending: fade away during humming; no change in tempo
Notes on Performance
The album cover showed Badry standing with his hand on a chair. He was wearing a brown suit, white shirt, and patterned red tie.
Notes on Performers
Badry’s father was a Syrian immigrant who moved to Houston in 1914, where he became a peddler. [28] The family moved about when Jamall was young: his older brother Jimell was born in Lubbock in 1932, [29] he was born in Enid, Oklahoma, in 1935, [30] and his sister Selma was born in Seminole, Oklahoma, in 1941. [31]
Both Jamall and Jimell graduated from high school in Norman, Oklahoma, and entered the University of Oklahoma School of Music. Jimell dropped out before he graduated to become a music minister in Wewoka, Oklahoma, while Jamall finished school. [32]
Red was born in Little Rock, and graduated from Baylor in 1957. [33] He later studied music at Yale. [34] In 1969, the year after he worked on Badry’s album, he organized The CenturyMen chorus for the Southern Baptist Convention. [35]
The conflicts between generations within the Southern Convention accelerated when conservatives took over the group’s annual meeting in 1979. [36] Like the Lutherans earlier in the decade [37], the new leaders purged anyone who disagreed with them.
Badry started an independent ministry in Colorado Springs in 1981. [38] His memorial was celebrated at the local conservative Presbyterian church. [39] Red’s service took place in a similar Presbyterian church in New York City. [40]
Availability
Album: Jamall Badry. "Kum Ba Ya." Fill My Cup, Lord. Word Records W-3422-LP.
End Notes
The history of Word records can be deduced from the multi-part "Word Album Discography" compiled in 2001 by Mike Callahan, David Edwards, and Patrice Eyries for the Both Sides Now website. It included:
Part 1. "The Early Years (1952-1955)." Last updated 16 November 2003.
Part 2. "W-3001 to W-3099 mono (1955-1960)." Last updated 17 April 2003.
Part 3. "W-3100 to W-3199 (1960-1962)." Last updated 17 April 2003.
1. The founding of Youth for Christ was discussed in the post for 15 December 2017.
2. Mark Houston Senter III. "The Youth for Christ Movement as an Educational Agency and Its Impact upon Protestant Churches, 1931-1979." PhD dissertation. Loyola University of Chicago, March 1989. 293.
3. Hannah Elliott. "McCracken, Founder of Prominent Christian Music Company, Dies." Associated Baptist Press. 9 November 2007. Published by Sam Hodges. "More on Jarrell McCracken, Baylor Grad and Christian Entertainment Giant." The Dallas Morning News. 10 November 2007.
4. "Like Texas, Word Records Is Big, Big, Big." Billboard. 21 September 1963. 13, 16. 13. The company also sent salesmen door-to-door in rural areas.
5. The monthly Schwann catalog was begun in 1949 by a record store owner, William Schwann. It listed all the currently available albums. [41] Mike Callahan indicated his group used the catalog to compile its Word discography. [42]
6. Bison Glee Club of Oklahoma Baptist University. A Mighty Fortress. Word W-2003. [43] The group’s director, Warren Angell, arranged Badry’s version of "The Lord My Shepherd Is."
7. Frank Boggs. The Old Rugged Cross. Word W-2000. [44] He was the first artist to be given a contract by Word. [45]
8. Jenna Press. "Co-Writer of the Baylor Fight Song Returns to Waco as Director for Georgia Festival Chorus Performance." Baylor University website. 8 April 2016. McCracken would have been a freshmen when Boggs was a senior.
9. Billboard, 21 September 1963.
10. Baylor Religious Hour Choir. Songs in the Night. Word W-3022. 1957. [46]
11. "Buryl Red." Hymnary website.
12. Kurt Kaiser was the subject of the post for 15 December 2017.
13. Claude Rhea and London Concert Orchestra. Majestic Themes. Word W-3087. 1959. [47]
Fague Springman and London Concert Orchestra. Time to Sing. Word W-3077. 1960. [48]
14. Articles about Badry were vague about dates. One said he "spent two years as minister of music at Sunnyside Baptist Church in Oklahoma City before entering full-time evangelism." [49] Another, published in 2010, said "Next year he would have celebrated 50 years in music evangelism." [50] Fifty years from 2011 is 1961; two years from 1961 is 1959. He received his ROTC commission in June 1958. [51]
15. This was mentioned briefly in the post for 15 December 2017. My source was Thomas E. Bergler. "‘I Found My Thrill’: The Youth for Christ Movement and American Congregational Singing, 1940-1970." 123–149 in Wonderful Words of Life. Edited by Mark A. Noll and Richard J. Mouw. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2004. 125–126.
16. Ralph Carmichael. A Carmichael Concert. Word W-3149. 1961. [52]
17. "Word May Buy Most of Sacred." Billboard. 2 November 1963. 6.
18. Patricia Clary, United Press International. "Hollywood Film Shop." Published by Santa Maria [California] Daily Times and Courier. 30 June 1947. 9. Copy posted to internet by terry_e_gordon on 5 December 2018.
19. Billboard, 21 September 1963. 16.
20. Billboard, 21 September 1963. 16.
21. Wikipedia. "Canaan Records." The Goodmans were mentioned briefly in post for 21 December 2017.
22. On Badry’s album, Word advertised itself as "The Finest Name In Sacred Music."
23. Many colleges, including religious ones, had groups performing in the tradition of the Kingston Trio. None may have been unique enough to appeal to McCracken, or he may have been aware of the resistence to such groups by older people. Del Delker recalled the reaction of many to the Wedgewoods when she toured Seventh Day Adventists camp meetings with them in the summer of 1967. This was discussed in the post for 3 December 2017.
24. Charles Wesley. "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." In John Wesley and Charles Wesley. Hymns and Sacred Poems. London: Strahan, 1740. [53] This version was arranged by Red.
25. Richard Blanchard. "Like the Woman at the Well I Was Seeking." Waco: Word Music, 1959. [54] Blachard’s parents were Methodist missionaries in China; he became a Methodist minister. [55] Jim Garvey said "His music combines the chords and harmonies of the Big Band era with the Christian message of southern gospel music." [56]
26. Walter Ehret. "Jacob’s Vision." Copyrighted by Theodore Presser Company in 1960. [57]
27. Bickley Reichner. "If You Know the Lord." Copyrighted by Malvern Music Company in 1951. [58]
28. Ed Jackson. "Sing Along with Me: Jimell Badry." 165–180 in Life Verses Alive! Garland, Texas: Hannibal Books, 2007. 168. The immigrant ancestor changed his name from Salah Badrya to Sam Badry.
29. Jackson. 169.
30. Jamall Badry. Obituary. Norman [Oklahoma] Transcript. 3 September 2010.
31. Selma Sue Badry. Obituary. Norman [Oklahoma] Transcript. 8 October 2010. "Selma loved Christian music and singing with her brother, Jamall." There were three other children in the family, Farris, Elizabeth, and Freda. [59]
32. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript. Information on Jimell from Jackson. 174.
33. "Buryl Red." Hymnary website.
34. "In Memoriam: Composer and Conductor Buryl Red, 77." Yale University website.
35. "Founding Musical Director – Conductor Buryl Red, 1969-2013." The Centurymen website.
36. Wikipedia. "Southern Baptist Convention."
37. The split in the Lutheran’s Missouri Synod was discussed in the post for 21 June 2020.
38. The organization was the Music Evangelism Foundation. [60]
39. Village Seven Presbyterian Church [61] is affiliated with the conservative Presbyterian Church in America. [62]
40. Central Presbyterian Church [63] is associated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. [64] That synod is more conservative than the Presbyterian U. S. A., and more tolerant of charismatic congregations. [65]
41. Wikipedia. "Schwann Catalog."
42. Callahan, Part 3. It said a particular album was "listed in the July 1965 Schwann catalog."
43. Callahan, Part 1.
44. Callahan, Part 1.
45. Press.
46. Callahan, Part 2.
47. Callahan, Part 2.
48. Callahan, Part 2.
49. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript.
50. Jamall Badry. Obituary. The [Oklahoma City] Oklahoman. 3 October 2010.
51. Item. The [Oklahoma City] Daily Oklahoman. 9 June 1958. 17.
52. Callahan, Part 3.
53. Tiffany Shomsky. "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." Hymnary website.
54. "Like the Woman at the Well I Was Seeking." Hymnary website.
55. Jim Garvey. "History of Hymns: ‘Fill My Cup, Lord’." The United Methodist Church Discipleship website.
56. Garvey.
57. United States Copyright Office. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third series. July-December 1960. 1190.
58. "[If you know the Lord]." Hymnary website.
59. Jackson. 169.
60. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript.
61. Jamall Badry obituary, Norman Transcript.
62. Village Seven Presbyterian Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado, website.
63. Laura Erlanson. "A Memorial Tribute Concert Is Planned for April 29 at Central Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. - Composer, Hymn Writer Buryl Red Dies." Baptist Press News website. 3 April 2013.
64. Wikipedia. "Central Presbyterian Church (New York City)."
65. Wikipedia. "Evangelical Presbyterian Church (United States)."
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