Keith Johnson - Come By Here

Topic: Origins - Ring Shout
Contemporary gospel music concerts may be the nearest equivalent to plantation ring shouts that exists. They aren’t direct descendants because so many changes occurred in the intervening 150 years in African-American churches and the music industry. But, modern musicians, like those observed by Thomas Wentworth Higginson in 1862, [1] were rewarded for serving the needs of the group.

The most important point about both was they were not Protestant services: there might have been some testifying in concerts, but no sermons reminded the audience of its sinful nature, no altar calls were made for the unconverted. Concerts and shouts were group meetings in which music facilitated spiritual experiences for individuals who already were members of the community.

Touring gospel artists were professionals who, like the Bolton Brothers and Evereadys, had incorporated styles popularized by Motown artists. [2] Ray Allen said "such dramatizations are recognized by the singers and their audience as stylized representations of holy dance that is, not the ‘real thing’." However, "the Spiritual Voices feel their theatrics contribute to the power of their overall performance which, they hope, will culminate with possession by the Holy Ghost and ‘genuine’ holy dance." [3]

Spiritual Voices was formed in Brooklyn by Philip Johnson and his brothers, and possibly brothers-in-law in the 1960s. [4] They made records that included Darrell McFadden when he was a lad. [5] About the time McFadden left to form his own group in 1980, [6] Johnson’s son Keith joined them. [7] He was called "Wonderboy" and continued to use that name.

When Keith performed "Come by Here" in Creedmore, North Carolina, in 2002, four men filmed a VHS version that was edited, mixed, and overdubbed. [8] Thus, while all the images came from that night, they might not necessarily have been in the order presented. The video uploaded to YouTube represented an idealized version of what occurred.

The Christian Faith Center where the Spiritual Voices performed was founded as a Baptist church in 1911. It became nondenominational in 1986 [9] with some association with Keith Butler’s Word of Faith in Southfield, Michigan. [10] It believed "in the infilling of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues." [11] Thus, one can assume most who attended the concert were comfortable with expressive manifestations of religion.

The video began with Johnson standing on the floor in front of the stage. He asked his audience: "Anyone need the Lord to do something? Anybody got a special blessing they need to Lord to do for you?"

He continued:

"If you need the Lord to do something for you. What I want you do, step out in an aisle and come down to the front now. Come on down to the front. If you need the Lord to bless you, come on down."

After defining a space available for would-be participants, he climbed up onto the stage where he began singing "come by here" and "we need a blessing." The backup group echoed his words as the instrumental accompaniment became more intense and more rhythmic.

Johnson spoke again, this time making his invitation to participate explicit:

"When that blessing is coming, the best way to that get that blessing to manifest is for you to celebrate it. The best way is with a dance. Grab somebody by the hand."

The cameras didn’t show anyone below the waist, except those musicians who were seated. Many in the audience were filmed from the back moving from side to side. After the invitation to dance, pairs, many of them women, faced one another with their upper bodies, arms and heads in motion. Later, people standing in rows clapped to the rhythm.

Johnson’s movements went through three phases. In the prelude, when he was singing lines of verses and the group was repeating "we need you right now," his body was erect, while he bent his knees, and moved a few steps to the left or right. [12]

In the transition, his phrases were shorter and the group began repeating "right now" as a continuo. [13] Johnson moved his shoulders at one time, and then leaned his body forward slightly as he started walking farther to the left and right on bent knees. Just before his invocation to dance, he tilted his body farther forward, and at one point sang vocables as he bent and raised his body from the waist. He returned to walking left and right, but with his torso at a more acute angle.

The significance of the concert as a communal experience that drew upon elements of ring shouts was obvious when one compared YouTube videos with recordings of the same songs. As already mentioned in the posts about Evelyn Turrentine-Agee [14] and the Evereadys, recordings were played by people in the privacy of their homes and thus the words were easier to understand and the instrumentation more subdued.

Johnson included "Come by Here" on an album with more verses in the prelude, and no spoken invitations to the audience to participate. He used a more musical voice in his soliloquies while he asked God to help the homeless and jobless in the denouement, rather than rhythmically repeating "come on." One woman wrote, " the words to the songs" on the album "truly ministered to my soul and elevated my mind to heaven.’ [15]

Performers
Vocal Soloist: Keith Johnson

Vocal Group: Hezekiah Bethea, Tyrone Jackson, Duwand Wright, Ray Braswell, Jr.

Instrumental Accompaniment: Tyrone Jackson, lead guitar; Hezekiah Bethea, bass guitar; Ray Braswell, Jr., keyboards [16]

Rhythm Accompaniment: Antrum Sherrills, drums

Credits
Album: (C) 2002 Worldwide Gospel

Notes on Lyrics
Language: English
Phrases: come by here, we need a blessing

Vocabulary
Pronoun: we, I
Term for Deity: Lord
Special Terms: blessing
Literary Devices: rhymed couplets

Basic Form: prelude-denouement

Prelude: verse-chorus with two verses, one based on "come by here," the other a memory of a past healing service. The chorus used the phrase "right now."

Denouement: repetitions of "come on" by Johnson and "right now" by the group

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: one note
Tempo: moderate

Basic Structure: tempo, dynamics, harmony, and instrumentation remained the same; segments were defined by instrumental breaks and changes in the interaction between vocal parts.

Solo Singing Style: strategic use of rasp and scream

Group Singing Style: parallel harmony; on the album, the quartet sound was more obvious than in the concert.

Vocal-Rhythm Dynamic: in the final part of the denouement, the drums were more obvious in the video than on the album.

Notes on Performance
Occasion: concert

Location: stage, Christian Faith Center, Creedmore, North Carolina

Microphones: Johnson had a hand-held, cordless mike; the back-up singers had floor mikes.

Clothing: everyone was dressed in all black. The members of the band wore slacks and shirts. Johnson, wore a suit and tie, and carried a black handkerchief.

Notes on Movement
Most of the musicians used their bodies to keep time; only the guitar player, Tyrone Jackson, stood in place. Duwand Wright, the backup singer, bent his knees as he sang, while the bass player, Heze Bethea, shifted his weight from foot to foot. Ray Braswell was seated at the keyboards, and lifted his left knee. Antrum Sherrils used his right foot on the bass drum.

Audience Perceptions
The video did not include verbal responses from the audience. One person on YouTube wrote: "God is in this place." [17]

Notes on Performers
Keith Johnson was at least two generations removed from the south. His father ran a barbershop in Brooklyn. [18] However, his cousin Darrell, spent "every summer of his youth with relatives in rural South Carolina." [19] McFadden and the Disciples’ Facebook page said the band was based in Concord, North Carolina, [20] home of the Reeves Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church mentioned in the post for 9 August 2017.

Johnson and McFadden had separate careers, but McFadden occasionally appeared as a member of Spiritual Voices on Johnson’s albums. [21] The men sometimes shared musicians. Spanky Williams produced albums and played guitar or bass guitar for both. [22] Antrum Sherrils was listed as McFadden’s drummer on Facebook. [23]

Availability
Album: Send a Revival. World Wide Gospel. 28 May 2002. CD.

YouTube: VHS version uploaded by Pannellctp Traditional Gospel Music on 3 August 2013.

End Notes
1. Higginson’s observations were reprinted in the post for 20 September 2018.

2. Bolton Brother’s performance was discussed in the post for 12 August 2017. The Evereadys’ live performance was described in the post for 3 August 2017. Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins was discussed in the post for 18 October 2018.

3. Ray Allen. Singing in the Spirit. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. 100.

4. Robert Termorshuizen listed two men who sang lead, Philip Johnson and Tyrone Jefferson. [5] Keith Johnson said the singers were his father and uncles. [7] Darrell McFadden said they were his uncles. [6] Keith continue to use the name Spiritual Voices and listed his father as a member on the video.

5. Termorshuizen reproduced a picture of an album cover from 1968 that showed six adult men and a boy. "Phillip Johnson & Spiritual Voices: Search Me Jesus." Record Connexion website. The record was Gospel Recording Co. LP 1395.

6. "McFadden’s ‘I’ve Got a Right’ Hits the Stores." Muncie [Indiana] Times 1,6:17 August 2006. 6.

7. Wikipedia said Keith Johnson was born in 1972. ("Keith ‘Wonderboy’ Johnson.") Bob Marovich repeated Johnson began singing with the group when he was five-years-old. ("‘Making A Way’ Keith ‘Wonderboy’ Johnson & the Spiritual Voices." Journal of Gospel Music website, 4 April 2009.)

8. The video give credit to all the technicians.
9. "History." Christian Faith Center website.

10. Its current pastor, Tim Timberlake, graduated from the Pistis Bible College founded by Butler. His father Mark converted the Baptist church into a non-profit organization. ("Meet Our Pastors," Christian Faith Center website, and "Pistis: School of Ministry," Word of Faith website).

11. "What We Believe." Christian Faith Center website.

12. I am surmising he was bending his knees because the upper part of his body was rising and falling on a vertical axis.

13. Allen used the term "vocal percussion" for this use of short phrases (page 280). He labeled the transition and denouement the "drive." He wrote: "A drive section begins when the instrumentalists stall on one chord while the background singers repeat a single vocal line over and over. At this point the lead singer begins to ad-lib, switching from his or her regular singing voice into a tense, high pitched, rhythmically repetitive chant or singing chant." (page 119) Elsewhere, he observed: "Spontaneous, ‘authentic’ holy dance does occur when a singer and/or congregation members come under the anointment of the Holy Ghost. This frequently happens during a drive section." (page 101)

14. Turrentine-Agee was discussed in the post for 6 August 2017. The recording by the Evereadys was described in the post for 2 August 2017.

15. Ness. Comment posted 24 November 2013. Amazon website for album.

16. The credits at the end of the video mentioned Steve Lyles played organ. He wasn’t on stage and the video didn’t show footage of him like it did for the rest of the musicians.

17. Linda Lavalais. YouTube comment, June 2018.

18. "Phil Johnson, manager of the Spiritual Voices, in front of his barber shop on Ralph Avenue, Brooklyn, 1989. Photo by Ray Allen." (Allen. 95.)

19. Muncie Times.

20. "The OFFICIAL Darrell Mcfadden & the Disciples FAN PAGE." Facebook.

21. For example, McFadden sang "background vocals" on Johnson’s New Season. 2004. Verity CD. (Oldies website)

22. In 2006, Parthan Williams described himself as "the man behind the songs and production of 2 of gospel hottest young group’s, Darrell Mcfadden & the Disciples and Keith ‘wonderboy’ Johnson & the Spiritual Voices." ("Personal Testimony by Spanky Williams." CD Baby website). All Music listed his specific contributions by album. ("Spanky Williams.") He was from Brooklyn. (Wikipedia. "Men of Vizion.")

23. Facebook.