Topic: Religious Folk Music Revival
The Jesus Movement was a Pentecostal response to a specific social problem in California in 1967 and 1968. [1] It faded with the crisis.
Meantime, the term and image of committed youth who did not isolate themselves from their society seeped into mainline denominations through the Charismatic Movement and Jesus Music.
The willingness to accept electrified musical instruments often coincided with an openness to non-traditional spiritual experiences.
For instance, the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood booked Larry Norman [2] in its coffeehouse when he still was unknown. Presbyterians were the first to convene a commission on speaking in tongues. As mentioned in the post for 27 September 2020, the General Assembly accepted the manifestations in 1970 with some caveats on interpretations.
Likewise, charismatic activity appeared among Roman Catholics at Duquesne University in 1967. The church established a committee that would have had a difficult time suppressing the movement while it preached the miracles of saints. It only wished to keep interpretations in the hands of the clergy. [3] The Vatican’s Sacrosanctum Concilium already had encouraged parishes to use contemporary instruments along with singing in local languages in 1963. [4]
Lutherans split along historic, ethnic boundaries. The Missouri Synod, controlled by conservatives since 1969, ruled in 1973 that speaking in tongues was not consistent with “Lutheran theology and practice.” [5] Some of the other synods, which were created by immigrants who had been exposed to revivals in Europe, were more open than those that were formed by individuals who came from areas where state churches were dominant.
Dave Anderson formed Lutheran Youth Encounter in 1965 and Lutheran Youth Alive in 1969 to reach youth with teams of college students performing music accompanied by acoustic guitars. In 1972 he edited a collection of Jesus Style Songs that included Bob MacKenzie’s version of “Kumbaya” along with Norman’s “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” and compositions by people involved with Calvary Chapel. [6]
The Joyous Celebration made an album of the songs in 1974. Most were accompanied by an acoustic guitar; some used a piano. [7] A photograph of the group showed them using an electric guitar or bass as well in 1973. [8] The songs were short and usually fast paced. Most were sung in unison. They drew on traditions of hymn singing and country music.
Teams like Anderson’s had been pioneered by Methodists in 1939. [9] They sent Caravans of college students with an adult counselor to local churches during the summer. Two young men and two young women spent three days in a community where they boarded with local parishioners, while they worked with the Vacation Bible schools and youth fellowship groups. [10]
Methodists wished to spread games and folk dances as alternatives to social dancing. [11] Moral Re-Armament’s Up with People used the same model in 1966, but with the goal of wooing youth away from liberal political movements. [12] Anderson had gone to Mexico in 1959 with a Gospel Crusaders team sponsored by the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement (LEM), and spent the summer of 1962 in Latin America with a Youth for Christ group. [13] Both were interested in converting people to Christianity.
Lutheran Youth Encounter began with a vision Anderson had telling him to take a gospel team to Scandinavia. [14] In 1967, the group sent college-age teams to congregations and camps in this country. [15]
The group was not universally accepted by Lutheran churches. One member was reprimanded by Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, in 1967 for using material prepared by Campus Crusade for Christ. [16]
Anderson resigned in 1968 [17] to move to California to work as youth director for the Central Lutheran Church of Van Nuys, California. [18] That placed him near the epicenter of the Jesus Movement. He became friends with Don Williams [19] and visited the Salt Box coffeehouse. [20]
Youth Alive used the same caravan model to send teams to Lutheran churches. Richard Laux remembered one who came to his church in rural Idaho in 1970:
“The five youths on this team spoke about an experience they had had receiving the ‘baptism of the Spirit’ which was, according to their recounting, the same thing that the followers of Jesus experienced on Pentecost.” [21]
Anderson’s father was active in the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement, [22] which was a lay group that believed following church rituals was not enough. Individuals needed to have personal religious experiences that caused them to repent and commit to Christ. LEM’s founders had come from synods influenced by a Norwegian pietist, Hans Nielsen Hauge, and the Swede, Carl Olof Rosenius. [23]
While Anderson was active with Lutheran Youth Alive, politics was roiling the Lutheran synods. The pietists had been outnumbered when the Hauge Synod merged with others to form the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America in 1917. Their influence was further diminished when that church merged into the American Lutheran Church in 1960.
In a later songbook, Anderson quoted another Lutheran who said:
“Music prepares the heart for worship and commitment. Music is the greatest mood alternator of all, and unlocks the ministry of God in the untrespassed soil of a person’s soul. People love singing. They love being moved even when there is not a song in their hearts.” [24]
A Missouri Synod pastor cited that reference before condemning Anderson:
“Note what is being said here and what is not being said. Holy Scripture declares that it is
the Word of the Lord that prepares the heart for worship and commitment. Here the claim is that music is a substitute Means of Grace, unlocking the human heart for God.” [25]
Another theologian at the Missouri Synod’s Concordia Seminary Saint Louis saw the same Anderson quotation as an example of contemporary pietism. [26]
Anderson left Lutheran Youth Alive in 1974 to tour with his wife, [26] and found a music-worship ministry that was independent of denominational influence. [28] He told a reporter in 2017 that the “Jesus revival of the ‘70s” was “one of the greatest moves of the Holy Spirit, and we haven’t seen anything like it since.” [29]
Performers
Same as Bob MacKenzie’s Now Sing Now discussed in post for 26 July 2020.
Credits
None given
Notes on Lyrics
Same as Bob MacKenzie’s Now Sing Now discussed in post for 26 July 2020.
Notes on Music
Same as Bob MacKenzie’s Now Sing Now discussed in post for 26 July 2020.
Notes on Performance
The songbook and album covers featured a head of Christ in a circle against a yellow background. Behind Him were white clouds signifying He was in Heaven.
It had a spiral binding. “Kumbaya” was paired with “Lord, I Want To Be a Christian. The latter was described as an “American folk song.”
Audience Perceptions
Jonathan Anderson said the “lyrical melodies, close harmonies, and syncopated rhythms” of Lutheran Youth Alive “proved tame enough to be accepted by church elders yet modern enough to draw crowds on college campuses. Some songs – and even a few Lutheran teams – accentuated rhythm more than others, but rarely did any cross the line into rock ’n’ roll.” [30]
He added: “the simple messages of singalong and campfire songs [. . .] enabled participants to join the expression of personal faith. [. . .] woven throughout the Gospel teams’ music was a gentle appeal to commit one’s life to the Lord. [. . .] above everything else, the overarching theme of the Gospel teams’ music was experiential faith through a personal relationship with God in Christ.” [31]
Observers from Westmont College said Lutheran Youth Alive was “‘quietly charismatic,’ but they do not make tongues the focal point of the organization. Nor are they excessively apocalyptic.” [32]
Notes on Movement
Joyous Celebration was organized at the Lutheran Bible Institute in Seattle by Don Fladland. The women (Pat Bodin, Pam Edmunds, Marion Matthews) were wearing pant suits with bell bottoms in the photograph; one had long, straight hair, and the Black woman had an Afro. The hair of the men (Rick Goudzwaard, John Lee, Dan Nelson) fell between their earlobes and their collars.
All were standing or sitting erect with their weight evenly placed on both feet. The exception was the African American. Matthews had her weight on her back leg, with her front leg bent at the knee. She bent forward slightly the waist, while she was playing a small tambourine.
Notes on Performers
David L. C. Anderson’s father Clifford was a Lutheran pastor ordained by a founder of the Lutheran Evangelistic Movement. [33] Evald Conrad’s father had migrated from Sweden around the turn of the twentieth century. [34] Clifford served churches in Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. [35]
Anderson attended Norwegian schools influenced by Haugeans. His high school was Augustana Academy in Canton, South Dakota. [36] It had been founded by the Norwegian-Danish Augustana Synod, [37] after it parted with the Haugean Scandinavian Augustana Synod over use of the Book of Concord. [38] Until the 1960 merger, it was run by the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America. [39]
Next, Anderson attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis. [40] It had been run by the Haugean Lutheran Free Church, [41] who left the United Norwegian Lutheran Church of America because they felt slighted by the agglomerated institution. [42]
His most recent activity has been Shepherd’s Canyon Retreat in Arizona. He helped establish it in 2007 as a center for helping pastors who were “experiencing stress, depression, and many kind of conflicts as the result of ‘being in ministry’.” [43] He raises money to support it with his concerts. [44]
Availability
Book: “Kumbaya.” The New Jesus Style Songs Volume 1. Edited by David L. C. Anderson. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1973. 58.
End Notes
1. The Jesus Movement was discussed in the post for 27 September 2020.
2. The Hollywood church and Norman were discussed in the post for 4 October 2020.
3. Wikipedia. “Charismatic Movement.”
4. Rebecca Chase. “History of Hymns: ‘Sent Forth by God's Blessing’.” United Methodist Church Discipleship website. 22 August 2019.
5. Vinson Synan. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997 edition. 259.
6. Calvary Chapel was discussed in the posts for 27 September 2020 and 4 October 2020. It included Marsha Stevens’ “For Those Tears I Died,” and seven songs written by Debby Kerner. At least 19 of the 124 songs were written by Youth Alive members, including four by Jean Wahlstrom, and two each by Henry Ehlen, John Lee, and Tom Rosoff.
7. The Joyous Celebration. Jesus Style Songs. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1974. 23-1655. Vinyl LP.
8. Jonathan D. Anderson. Fifty Thousand Evangelists: Lutheran Youth in the Jesus Revolution. Self published, 2019. 60.
9. Grady L. E. Carroll. “Kern, Paul Bentley.” NC Pedia website. 1988. Credit was given to Kern and E. O. Harbin, who was discussed in the post for 9 February 2020.
10. Item. The Crowley [Louisiana] Post-Signal. 17 July 17 1954. 2. It probably was paraphrasing a press release. Similar language appeared in other papers without the founding date.
11. “Speaking of Pictures . . . Methodists Substitute ‘Play-Party Games’ for Dancing.” Life 21:12–14:19 August 1964. The importance of dance alternatives and the contribution of Lynn Rohrbough’s Cooperative Recreation Service were discussed in the post for 9 February 2020.
12. It is discussed in the post for 23 February 2020.
13. Jonathan Anderson. 14.
14. Jonathan Anderson. 15.
15. Jonathan Anderson. 20.
16. Jonathan Anderson. 26–27. The student, Walter Kallestad, asked Arthur H. Grimstad, the one professor involved with LEM, to speak with the president. Joseph L. Knutson, who was a Haugean “by upbringing and temperament,” encouraged them.
17. Jonathan Anderson. 31.
18. Jonathan Anderson. 32.
19. Ronald M. Enroth, Edward E. Ericson, Jr., and C. Breckinridge Peters. The Jesus People. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eermans Publishing Company, 1972. 148.
20. Edward E. Plowman. The Jesus Movement in America. Elgin, Illinois: David C. Cook Publishing Company, 1971. 57.
21. Richard Laux and Ben Lunis. Get Out of the Box. Maitland, Florida: Xulon Press, 2003. 530. The section was written by Laux.
22. Jonathan Anderson. 14.
23. Thomas E. Jacobson. “Hauge’s Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Synod in America and the Continuation of the Haugean Spirit in Twentieth-Century American Lutheranism.” PhD dissertation. Luther Seminary, 2018. 300. The word pietist did not imply a withdrawal from the world, like the Amish. Hauge encouraged his rural followers to start their own businesses and take control of their economic situations. Jacobson thought that emphasis was one reason so many early immigrants had been influenced by his teachings. [45]
24. Dick Hamlin. Quoted by Dave Anderson. The Other Songbook. Phoenix, Arizona: The Fellowship Publications, 1987 edition. Untitled preface. The collection did not include “Kumbaya.”
25. Harold L. Senkbeil. “Current Trends in Church Music: Toward a Theological Appraisal.” Lecture at Concordia University Wisconsin. 1992. He chose Anderson as his example because the Wall Street Journal recently had quoted Anderson in an article on the use of contemporary music in churches. [46]
26. John T. Pless. “Liturgy and Pietism: Then and Now.” Pieper Lecture at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis. 18 September 1998.
27. Jonathan Anderson. 95.
28. “What is Fellowship Ministries?” Its website said it was a “non-profit ministry whose mission is to provide relevant worship resources, encouragement and training for advancing the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
29. Patti Slattery. “Standing Stones Retreat Center Ministers to Ministers. The Wickenburg [Arizona] Sun website. 21 March 2017.
30. Jonathan Anderson. 65.
31. Jonathan Anderson. 66. Emphasis in original.
32. Enroth. 149.
33. Jonathan Anderson. 14.
34. Wiggie the Elder. “Evald Johnson Conrad.” Find a Grave website. 29 September 2013.
Joanne. “Rev Swan Johnson.” Find a Grave website. 19 Dec 2013; updated by Find a Grave. He was Evald’s father.
35. Item announcing Anderson’s appearance. Sunday bulletin. Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church, Pierre, South Dakota. 21 May 2017. 13.
36. Pierre, South Dakota.
37. Wikipedia. “Augustana Academy.” The name was shortened to Norwegian Augustana Synod.
38. Wikipedia. “Norwegian Augustana Synod.”
39. Wikipedia, Augustana Academy.
40. Saint Pierre.
41. Wikipedia. “Augsburg University.”
42. Wikipedia. “Lutheran Free Church.
43. Fellowship Ministries.
44. Slattery.
45. Jacobson. 48.
46. David Anderson. Quoted by R. Gustav Niebuhr. “So It Isn’t Rock of Ages, It is Rock, And Many Love It.” The Wall Street Journal. 19 December 1991. 1.
Showing posts with label MacKenzie Bob. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MacKenzie Bob. Show all posts
Sunday, October 11, 2020
Lutheran Youth Alive - Kumbaya
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Bob MacKenzie - Kum Ba Yah
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."
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."
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