Gospel

This a ‘sub-genre’ that I actually know a fair bit about. Highly scorned by most but an important part of my musical journey when I was 15 -16 years old.

These bands and singers are mostly obscure to all but white suburban Evangelical teenagers. Christian radio in this era was mostly hell-fire and brimstone preachers, hymns, light classical and what I would label Born Again Easy Listening; think Bill Gaither’s Trio. By the early 70’s when the Jesus Freak Movement was at its very short peak and Jesus was still seen by many longhairs as a radical anti-establishment figure, (and therefore (slightly?) cool,) if you had a good enough bit of tech or lived close to a college (not so much a University; Christians generally went to denominational colleges) some pretty ‘rocking’ Christian music started to leak out into the mainstream.

Concerts (usually in church halls) and later, open-air Jesus Music festivals like the Ichthus Music Festival in the evangelical seminary village of Wilmore, Kentucky was the way this music and a band’s reputation spread. I attended one of the early editions of Ichthus as my sister and dad were both students in the town’s educational institutions. The scene blew me away. Here, unexpectedly, longhair, wailing guitars, pounding drums and tight pants were given the ‘A Ok’ by parents and adults who normally banned secular (aka ‘worldly’) music as that of the Devil. My folks encouraged me to listen to this music. For several years I had a big stack of LPs by the big names of the day: 2nd Chapter of Acts, Love Song, Paul Clark and especially the ultimate Christian hippie, Larry Norman.

Unless you were raised in the evangelical world it is hard to understand the impact of this music. Early rockers always talk about the hope rock ‘n’ roll represented to them–a way out or something to hold on to in an otherwise drab world. Everyone from Keith Richards to Bruce Springsteen have testified that ‘rock ‘n’ roll saved my life.’ Records by Christian artists that sounded similar to the sounds on AM radio, represented the same sense of ‘hope and salvation’ for me and my friends. (All except for Robert Lyons who only listened to Bowie, Gary Glitter and T-Rex and Mark Howell who was into Yes and Pink Floyd). If I struggled with the theology and belief in God, I had no problem fully embracing music that reminded me of Creedence but sang not about Green River but the Jordan River. For my parents the Bible was their ultimate source of solace and meaning. For me it was this music.

Songs like Big City Blues made the story of the Good Samaritan come alive with imagery that was contemporary. America might lament crossing the desert on a nameless horse but The Way could replicate their acoustic jamming to the Glory of God! The astringent world view of Paul Clark makes me cringe now, but at the time, he was my unmet mentor and companion in Faith. By the time I graduated from high school Christian Middle of the Road (MOR) music was what I listened to the most.

The artists on this Volume are either dead or awaiting the final curtain. They remain anonymous to most listeners and critics who don’t profess a Christian faith or once did. Only Larry Norman has some cache among secular music lovers for his undeniable musicianship and songwriting (check out his compendium for yourself). But as a group, these early Jesus rockers were the DIY pioneers of what is now a huge, commercial multi-billion dollar industry that includes God-fearing rappers and Holy Metal Heads. This early phase reached its apotheosis with Dylan’s conversion to conservative Christianity in 1979. By 1980 I had moved on both musically and spiritually. But every once in a while…well, this is the ultimate guilty pleasure.