VA - The D-Vine Spirituals Records Story, Vol. 1 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/48]

In 2019, Bruce Watson, the impresario behind Fat Possum, launched the Memphis-based Bible & Tire Recording Company. He wanted to shed light on the city's gospel tradition by reissuing vintage recordings and new titles. The latter includes 2021 masterpieces by Elizabeth King (Living in the Last Days) and Elder Jack Ward (Already Made). The two compilations of The D-Vine Spirituals Records Story offer great music of course, but tell another story, too: Of the collaborative relationship between two men, one Black – gospel DJ, engineer, pastor and producer Rev. Juan D. Shipp – and one white – Tempo Recording Studio owner Clyde Leoppard, a former Sun Records session drummer and current of the western swing outfit Clyde Leoppard & the Snearly Ranch Boys. Unlike many homegrown gospel labels of the era, D-Vine Spirituals' singles offer excellent sound and production values – including the use of pure, first-generation black vinyl – without being slick.

Volume One kicks off with Elizabeth King's monster single "I Heard the Voice" from 1973, with her soul-drenched alto supported by a backing chorus of doo woppers, B-3, guitar vamps, and a swinging rhythm section. Despite its unmistakable Memphis vibe, the song could just as easily have been an early release for Motown. Next up, the Southern Sons' "I'm a Soldier in God's Army" mines the sultry gospel blues with reverbed guitar (à la Pops Staples) offering a slow, brooding intensity. The Gospelaires' fingerpopping "I'm Going Home" intersects the gospel vocal group tradition with deep blues and shuffling funk. Evelyn Taylor's "Look at Your Life" is Sunday morning altar-call fare, with a bluesy piano framing breakbeats and a walking bassline, as she wails the truth over a responsorial chorus. "You Got to Live the Life" is roaring, raw, boogie-drenched electric gospel that sounds like it was recorded in church. Ward joins the Gospel Four to offer the electrifying "God's Gonna Blow Out the Sun." A bubbling snare and hi-hat undergird an ominous Farfisa organ as Ward and singers engage in canny, syncopated, call-and-response. The spacy keys on the Kingdom Airs' "The Reason I Love Him" wed storefront gospel to Stax's gritty groove. "Where You Gonna Run?" by the D-Vine Spiritualettes, is a sweet yet strange midtempo ballad whose arrangement borrows from the girl group pop-soul of the early 1960s. It also features a gloriously weird lead guitar improvising throughout. The Gospel Four sans Ward showcase their singular. harmonically sophisticated vocal approach on the bubbling "The Devil Don't Like It" before the Traveling Stars take it out with "When I Looked," a driving Sunday morning Benediction with hard-grooving organ, snaky guitar, and clattering snare. There isn't a weak moment on The D-Vine Spirituals Records Story, Vol. 1. It is revelatory in its juxtaposition of the post-war, Thomas Dorsey-influenced gospel tradition and modern approaches to popular Black music without sacrificing integrity, spirituality, or quality.

Tracklist:
1. Elizabeth King & The Gospel Souls – I Heard the Voice (03:10)
2. The Southern Sons – I'm a Soldier in God's Army (02:43)
3. The Seven Brothers – One River to Cross (02:33)
4. The Gospelaires – I'm Going Home (03:52)
5. The Heavenly Stars – Take Me by the Hand (02:33)
6. Evelyn Taylor – Look at Your Life (03:30)
7. The Supreme Travelers – You Got to Live the Life (02:20)
8. Elder Ward & The Gospel Four – God's Going to Blow out the Sun (03:24)
9. The Spiritual Stars of Kansas City, Missouri – Memories (03:41)
10. The Joy of Memphis – I Feel Like Flying Away (04:54)
11. The Kingdom Airs – The Reason I Love Him (03:27)
12. The D-Vine Spiritualettes – Where You Gonna Run? (03:09)
13. the Gospel Four – The Devil Don't Like It (03:17)
14. The Traveling Stars – When I Looked (02:52)


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