Flanfire

The Gospel According to Austin -- and the Gospel According to SOUTH Austin -- are the subjects of today's column. And let me tell you -- the LORD Himself is tapping his toes to these tunes...

First to the music already in the stores and on the street -- especially at Maria's Taco X-Press every other Sunday morning - when P J Liles brings his Gospel Project to the stage. [Editor's Note: Construction has already begun on the New Maria's - and word is the old place will close down around April Fool's Day and the new one will open about two weeks later.]

The Gospel Project features strong vocals from PJ (the cowboy boilermaker poet, who wrote seven of the songs in this collection, some of which were previously seen on the South Austin Gospel Choir CD) AND from Deanne Smith and Michael Croos and also from percussionist Lynette Perkins. The record was produced by Liles, Croos, and Smith plus Tiger Davis, who recorded the music at Rogue Studio. Players include Tom Cobb, Richard Parke, and Norm Ballinger on guitars, Will Dunlap on baritone guitar and drums plus Milly Marlow and Jeff Martin on bass - but others may be in the group on any given Sunday. Parke, who also played flute on the record, was playing violin last I saw him with the band.

The CD begins with mournful versions of two songs in the public domain - Wayfaring Stranger and Wade in the Water; the band also does "Do Lord" and "Oh Happy Day," plus Liles' own version of the traditional "Noah." There is a little reggae gospel, "Zion," written by Garnet Silk, and "Everywhere I Go," by Mary Lee Kortes (but made famous by Amy Grant). All the rest are Liles originals (including "Pray for Peace and Love," cowritten by Eric Leikam, another SAGC veteran who also plays with PJ in Steelbeam.

A major highlight of this record is Michael Croos' beautiful rendition of "Oh Happy Day" -- his tenor voice just fills up the speakers... Another is the acapello version of Liles' "Tom's Cross." But all of the singing is good -- especially live during Hippie Church at Maria's... and, yes, there is a GREAT photo of Maria WITH ARMS on the inside of the jewel case.

Volume 5 of the Gospel According to Austin series - which includes a bonus CD that is a re-release of a 1992 recording by the late Reverend Dan Smith - is chock full of great stuff, including donations from Ruthie Foster, Billy Joe Shaver, and Carolyn Wonderland -- all from CD's that many collectors of Texas music may already have. Just having these songs together in one place makes the album worth the price. Every one of these cuts is a classic - but there is so much more in this rich treasure trove.

The Soul Stirrers began in Trinity, Texas, so they are here -- with "New Jerusalem," off their 1998 CD, "Live in Chicago," which should ensure that listeners attend their next Austin gig. Round Rock's Durdens provided their own song, "There Is a Balm," and there is also a cut from the Bells of Joy's "Second Time Around." The older members of the Bells also back up Johnny Nicolas in a rendition of "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" that would make even satan himself bow down and worship. This song was specially recorded for GAA 5 and appears nowhere else.

The record starts off with the great yodeler - Don Walser - singing Jimmy Wakely's "Casting My Lasso," backed in a live performance from Bass Concert Hall in 1999 by the Pure Texas Band and the Kronos Quartet. GAA is donating 20% of the revenues from this recording to Don's medical care -- and any fan of this wonderful performer will HAVE to purchase this CD just for this amazing cut -- the yodeling is beyond belief for the uninitiated. Also on the CD are cuts from the Grassy Knoll Boys (guitarist David Hamburger is a longtime contributor to GAA) and Drew Landry (whose other home is Lafayette).

Papa Mali was excited to learn one day that the Gospel Silvertones were in town, and he made a few calls to his friends in the Iguanas, who had fled New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and got in the studio to record a version of "Nobody's Fault by Mine," a song he often performs with the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers. You will not find this version anywhere else. Nor will you get "God's Power," a WC Clark original, anywhere else -- but one listen and you will know that Austin needs to convince WC to record an entire CD of his original gospel songs.

No competition here, but if there is any song on this CD that stirs the soul and spirit more than Nicolas' powerful vocal and the tender mercies of AD Watson, JT Stewart and Willis Littlefield, it is the strikingly powerful original from the legendary Dale Watson, "Help Your Lord," on which he is backed by an amazing choir. Adkins says the song reminds him of Elvis' "In the Ghetto" for its sheer power and the quality of the vocal. This song and this recording should be played on every radio station in the free world. Every note of Dale's guitar, every word brings tears to the eyes and humbles the heart. The GREAT NEWS is that Dale has recorded an entire gospel CD that may soon be in the stores - and this cut will be on it.

The CD also includes songs from Tom and Sherry Green and the Kyle Family - who also graced Volume 1 of this treasured series. GAA's Greg Adkins and Phil Fajardo have added in some bonus tracks of note -- by Comanche artist Maria Nuani, Mexican gospel singers Mariachi Eli, the HIV-positive Sinikithemba Choir from South Africa, and octogenarian Johnnie Mae Dunson, whose cousin Alex Bradford wrote "I''m Too Close" (found on volume 1) and who was the longtime manager and songwriter for Jimmy Reed.

The Rev. Dan Smith was one of the last of the "sacred minstrels," and he was well past retirement age when he recorded these tracks with Texas guitar slinger Buddy Miller. This CD brings back memories of Blind Willie Johnson and Washington Phillips, whose last recordings were done fifty years earlier. His harmonica playing alone is worth the price of the CD, but this man had walked on dusty roads and preached the gospel for seven decades. His "I've Never Been to Seminary" was perhaps the chief highlight of GAA's Volume 2, Malford Milligan and Friends," and there is so much more. Rev. Dan was a contemporary of Pete Seeger and the Rev. Gary Davis -- but he also contributed to Julie Miller's first album, "He Walks Through Walls."

Backup vocalists include Shreveport native Victoria Williams and native Texan Julie Miller - plus the late Mark Heard (one of the pioneers of early contemporary Christian music whose songs are timeless) - as well as Bryan Duncan (another CCMer), King Cotton (who played Gov. Jimmy Davis in the movie Blaze), Willie Green, Jr., and Dexter Dickerson. Players include Scott Babcock on drums, Denny Cory on acoustic bass, Dennis Caplinger on fiddle and banjo, John Andrew Schriener on hammond organ and piano, and Steve Hindalong on percussion - plus George Ward and Michael Hackanson-Stacy on guitars.

When this recording is released (sometime between now and SXSW), it should ROLL off the shelves. Gospel music lovers -- heck, music lovers -- have such a smorgasbord of great songs here - many available nowhere else - that this collection should quickly outsell volumes 1-4 combined - in the first month or two. There is just way too much good stuff here.