Love Lucinda, “O Brother,” Gillian and Aretha? Finding the Best Free Roots, Classic Gospel Music Online

6 min readMar 5, 2016

If you love Americana and gospel-rooted R&B music, you’ve doubtless heard Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Aretha Franklin, among many others, but where can you search out other greats, especially in genres you might like — but don’t know well?

Here are starting points on often lesser-known treasures.

One source of discovery, besides hoping to hear great tracks on Pandora or the poorly designed “radio” function of Spotify is to see the list of “related” artists at www.allmusic.com. Here, for instance, are the names associated on that website with Gillian Welch, usually well-known.

But there are other greats who haven’t gotten the attention they deserve in the United States. You have to hear somewhere via Spotify or YouTube or buy, Kasey Chamber’s first album, The Captain,and, for further information, see my review of her newer work, including the Bittersweet album and her recent US tour.
Here’s a sampling of full tracks of her music on that breakthrough album.

To me, it’s as perfect, every song a masterpiece, a mainstream debut album as Lucinda’s rough trade self-titled debut; Elvis Costello’s My Aim Is True, and Gillian’s Revival.

Nearly as perfect Americana/roots music, Tambourine, by Tift Merritt, who is a cross-genre singer, but these roots/country/ soul songs burn:

Check out the Allmusic.com review.

Hear track samplings here: https://musicmp3.ru/artist_tift-merritt__album_tambourine.html#.VtqwOEIrJD8

It seems this websbite , musicmp3.ru has samples or full tracks of almost everyone, but since it’s apparently pirated material, be careful about clicking on any ads and popup but its main interface seems clean..

This website http://www.totallyfuzzy.net/ourtube/ is a powerful search engine of legal videos on the web of anyone, including long-form concerts…

It’s mainstream oriented, so it has little of Lucinda or Gillian, but plenty obscurities with Emmylou.

GREAT BLACK AND WHITE GOSPEL YOU (PROBABLY) NEVER HEARD:

Here’s my intro to roots music lovers of best of classic 50's/60's era quartet and soloist black gospel music, from Beliefnet.com. A great one-CD, two-LP value introduction to the field is Greatest Gospel Gems on Specialty records. (The full album isn’t available for streaming, but many tracks are online at Youtube.) Some of these greats, such as Sam Cooke and Dorothy Love Coates, you can find on playlists online or at my own YouTube channel, ArtL7, which lists music, acting, news and comedy playlists. (You can use the spyglass icon on the right to search for artists whom you may find interesting to hear.)

Some of the Gospel Greats worth hearing:

Dorothy Love Coates, called by critic Dave Marsh “the greatest singer you never heard.”

Sam Cooke with The Soul Stirrers:

Caude Jeter, whose falsetto inspired Smokey Robinson and Al Green, with Swan Silvertones:

And little-known predecessor to Sam Cooke, RH. Harris, who may be greatest male gospel singer ever if you don’t count Cooke or Claude Jeter’s falsetto work: He’s the smoother voiced one in the pairings with the tremolo in his voice and has a majority of the solo parts……

And the Blind Boys of Alabama, whom I saw live both with their original lead singer, Clarence Fountain a few times, and without, but still phenomenal in person.
:
White bluegrass gospel:

Sample great white bluegrass gospel: Alison Krauss and Cox Family. The tracks can be sampled here or or watching on YouTube, and it’s worth buying the full album.

More white bluegrass gospel:
Louvin Brothers, who inspired the everly brothers and influenced Gillian Welch, among many others, mixing gospel and secular:

“The Dream of a Miner’s Child” is the Stanley Brothers track the young Gillian Welch heard as an aspiring punk rocker and music student that converted her to bluegrass.

A solid anthology playlist of bluegrass gospel at Youtube here.

You can hear Emmlyou and other top Americana singers pairing with Ralph Stanley on gospel and traditional gospel one of the great duets anthology albums ever,. Saturday night and Sunday Morning, worth seeking out tracks with singers you can hear on youtube or just buying the cd….http://www.allmusic.com/album/saturday-night-sunday-morning-mw0000644452

“The Dream of a Miner’s Child” is the Stanley Brothers track the young Gillian Welch heard as an aspiring punk rocker and music student that converted her to bluegrass:

Happy listening!

BONUS TRACKS

REVIEW AND TRACK LISTING FROM ALLMUSIC.COM OF SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING:

AllMusic Review by Jana Pendragon [-]

This 31-cut, two-disc project is a masterpiece reflecting both the secular and spiritual sides of Ralph Stanley’s artistry. It is also a concept he mulled over in his mind for some time before executing it. The idea was to include performers from both the country and bluegrass worlds doing songs that somehow fit into the Stanley Brothers’ tradition. With the inclusion of some Stanley originals as well as tunes written by Bill Monroe, Dwight Yoakam, Tom T. Hall, and Roy McMillan, this is not only a diverse compilation of material, but also one that never fails to interest the listener. Certainly the start-off number, McMillan’s “Mountain Folks,” which is done up just right by Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, sets the tone. Followed by a duet between Stanley and Yoakam on the infectious “Down Where the River Bends,” it quickly moves through to Stanley’s final secular duet with fellow bluegrasser Bill Monroe. Their teamwork on “Letter From My Darling” is monumental. The spiritual numbers include Stanley and Tom T. Hall on the well-known gospel number “Rank Stranger” andCarter Stanley’s sadly descriptive “The Fields Have All Turned Brown.” But the most beguiling track is the fervent version of Yoakam’s tribute song to his coal mining grandfather, Luther Tibbs. “Miner’s Prayer” is given a gospel overhaul, making what was already a brilliant creation into an even more ageless tune that will be played, loved, and remembered for many generations to come. Ralph Stanley’s high lonesome sound fits in perfectly here and is endlessly effective. Outstanding performances in both categories come from Patty Loveless, Allison Krauss, George Jones, Jimmy Martin, and Emmylou Harris, to name just a few. A concept that works well for Ralph Stanley and his many friends, this is certainly a project that belongs in every bluegrass or gospel collection.

Track Listing — Disc 1

Sample Title/ComposerPerformerTime 1

Love Lucinda, “O Brother,” Gillian and Aretha? Finding the Best Free Roots, Classic Gospel Music Online

AllMusic Review by Jana Pendragon [-]

Track Listing — Disc 1

Track Listing — Disc 2

Written by Art Levine

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