The
Numero
label has done it again. Their fifth release is by the smoking
gospel
singer
Fern Jones
, who was active in the late '50s and left music entirely in 1960. She recorded two albums before retiring. She wrote the
classic
"I Was There When It Happened,"
which was a hit for
Jimmie Davis
and was also recorded by
Johnny Cash
(who performed it on his first
Sun
album and played it for the rest of his life), and
the Blackwood Brothers
. While her first album was self-released, it is her second offering,
Sing a Happy Song
(issued by
Dot
in 1959), that is the subject of this set.
Jones
was recorded in a studio proper with killer musicians -- pianist
Floyd Cramer
, guitarist
Hank Garland
, drummer
Buddy Harman
, and bassist
Joe Zinkan
, all of them top Nash Vegas studio cats in the '50s. The sound is a stellar mix of
rockabilly
,
honky tonk
, and
.
' voice is a big throaty instrument that walks the line between
Patsy Cline
and
Wanda Jackson
, with plenty of the latter's swagger and fire.
Garland
's guitar comes straight from the
Elvis
school at
, cutting and burning through each tune with smoking fills and runs. There is also an unidentified male
quartet on backing vocals that keeps the sacred focus on what was probably considered something close to the Devil's music when it was issued -- the album sank without a trace. The deep burn of tracks such as
"I Ain't Got Time,"
"I Do Believe,"
"Keep Me Busy,"
Thomas Dorsey
's
"Take My Hand Precious Lord"
is simply awe-inspiring.
' originals come right from the hard
country boogie
of
music, though her lyrics are clearly sanctified and she's right down the hardcore-fundamentalist-Southern-Assemblies-of-God line. In addition to the original album, there are four bonus cuts from
' original recording session, including a radical reworking of the
Albert E. Brumley
masterpiece
"This World Is Not My Home."
The Glory Road
is a one-of-a-kind gem from a terrific stylist and songwriter who never got her due. ~ Thom Jurek