The Best of Sacred Steel

Overview

With numerous CDs and a DVD, the Arhoolie label has been the company most responsible for spreading awareness of music from African-American Holiness-Pentecostal churches centered around the steel guitar. This 16-track CD functions as a sampler of sorts of this distinctive style, including instrumental and vocal selections from half a dozen previous Arhoolie releases. With 14 artists represented -- including, in the Campbell Brothers and Aubrey Ghent, some of the best-known exponents of the instrument in the genre -- it gives a good idea of the range of approaches to be heard in what's come to be known as "sacred steel." Material-wise, it's very much centered around upbeat gospel songs (a notable exception being Footie Covington's rendition of the Pink Panther theme), though both the arrangements and the guitar specifically often show a clear blues influence. For secular listeners, the exuberant swoops of the steel are the big attraction, as otherwise this is largely modern African-American gospel in nature, with the backup usually employing electric bands, owing large debts to blues, soul, and (more distantly) funk. Sometimes, however, other influences from the larger music world creep through, with Willie Eason's "Near the Cross," for example, drawing from elements of country and Hawaiian music. Because of its range within the style, this is a recommended compilation for those who are interested in sacred steel, but not intensely enough to spring for single-artist collections of the instrument's practitioners. ~ Richie Unterberger

Product Details

Release Date:	11/22/2010
Label:	Arhoolie
UPC:	0096297053928
Rank:	133326

Tracks

1. Don't Let the Devil Ride  - Sonny Treadway
2. Call Him by His Name  - Glenn Lee
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Poor Man's Friend  - Willie Eason
4. I Feel Good  - Chuck Campbell  - Katie Jackson
5. End of My Journey  - Darick Campbell
6. The Train  - Ted Beard
7. Without God  - Robert Randolph
8. Precious Lord Take My Hand  - Josh Taylor
9. Just a Closer Walk with Thee  - Aubrey Ghent
10. Since I Laid My Burden Down  - Calvin Cooke
11. Say Yes!  -  Lee Boys
12. Where Could I Go But to the Lord  -  Brother Sam Baldwin  - Darick Campbell
13. Footie's Medley [Pink Panther]  - Footie Covington
14. Then Comes Joy  - Elton Noble
15. Praise the Lord Everybody  - Aubrey Ghent  - Henry Nelson
16. Near the Cross  - Willie Eason

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ted Beard   Primary Artist
Near the Cross   Primary Artist
Elton Noble   Primary Artist
The Lee Boys   Primary Artist
Robert Randolph   Primary Artist
Sonny Treadway   Primary Artist
Footie Covington   Primary Artist
Josh Taylor   Primary Artist
Chuck Campbell   Primary Artist
Willie Eason   Primary Artist
Brother Sam Baldwin   Primary Artist,Vocals
Calvin Cooke   Primary Artist,Vocals
Aubrey Ghent   Primary Artist
Henry Nelson   Primary Artist
Katie Jackson   Primary Artist,Vocals
Darick Campbell   Primary Artist
Glenn Lee   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Wayne Pope   Cover Design
Haley Ausserer   Copy Editing
Robert L. Stone   Editing,Photography,Liner Notes,Producer