How Can I Keep From Singing: Early American Religious Music And Song Vol. 1 & 2

This is a killer collection of early gospel rarities, mixed with some which you may already know.  I took the time to do some scanning, so its all included.  Yazoo is another great label for comps and themed collections.

The Southern Church Of Chitlins is in.....enjoy!!

Another of Yazoo Records' wonderful themed compilations, How Can I Keep From Singing is a collection of sacred music from the 1920s and 1930s. It provides an indispensable series of portraits that sheds light on how people from the period celebrated their religion in song. Beyond historical significance, every performance here is an enjoyable listening experience, and there are many highlights. Jay Bird Coleman delivers a fantastic harmonica duet with Ollis Martin on "I'm Gonna Cross the River of Jordan." Their performance is raw and seems to lie outside of the confines of the church, much closer to the earth. The music seems to jump out of the recording. "He's Got Better Things for You" by the Memphis Sanctified Singers is equally exciting and is sung so beautifully that it could win the church new converts. "He's got the holy ghost and the fire," the singer advertises. This is religious music, but she isn't above making the song a showcase for her unique style as she growls her way through the chorus. On "Woke Up This Morning," Roosevelt Graves & Brother create a joyful syncopation with two voices, guitar, and some basic percussion. Typically, Yazoo gives no thought to musical or racial segregation. Thus, the heavily stylized voice of Rev. H.B. Jackson is backed by the authentic gospel sounds of Rev. E.D. Campbell & Congregation. Uncle Dave Macon (a white, vaudeville-influenced performer), who delivers a humorous, spoken introduction on "Walking in Sunlight," is followed by the unique tradition of sacred harp singing on a performance by the Middle Georgia Singing Convention. Slim Ducket & Pig Norwood's wonderful, subdued reading of "I Want to Go Where Jesus Is," which seems to bear the mark of a blues (secular) performer, is up against Rev. J.O. Hanes. The group's "The Great Transaction's Done," with its inclusion of a sermon, attempts to recreate the environment of a church meeting on record. By making faith the only requirement, Yazoo has brought together a range of performers, styles, and voices to gather and congregate, resulting in a blend that's all too rare. - Nathan Bush/AMG

As with its predecessor, How Can I Keep from Singing, Vol.2: Early American Religious Music and Song combines a mere handful of well-known performers from the golden age of American Folk Music with a number of more mysterious names. In the place of obvious choices like Rev. Gary Davis and Blind Willie Johnson, for example, we find Shands Superior Jubilee Singers and Ridgel's Fountain Citians. After all, both Davis and Johnson have full-length Yazoo collections devoted to their music. What How Can I Keep from Singing does so well then, is to convey the scope of religious song (on record) during the 1920s and '30s. Placing bluesman Sam Collins' gorgeous "I Want to Be Like Jesus in My Heart" between the sacred harp singers of "Weeping Mary" and Morris Family's "He Rose Unknown" proves how much apparently disparate musicians had in common, even if the sound of their music seemed so far apart. Even secular performers join in. Sacred music certainly wasn't prominent in the repertoire of Cliff Carlisle, but that hardly concern's Yazoo. The guitarist and his quartet give a spirited reading of the popular "Shine on Me." The sound of the Golden Jubilee Quartet on "Job" seems to predate everything from the sacred style adopted by bluegrass singers in the '40s to the rockabilly panache of the '50s. Elsewhere, Washington Philips finds comfort on "Jesus Is My Friend," Shands Superior Jubilee Singers describe appropriate attire for heaven on "Silver Slippers" and the genteel voices of the Copperhill Male Quartet sound chilling delivering the title of "There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood." In bringing together these artists, Yazoo creates a religious community on How Can I Keep from Singing. Though the musicians themselves might not have recognized it as such, on record it seems very real indeed.  - Nathan Bush/AMG