Rev. Johnny L. Jones has been preaching at Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta for well over half a century. He was nicknamed "the Hurricane" for the mounting intensity of his services that can carry people away.
Rev. Jones was born in 1936 in Marion, Alabama. His father was a Deacon (Deacon Jones!) and his mother also worked in the church. He learned piano and began working as a preacher in rural Alabama and Georgia communities while still a teenager. He built a reputation rapidly that led to an invitation to join the Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in the 1950s where he has been ever since.
Jewel records began recording the Hurricane in the 1960s and continued into the 1970s, although most of these records are now out of print.
What we have here is something quite special, more special than anything that Jewel was able to document. Not long ago, Digital-to-Dust put together a this full 2-disc collection of recordings that range from 1957 to recent years: "The Hurricane that Hit Atlanta." For this collection, the Hurricane himself made a choice from his own private tapes of live services and radio shows. The sound quality is highly variable, and often distinctly Low FI, but the quality of the music is very high and the atmosphere cannot be beat. YOU are invited into Hurricane's church for a 2-hour + service that will rattle the windows and shake the walls. This is REAL.
Rev. Jones cites BB King, Aretha Franklin, and Muddy Waters among his vocal influences. You can hear why. This gets as bluesy and sanctified as you want it.
