looking for blues songs with christian message

[pastorn8]

For an upcoming event I'm compliling old blues songs with christian meanings to them. Needless to say, I'm having a little difficulty finding material. Not interested in current "christian artists" like Glen Keiser, etc.; but standards (Blind Willie Johnson, etc.) Any suggestions?

[[Admin] osborn4]

Doesn't sound like what you are looking for, but my first thought was "Backsliding Blues" by Petra on their self titled first album.

Glenn Kaiser along with Daryl Mansfield covered several old blues classics on a couple of albums, "Trimmed and Burning" and "Slow Burn". Looks like they have been compiled into one CD I know that some Blind Willie Johnson pieces are covered.

However, it doesn't look like they included author credits on the lyric pages online.

http://www.glennkaiser.com/album.cfm?ReleaseID=14

[TL5]

Larry Howard's tribute to Mahalia Jackson.. or maybe Mahalia Jackson??

edit to add: link to Larry Howard's Cornerstone Jam on Amazon...

[[Admin] osborn4]

Originally Posted by TL5

Larry Howard's tribute to Mahalia Jackson.. or maybe Mahalia Jackson??

edit to add: link to Larry Howard's Cornerstone Jam on Amazon dot com

I was at Cornerstone for a couple of Larry Howard's Blues Jams. I was disappointed that they never came out with volume 2.

I think my cassette copy of Volume 1 is almost worn out. One of the few cassettes I ever listen to anymore.

[stevegoad]

Originally Posted by pastorn8

For an upcoming event I'm compliling old blues songs with christian meanings to them. Needless to say, I'm having a little difficulty finding material. Not interested in current "christian artists" like Glen Keiser, etc.; but standards (Blind Willie Johnson, etc.) Any suggestions?

What are you looking for these songs for (might make some difference).

It has been a few years since I heard Glen Keiser listed among current artists (I have been listening to him since the late 70's).

I can't think of "old Christian blues" artists, though gospel and blues come from the same roots. I do some Christian blues, but all original stuff.

Anyway, let me know a bit more about what you're looking for, and I'll be glad to help.

[pastorn8]

It has been a few years since I heard Glen Keiser listed among current artists (I have been listening to him since the late 70's).

I can't think of "old Christian blues" artists, though gospel and blues come from the same roots. I do some Christian blues, but all original stuff.

Anyway, let me know a bit more about what you're looking for, and I'll be glad to help.

The event itself is a bit hard to describe. In a nutshell, the praise band (of which I'm a member) will be doing a show as a blues band. We all have backgrounds in blues, but most of the tunes we know are a bit...er..inappropriate. (hard to put a gospel spin on "Hoochie coochie man" or "dust my broom"). We're trying to find material that blues folks will recognize, but we'll be able to speak about the message of the song. We're playing before a secular blues band, and most of the crowd will not be church folks. That's why I'm sort of stearing clear of Larry Normand & Glen Kaiser--I want material they've probably already heard, but maybe never knew what the message of the song really was.

BTW--I guess we know we're getting older when guys who've been in the business for 35 years seem like "new" artists.

[nevmoor]

They have been playing a song called "don't Let the Devil Ride" on our local gospel station. I dont listen to the blues much but I enjoy the song. Why not take some classic blues tunes and rework the lyrics?? I think that will get you half way there.

I'm sure you've considered the old 'security blanket blues' Stormy Monday:

"Sunday I go to church,
When I kneel down to pray,
This is what I say:
Lord have mercy,
Lord have mercy on me..."

And Robert Johnson's Crossroads:

"Went down to the crossroads, fell down on my knees,
Asked the Lord above for mercy
Save me if you please"

True, not all of the lyrics are exactly Christian, but you could expand from there perhaps.

This is more rock than blues, but our band recently covered George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" (with a few reworked lyrics). Sounded just like the original version on "All Things Must Pass" and was very well received by the congregation (think loud cheers as the song faded out). In a few weeks, they will be covering "Turn, Turn, Turn!" by the Byrds, which of course is based almost entirely on Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Just goes to show that there are pertinent songs out there and lyrics can indeed be rewritten successfully.

I love the blues, wish I could hear the finished product.

[kbob]

that is a fav of our music minister is David Mullen's "Faded blues". He's married to nicole c. mullen, but that was after this album. My fav is a short ditty called "Functional Faith and Clothing", but his is "Faded Blues", the title cut (he actually through his back out when I bought him a copy...but that's another story-lets just say his wife wasn't too happy with me for a while...).

Randy matthews, "the edge of flight" is pretty good as well, though I'm apparently missing a few of those songs, and will have to re-rip them from the cd.....bleah. Nope-Itunes just lost track of them again...does that with a lot of my tunes at every major upgrade. While most of it is classic rock, there is the song "What a Good Lady", which has a classic harmonica intro and appropo vocals for the genre.

Almost forgot-the original ABD album, (Ashton, Becker, and Dente-Susan Ashton, Margaret Becker, and Christine Dente of Out of the Grey) has several good bluesy tunes on it. "Oh Me of Little Faith", (with lead vocals by Margaret Becker, and a style somewhere between rock, blues, and country), is great.

Another good one, that the song title has already been mentioned, is Julie Miller's rendition of "Don't Let the Devil Ride-He Will Want to Drive".

Mark Farner-how could I forget?

He did the song "Judgement Day Blues" on the album "Close to Home", and Search me Lord" on the previously mentioned "Larry Howard's Cornerstone Blues Jam". On that same album, he has a duet with Margaret Becker on the song, "Some Kind of Wonderful" a remake of his own Christianized version of the original song.