The latest part of the ongoing series chronicling, in no particular order, the greatest 1001 recordings made by Christian artists

736. MYRNA SUMMERS & THE INTERDENOMINATIONAL SINGERS - WITNESS, 1970. From the album 'Tell It Like It Is', Cotillion.
Of all the hundreds of mighty voiced sistahs who've taken the lead mic with a righteous gospel choir ready with the calls and responses, few can equal the sheer soul power of COGIC's Myrna Summers. The Washington-born singer/pianist and the interdenominational youth choir she formed were signed in 1969 to the major Atlantic Records, who on their Cotillion label were making a stab at the gospel market. This amazing track, subsequently re-issued on 'The Word From The Pulpit' compilation, captured Myrna at her peak. Soul music expert Lois Wilson wrote that the "raucous, jubilatory 'Witness' from 1970 had them dancing in the aisles and wouldn't be out of place in a funk club today."
Tony Cummings

737. MICHAEL GUNGOR - FRIEND OF GOD, 2003. From the album 'Bigger Than My Imagination', Integrity.
Forget those smart-alec labels like "post liturgical worship" and somesuch. More important is that Michael Gungor and his aggregation of compatriots are bringing to the Church some of the cleverest and more insightful modern worship songs around. It takes something akin to genius to come up with a child-simple song which speaks profound truth. But that's what Michael achieved with this gem penned in 2003. Just as Abraham's found himself called the friend of God, we can consider ourselves in the same position thanks to our faith in Christ. This revelation contained in Mr Gungor's bouncy little congregational worship songs with its telling coda "God almighty, Lord of glory/You have called me friend" will surely banish any negativity.
Tony Cummings

Slide Brothers

738. SLIDE BROTHERS FTG SHEMEKIA COPELAND - PRAISE YOU, 2013. From the album 'Robert Randolph Presents The Slide Brothers', Dare.
To me it seems only right that the song that Fatboy Slim took to such enormous success should be hereby returned to its sanctified roots. As we know Slim's song was built on the vocal sample of "Take Yo' Praise" by actress and social activist Camille Yarborough but now these pedal steel virtuosos from the Church Of The Living God have put the praises back where they belong. With a scorching vocal from Shemekia Copeland and the Brothers' champion Robert Randolph helping out on steel guitar the effect is joyfully compelling.
Tony Cummings

739. SCOTT BLACKWELL FTG DR S M LOCKRIDGE - MY KING, 1992. From the album 'Walk On The Wild Side', Myx.
Scott Blackwell is of course the Texas-born visionary deejay-turned-record producer who is widely credited as wrenching the Church into dance culture and his albums and those he produced for others opened up whole vistas of possibilities for a new generation of music makers. Back in the early '90s house music was the dominant sound of clubland and with an occasional foray into hip-hop it was those sounds that dominated Blackwell's 'Walk On The Wild Side' CD. But there on track four of his album was a cut which fit into neither category, being in fact possibly the first ever attempt to take a chunk of preaching and add a dance rhythm. The preaching segment Scott selected is now widely regarded as a stone classic of the African American preaching style and is today eulogised on a dozen or more websites. The wonderfully named Shadrach Meshach Lockridge was a pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego, California. He preached at crusades, revivals and conferences around the world, was a key figure in the civil rights movement, held doctorates and numerous honorary degrees, was a guest lecturer at numerous colleges and universities and served on the faculty of the Billy Graham School Of Evangelism. The renowned teacher and preacher retired in the early '70s but at a Baptist convention in 1976 was spotted in the audience and was persuaded by the organisers to come up onto the stage and open the convention in prayer. The extemporised sermonette that followed is a breathtaking description of Christ and his attributes. The sheer musicality of Lockridge's oratory delivered in his gravelly tones is unforgettable. "He's enduringly strong. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's impartially merciful." The dazzling display continues: "He's the grandest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the supreme problem in high criticism. He's the fundamental doctrine of proved theology." Interspersed in the good doctor's seemingly unstoppable flow come the question, "I wonder if you know him." A preaching and a dance music classic.
Tony Cummings

740. SEAN WATKINS - NOT THAT BAD/BLINDERS ON, 2006. From the album 'Blinders On', Sugar Hill.
If you were a fan of those deft purveyors of bluegrass Nickel Creek or enjoy Sean's occasional forays into acoustic territory with Jon Foreman as Fiction Family, Sean's three solo albums will surprise you. Here Sean offers austere, minor key pop songs which often deal with the pains of doomed romance. "Not That Bad" features a bluesy feedback-fuelled guitar and Sean's haunting vocals on a piano and bass-driven melody. The verse contains all the transitory hope that a doomed relationship may yet offer some reward followed by a passage that suggests that even his church going isn't providing the answer. "A thousand Sundays fill a box packaged neatly on my head/I'll take what they handed me I guess, that's as good as it gets/I listened carefully I heard every word that he said/But the closest I put it in my heart is this cross around my neck." That's followed by the short counterpoint which gives the album its title where he confesses he's going to ignore any wise council and "put my blinders on". A sad yet transparently honest depiction of the battle for our affections.
Tony Cummings

741. DREW HOLCOMB & THE NEIGHBORS - ANOTHER MAN'S SHOES, 2013. From the album 'Good Light', Magnolia Music.
We live in a culture where our indifference to the mass of humanity is rife and we are very reluctant to think of someone from their perspective rather than our own. Recognising this, the brilliant Nashville-based Americana and new folk band have come up with a gem of a song penned by Drew and Ellie Holcomb. A marvellously organic production from Andy Hunt where crisp drum patterns, some plaintively simple electric guitars and a Hammond organ perfectly encase Drew's laid back vocal. Verses artfully capture a couple of examples of hurting humanity before the infectious chorus kicks in "Everyone's got their own set of troubles/Everyone's got their own set of blues/Everyone's got their own set of struggles/Walk a mile in another man's shoes." Then on the middle 8 breakdown Drew and Ellie ensure that their lesson is well and truly driven home. "If you ain't learned that by now/Go ahead and walk another mile." You could call "Another Man's Shoes" country, folk or Americana. I'll settle for pop classic.
Tony Cummings

742. YOLANDA ADAMS - EVEN ME, 1991. From the album 'Through The Storm', Tribute.
In recent decades this fine hymn has been recorded by gospel's Yolanda Adams and John P Kee & The VIP Music & Arts Seminar Mass Choir though both have mistakenly credited its composition to gospel matriarch Roberta Martin. In fact the song is the hymn "Lord, I Hear Of Showers Of Blessing" and was written in the 19th century by Elizabeth Harris Codner. The story goes how Elizabeth, ill at home, had received a report of a revival going on in Ireland and soon after penned her moving plea ("Lord, I hear of showers of blessing/Thou art scattering full and free/Showers the thirsty land refreshing/Let some drops now fall on me/Even me, even me/Let some drops now fall on me"). It was Yolanda's rendition, recorded near the start of her rise to gospel stardom, that brings out all the poignancy of the hymn with the diva's impeccable jazz-gospel phrasing and with a mellow production from Ben Tankard featuring sax player Angela Christi and Tyrone Dickerson And The Christian Fellowship Choir, the effect is unforgettable.
Tony Cummings

Ian White

743. IAN WHITE - JONAH, 1989. From the album 'Philippi', Little Misty Music.
Perhaps best known as an interpreter of the psalms, Scottish worship pioneer Ian White has also converted a wide range of Bible passages into song as this dazzling example of adept storytelling and stunning musicianship shows. White charts the journey of Old Testament anti-hero Jonah courtesy of a high octane performance containing only voice and acoustic guitar and succeeds in memorably capturing Jonah's defiance of God, the storm, the anguish of the fishermen, Jonah's plunge into the murky depths before a cetacean rescue ultimately leads the reluctant prophet to Nineveh - all within the space of an enthralling six minutes. Contained within is a masterly and exhaustingly fast acoustic guitar performance plus a delightfully passionate blues vocal from White - both of which sears the message of the story into the memory and leaves the listener with jaw dropped.
Lins Honeyman

744. MERCYME - I CAN ONLY IMAGINE, 2001. From the album 'Almost There', INO.
This track remains the only Christian music single to be certified by the RIAA for sales of only one million digital downloads. Its origins are intriguing. MercyMe were a Christian ministry band from Greenville, Texas, fronted by singer/songwriter Bart Millard, who toured all over Texas and released several independent albums. In 1999 the band were working on their album 'The Worship Project' and needed one more song to complete the project. Bart had been greatly influenced by his father - a committed Christian - who died in 1991 and when thinking about his deceased dad had written the words "I can only imagine" on a couple of items. Alone on a bus in the middle of the night Millard took the phrase and wrote a song imagining what his father might have experienced when he entered Heaven. The song was added to 'The Worship Project' album. A year later MercyMe were finally signed to a major Christian label, Peter Kipley's INO Records. Kipley produced the group's record label album debut 'Almost There' and a re-recording of "I Can Only Imagine" was included in the set. The haunting song with its plaintive piano figure and richly expressive vocal had lyrics of undiminished power. "Surrounded by your glory, what will my heart feel?/Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still?/Will I stand in your presence or to knees will I fall?/Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all?/I can only imagine."
Tony Cummings

745. IMPENDING DOOM - SILENCE THE OPPRESSORS, 2008. From the album 'Nailed. Dead. Risen, Facedown.
Non-Christian heavy metal expert Carlos Raminez once wrote an insightful few lines about the prejudices Christian retail and hardcore bands face in the broader hard music community. "The idea of putting a positive Christian message along to the hardened sounds of heavy metal has always been a topic of heated debate in our community. Morbid Angel's David Vincent growling about ancient demons in the abyss over a grinding guitar and drum attack is unquestionably metal. But Impending Doom's Brook Reeves using the same vocal method to praise Jesus is still hard for a lot of people to digest." In fact, California's Impending Doom are one of the most powerful practitioners of death metal to have ever stepped into a studio. Their sound is bone-rattlingly brutal. "Silence The Oppressors" is a battle cry targeted at all enemies of holy truth. Brook Reeves growls, "We are the Gospel in the darkness, we bring light to a new realm/A realm you dare not enter, passing judgment behind stone walls, behind your absence of understanding/Are you listening?/We'll crush the walls that dictate where our ministry goes/This is our Church, this is our worship."
Tony Cummings

746. MISSISSIPPI FRED MCDOWELL - YOU GOTTA MOVE, 1989. From the album 'You Gotta Move', Arhoolie Productions.
Along with the likes of Rev Gary Davis and Blind Willie Johnson, slide guitarist Mississippi Fred McDowell is one of gospel blues' most influential and recognisable pioneers. In this straight-talking song of God's authority over man (cited by some as being written by the Mississippi bluesman although it's more likely to have stemmed from a variety of traditional sources), McDowell is in his natural habitat. Delightfully sparse and much slower than the Davis counterpart of the same era, the song consists only of McDowell's ragged bottleneck slide playing and his rough yet warm vocal delivery - containing his trademark tendency to leave words unspoken and lines unfinished - and the chemistry between the two factors is a masterclass in acoustic blues performance. Lyrically, the theme of man having to move "when the Lord gets ready" despite social or financial status pulls no punches and has influenced countless songs since - not least Dylan's "Gotta Serve Somebody" which expands the rich/poor thread to the nth degree. The likes of the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Kaiser/Mansfield and many others have all doffed the cap by basing their renditions of "You Gotta Move" on McDowell's version thus cementing both song and artist in the annals of modern music.
Lins Honeyman

747. INNOCENCE MISSION - GOD IS LOVE, 2010. From the album 'My Room In The Trees', Badman.
There's an aura of childlike wonder and downright loveliness about the best of Innocence Mission's music that is all but unique. The Pennsylvania-based group, fronted by husband and wife team Don and Karen Peris, weave together such spine-tingling musical elements that all the critic's efforts to pigeonhole them as "collegiate folk pop" or somesuch flounder. Only a few of their songs directly articulate their faith and none have done so better than this delightful number. Hybrid magazine wrote, "It's a simple title and you'd expect it to be full of clichés or sound really trite but that is where you'd be wrong. It has simple but poetic musings, 'Rain or shine/This street of mine is golden'. Karen's vocals make it sound as sincere as anything."
Tony Cummings

Kendal Payne

748. KENDALL PAYNE - STAND, 2005. From the album 'Grown', Independent.
When you're plucked from an obscure church worship team and signed to one of the most prestigious record labels in the world, it much be devastating when after one album - hugely praised by the critics - you are dropped. But though 'Grown' was Kendall's first independent album after being dumped by Capitol Records and understandably having some songs examining hurt and rejection, it also contains this gem which one reviewer called "an exuberant declaration of faith in Jesus Christ and her commitment to follow him when there is nowhere else to go." With a pot pourri style that takes in influences as wide as Sheryl Crow to Sarah McLachlan, Kendall is a consummate songsmith who deserves wider recognition than Joe Public has so far given her.
Tony Cummings

749. ANDREW PETERSON - O COME, O COME EMMANUEL, 2004.
From the album 'Andrew Peterson Presents Behold The Lamb Of God', Fervent.
American singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson is an artist who consistently slips under the radar to surprise old and new listeners alike on account of his ability to produce albums that are just that little bit out of the ordinary. A case in point is the 2004 release 'Behold The Lamb Of God' where Peterson generously gives guitarist Gabe Scott the spotlight to offer up a new take on the traditional Christmas song "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". To shake things up a bit, Scott bravely decides to make his rendition an instrumental one and, whilst many would argue that the omission of lyrics may remove the purpose of the piece, he succeeds in turning the old song into something brand new and exhilaratingly meaningful. This is largely due to the skill and warmth of Scott's acoustic guitar playing and his dazzling interplay with virtuoso mandolin player Kyle Reeder which sees the pair bend the very structure of the song with added beats and dazzling runs whilst enhancing, respecting and renewing one of the most beautiful melodies of all time.
Lins Honeyman