Reviewed by Tony Cummings

There's a track, "Ain't Got What It Took", on this 18-song collection by the Lancashire-based country gospel veteran which neatly describes some of the things that, in truth, Gus hasn't achieved in his 50 years of music-making. But though he hasn't got "a Gold selling record of my song" and you haven't seen his face on the TV, this veteran has achieved a huge amount in ministry circles. From the '70s onwards when he was a member of the pioneering band Canaan through to today where he still undertakes prison ministry, Gus has used his voice and guitar to communicate the old, old story to a wide range of non-church goers. There are some excellent songs here. I particularly liked the poignant "Slow Train To Georgia". Nearly everything here features just Gus' nimbly picked guitar with no other accompaniment and works just fine. In fact, the one track which attempts a full band sound, "Please Come Back Again", suffers from the unavoidable demo-quality feel of drum machine and friends. On the other extreme the delightfully picked instrumental "Broonzie's Blues" is something that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Rev Gary Davis album. Also, "Celestial Angels" is a better Christmas song than most penned these days. Not every song is top rate of course, but even when I got to the end of this mammoth-length collection - a version of the old hymn "Leaning On The Everlasting Arms' - I was impressed to find that my attention hadn't wandered, which is no mean feat for a 18-song collection of largely voice-and-guitar recordings.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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