Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

The Pioneers were an Anglo-American Southern gospel group back in the '60s and featured Brian Bounds and Frank Carroll on vocals, John Horton on vocals and solo trumpet and Gwynne Bounds on vocal and piano. This evangelistic group used their tight harmonies, jaunty arrangements and simple Southern gospel style as an outreach. This debut EP was released by the fledgling Pilgrim Records on seven inch vinyl which cost the princely sum of 12 shillings! (I found a copy on the internet priced at £30!) Starting off with what was surely a theme tune "Pioneers" and "Leave Your Heavy Burden" shows off the group's vocals and simple piano backing. Side one is completed by a couple of instrumental tracks played on multi-tracked trumpets by John Morton. Side two sees the male vocal trio come to the fore with two tunes "Over In Glory" and "Over The Sunset Mountains" which makes me think that their style was somewhere at the intersection of country, barbershop and Southern gospel. Very much of its time but enjoyable all the same!

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