Pastor T L Barrett and album of field recordings name-checked by mainstream artists
THE GROWING interest in the mainstream for vintage gospel music was
recently reflected in the January issue of Mojo magazine when in their
annual The Best Things I've Heard All Year article, mainstream music
artists are asked to name their favourite albums. Jim James of the
folk band My Morning Jacket enthused about the CD re-issue of the 1971
album 'Like A Ship (Without A Sail)' by Pastor T L Barrett And The
Youth For Christ Choir while rock star Lenny Kravitz picked out the
various artists album 'Negro Religious Field Recordings' and a track
by Austin Coleman, "My Soul Is A Witness". Said Kravitz, "It sounds
like slaves in the field and on the one hand it's extremely primitive
and raw - it's people beating on wood, the floor, the door, then
singing their souls out - but at the same time it sounds futuristic
and alien, a sound that transcends time."