You're Gonna Need That Pure Religion

by Rev. Pearly Brown

Overview

In many ways, Rev. Pearly Brown was the perfect itinerant preacher, playing on the street in Macon, GA. Unlike many buskers, however, he wasn't a blues or pop player; his music was strictly sacred, and this album, a reissue of his 1961 album plus a 1974 session from a California radio station, gives a clear picture of his music. Essentially it had two sides: there was the slide guitar, heir of Blind Willie Johnson, in songs like "God Don't Never Change" (or Johnson's own "Nobody's Fault but Mine"), and there was also the country side, typified by his raw, ragged version of Roy Acuff's "The Great Speckled Bird." The 15 tracks that make up his album veer between the two styles, which co-exist perfectly well in his capable hands, but on the live cuts he's helped out by his wife and two musicians from the Dirty Butter Band (although he still talks about what street corner he might play on), who are basically dispensable; Brown has played alone long enough to fill out the sound by himself. He was, perhaps, the last real exponent of this sacred style that owed much to blues and "slave songs," as he called them (and maybe some were). He was also an accomplished guitar player with some powerful slide work. His kind of music, now a thing of history, is sorely missed. ~ Chris Nickson

Product Details

Release Date:	04/23/2002
Label:	Arhoolie
UPC:	0096297902523
Rank:	79098

Tracks

1. God Don't Never Change
2. Just a Closer Walk With Thee
3. You're Gonna Need That Pure Religion
4. Savior, Don't You Pass Me By
5. Motherless Children
6. Oh What a Morning
7. I Must See Jesus
8. Nobody's Fault but Mine
9. I Know It Was the Blood
10. By and By (I'm Gonna See the King)
11. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
12. If I Never See You Anymore
13. Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won't Do)
14. It's a Mean Old World
15. Great Speckled Bird
16. Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning
17. You Gotta Move
18. I'm on My Way to the Canaan Land
19. Good By
20. What a Morning

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Rev. Pearly Brown   Primary Artist,Guitar,Vocals

Technical Credits

Harry Oster   Photography,Engineer,Liner Notes
M. Baker   Composer
Guy Smith   Composer
Chris Strachwitz   Cover Photo,Reissue Producer
Roy Acuff   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Blind Willie Johnson   Composer
Mississippi Fred McDowell   Composer
Roy Carter   Composer
Morgan K. Dodge   Graphic Design