Special Kind of Man

Description

Special Kind of Man is the third solo album by the American singer and songwriter Ray Hildebrand of Paul & Paula fame, released on Myrrh Records in 1973, a division of Word. The album was recorded by Rick Horton at Woodland Studios in Nashville, Tennessee; with Billy Ray Hearn producing. Arranged by Rick Powell.

Ray Hildebrand is backed by a session band featuring Bob Wilson on piano, Billy Sanford on guitar, Curly Chalker on steel guitar, as well as Norman Blake on fiddle, mandolin, banjo and guitar, and a rhythm section consisting of Jack Williams on bass and Jerry Carrigan on drums with Farrell Morris providing percussion.

Ray Hildebrand’s claim to fame was being the male half of Paul & Paula where he had his fifteen minutes in 1963 with the hit «Hey Paula». A few years passed and some recordings began to surface on Christian labels. Special Kind Of Man is the best of the lot, having that Billy Ray Hearn – produced early Myrrh sound, in this case a mix of bluegrass, country, rock and pop-gospel. Sort of that Glen Campbell and Roy Clark neighborhood. Norman Blake’s mandolin, guitar, fiddle and banjo play a major role here as Hildebrand takes a stab at some Jesus music standards like «Two Hands», «Little Country Church», «Heaven Help Us All» and Randy Matthews’ «Didn’t He». [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]

LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. “The Secret” – 2:38
A2. “I’ll Fly Away” – 2:31
A3. “Two Hands” – 3:04
A4. “Little Country Church” – 1:58
A5. “Heaven Help Us” – 2:42

Side Two
B1. “By And By” – 2:10
B2. “Special Kind Of Man” – 3:20
B3. “Welcome Back To Jesus” – 2:24
B4. “He’s Not For Everybody” – 2:27
B5. “Didn’t He” – 5:08

[youtube_sc url=”SrhgN5P_y-c” title=”Didn’t He – Ray Hildebrand” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]