Description
I Like God’s Style is the sole album by Canadian born Isabel Baker, released on the Wichita, KS label Romco Records in 1965. All songs written by then 16-year old Isabel who played rhythm guitar on the album as well. Also featuring Joe Utterback on piano, Bob Garvey on lead guitar and a rhythm section consisting of Don Nunn on bass and Jim Kincaid on drums.
The February 2016 edition of Record Collector magazine has published a piece on the 1965 album ‘I Like God’s Style’ by Isabel Baker which today is valued at £200 plus by collectors. Recorded when the unknown Baker was 16 years old with a few hundred copies being originally pressed. Wrote Record Collector, “This is a record chock-full of early, unpolished rockabilly, the first of its kind, sung by a feisty young girl with big lungs, proudly bearing her Fender Jaguar guitar on the album’s front cover. Funded by The Challenge Of Calvary Ministry Incorporated in California.”
The reviewer in Record Collector who called this “one of the best Christian albums ever recorded” had clearly heard very, very few such albums or maybe he had been swayed by the fact that extremely rare original copies of this 1965 release go for £200 plus amongst rare vinyl collectors. ‘I Like God’s Style’ is raw country gospel and not really the “rockabilly” the Record Collector reviewer claimed though there is enough musical charm caught in all its low-fi glory on this re-issue. It was put out on vinyl in 2015 by Harkitt Records and comes with a sleeve note which pulls together the few fragments of information that archivist Freek Kinkelaar could find about 16 year old Isabel. She had a voice powerful enough to blow open a barn door and expressive enough to have gone on to country or gospel stardom. Though that didn’t happen, of course. The accompaniments are rudimentary, save for some nice piano from Joe Utterback who was to go on to some jazz and religious music success, while the drums are inaudible. Worth investigating, particularly if you enjoy Wanda Jackson’s old gospel albums, are an avid Christian music historian or like your country raw and unpolished. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, August 2018]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “I Like God’s Style”
A2. “The Gaderian”
A3. “When I Walk In The Valley”
A4. “It Wasn’t Done In A Corner”
A5. “This O’le World’s A Big Let Down”
A6. “Seven Thousand More”
Side Two
B1. “I’m Coming Back To Thee”
B2. “I Have Peace”
B3. “You Gotta Meet Him”
B4. “All Is Vanity”
B5. “He’s Never Too Late”
B6. “God’s Big Heart”
Note: Re-issued on 12-inch vinyl LP by Harkit Records in 2015. Issued as a special Limited Edition vinyl signed facsimile of the original Ronco album with additional comprehensive notes to accompany this release that were not on the original release together with recording details and personnel and as a digital download.
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In 2015, Harkit Records – a re-issue label which largely specialised in film and TV soundtrack albums but who also put out occasional vinyl re-issues by artists like the Chiffons – re-issued ‘I Like God’s Style’ and with a sleeve note by Dutch musician and journalist Freek Kinkelaar, it was an intriguing glimpse into an obscure corner of country gospel history. Thanks to an interview Kinkelaar conducted with jazz musician Joe Utterback, who happened to organise the two-day recording session booked by Isabel’s evangelist parents, a little information about the mysterious Ms Baker has come to light.
George E F Baker was an evangelist who, under the auspices of his The Challenge Of Calvary Ministry Inc, toured churches in California and the Midwest preaching the Gospel. Mr and Mrs Baker’s daughter was gifted in music and wrote her own gospel songs, mostly with a distinct country feel. The purple prose of one Naomi E Fieldstad on the original ‘I Like God’s Style’ sleeve gushed, “Knowing Isable [sic] is only sixteen years old with her deep consecrated life is an inspiration in itself. Her emphatic delivery both in ministry and song is a real challenge to teenagers as she sings them into the Kingdom on the silver strains of love.”
When the Bakers stepped into the studios of High Fidelity Recording Inc in Wichita, Kansas to begin recording Isabel’s songs, the musicians assembled for the session – Joe Utterback (piano), Bob Garvey (lead guitar), Don Nunn (bass) and Jim Kincaid (drums) – quickly discovered that Isabel had “a big pair of lungs” but no musical training. Said Utterback, “Isabel had no understanding of music and had written nothing down for the sessions. She did not know about keys, time signatures or chord names.” The sessions for ‘I Like God’s Style’ took two days, starting at 10am and working hard through the day. The transcription of Isabel’s songs to lead sheets was done by Joe: “She just played them again and again and I wrote down the musical layout for each song.” Working out arrangements proved difficult at times. As Joe remembered: “It was hard to figure out how to set up the songs. Some were easier to transcribe than others.” A particularly hard one to crack was “The Gaderian”, a song about the demonic healed by Jesus. “That was a tricky one,” remembered Joe.
The raw, occasionally shambolic country gospel on the album may not quite be the rockabilly longed for by collectors or “the very first Christian rock album” suggested by Harkit Records. But ‘I Like God’s Style’ is a fascinating period piece from an era when singing songs about Jesus while playing an electric guitar was still considered a radical act. And it’s also a weird coincidence that the photo on the front cover bares a strange resemblance to Larry Norman![Excerpt from Tony Cummings’ article “Isabel Baker: How her one and only album sells for £200 plus” featured in Cross Rhythms, 9th August 2018]
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