When I Reach That Heavenly Shore

Description

When I Reach That Heavenly Shore, sub-titled Unearthly Black Gospel, 1926-1936, is a multi-artist 3LP / 3CD box set released on Tompkins Square in November 2014.

It was preceded by the release of the three-CD boxed set Fire in My Bones: Raw, Rare & otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944-2007, the three-CD boxed set This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel On 45 RPM, 1957-1982, and the four-CD boxed set I Heard the Angels Singing: Electrifying Black Gospel from the Nashboro Label, 1951-1983.

Among the most powerful music to be captured on 78 rpm in America during the 1920s & 1930s are those recordings of black sanctified and gospel singing. Ranging from plaintive mourning to unbridled ecstasy, the sacred music from this time period represents a flowering of diverse and idiosyncratic rural songs styles. At no time was there a wider panorama of religious songs in America.

Selected exclusively from Christopher King’s private collection, the 78s included here represent the most unhinged, the most compelling survey of pre-war black gospel. The complete recorded output of the Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina is also included in this collection for the first time. Several rare & previously unissued photographs are also contained within. Lovingly and respectfully designed by Susan Archie and firmly grounded in Scripture by Christopher King.

3LP tracklist:

Side One
A1. Seventh Day Adventists Choir – “On Jordan’s Stormy Bank We Stand” [Prayer by Brother Hubbard]
A2. McCollum’s Sanctified Singers – “Glory! Glory! Hallelujeh”
A3. Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina – “Fight On Your Time Ain’t Long”
A4. Jubilee Gospel Team – “Let Jesus Lead You”
A5. Elder Oscar Saunders & Congregation – Preaching with Singing
A6. Roosevelt Graves & Brother – “I’ll Be Rested (When The Roll Is Called)”
A7. Rev. A.W. Nix – “Hiding Behind The Stuff”

Side Two
B1. Edward W. Clayborn – “Let That Lie Alone”
B2. Rev. T.E. Weems – “The Devil Is A Fisherman”
B3. McCollum’s Sanctified Singers – “Oh Lord I’m Your Child”
B4. Rev. William Ransom w/Sisters Callie Hunter & Pauline Tidwell w/Brother William Christopher – “Abraham Have Mercy On Me”
B5. Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina – “Father I Stretch My Hands Up To Thee”
B6. Blind Joe & Emma Taggart – “I Wish My Mother Was On That Train”
B7. Rev. J. M. Gates – “Dead Cat On The Line”

Side Three
C1. Laurel (Mississippi) Firemen’s Quartette – “You Gotta Live Your Religion Every Day”
C2. Fa Sol La Singers – “Rejoicing On The Way”
C3. Blind Gussie Nesbit – “Canaan’s Land”
C4. Elder Oscar Saunders & Congregation – “Everybody Will Be Happy Over There”
C5. Edward W. Clayborn – “Jesus Will Make It All Right”
C6. Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina – “Heaven Belongs To You”
C7. Eddie Head & His Family – “Lord I’m The True Vine”

Side Four
D1. Henry Thomas – “Jonah In The Wilderness”
D2. Rev. D.C. Rice – “Angels Rolled The Stone Away”
D3. Blind Gussie Nesbit – “Pure Religion”
D4. Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina – “I Love Thy Church O Lord”
D5. Jubilee Gospel Team – “Stations Will Be Changed”
D6. Mother McCollum – “When I Take My Vacation In Heaven”
D7. Rev. Emmett Dickenson – “What The Men Wanted The Women Was Sitting On”

Side Five
E1. Washington Phillips – “Train Your Child”
E2. Rev. William Ransom w/Sisters Callie Hunter & Pauline Tidwell w/Brother William Christopher – “He Shall Speak For Himself”
E3. Edward W. Clayborn – “I Heard The Angels Singing”
E4. Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina – “The Day Is Past And Gone”
E5. Jubilee Gospel Team – “I Know The Lord Has Laid His Hands On Me”
E6. Rev. J.C. Burnett assisted by Sisters Lucille Smith & Fannie Cox – “Jesus Of Nazareth, King Of The Jews”
E7. Laurel (Mississippi) Firemen’s Quartette – “I Won’t Have To Cross Jordan Alone”

Side Six
F1. Blind Joe & Emma Taggart – “I’ll Be Satisfied”
F2. Primitive Baptist Choir of North Carolina – “Blessed Be The Tie That Binds”
F3. Edward W. Clayborn – “I Shall Not Be Moved”
F4. Jubilee Gospel Team – “Don’t Know When Old Death Will Call For Me”
F5. Rev. J.C. Burnett assisted by Sisters Lucille Smith & Fannie Cox – “Great Day Of His Wrath Has Come”
F6. Mother McCollum – “I Want To See Him”
F7. Rev. A.W. Nix – “Going To Hell & Who Cares”

Note: The 3LP box features a couple of more tracks than the 3CD box.