REVEREND PEARLY BROWN
You're Gonna Need That Pure Religion (Arhoolie Records)
Reviewed by Eric Steiner

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Fans of old-time hill country and gospel blues will warm to the picking and natural emotion of Reverend Pearly Brown, a blind street performer who played in Macon, Waycross, Albany, and Americus, Georgia from the 1930's until his death in 1986. Pearly was a classmate of Blind Willie McTell at a special school for the blind in Georgia. This Arhoolie disc captures the roots of the blues by bringing back a Folklyric LP from 1961. Pearly was a self-taught guitarist who learned spirituals from his grandmother, who was a slave. The title cut shows off Pearly's crying slide and nimble picking, Gospel-style. You just might have heard of some of Rev. Brown's music as these spirituals have inspired rockers and bluesmen for many generations, some by the name of Robert Plant and Eric Clapton. His sparse versions of "Motherless Children," "Nobody's Fault But Mine," both versions of "Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning," and "You Gotta Move" inspired many (like Robert and Eric) to recreate the powerful emotion of these traditional spirituals, threads of a uniquely American music. The first 15 cuts are from the original Folklyric LP, and the remaining five cuts feature interviews, stories, and music. The interview is conducted by Arhoolie Records founder and president Chris Strackwitz in 1974 for a live broadcast on Berkeley, California's KPFA Radio. For more information about Rev. Pearly Brown, check out www.nothingbuttheblues.com. His fans are trying to elect him to the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and for a traditional hill-country bluesman, Pearly gets my vote.

Track List:

God Don't Never Change * Just A Closer Walk With Thee * You're Gonna Need That Pure Religion * Savior, Don't You Pass Me By * Motherless Children * Oh What A Morning * I Must See Jesus * Nobody's Fault But Mine * I Knew It Was The Blood * By And By (I'm Gonna See The King) * Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning * If I Never See You Anymore * Ninety-Nine and A Half Won't Do * It's a Mean Old World * The Great Speckled Bird * Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning * You Gotta Move * I'm On My Way to the Canaan Land * Good By * What A Morning

© 2002 - Eric Steiner