Customer Reviews

Blackwoods - Gaither Gospel Series

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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Gospel legend, Bill Gaither, acquired these recordings to remaster in order for gospel music lovers to enjoy the best of this group in form of CD & high quality cassette, which has never been released until now. Featured is the classic live version of JD Sumner's, "Old Country Church", in which the Blackoods kept singing over & over while the crowd still cheered for more! Others favorites are: "How About Your Heart", which featured RW Blackwood and Bill Shaw at their best, "I'm Feeling Fine" featuring pianist Jackie Marshall's famous interlude, "God Made A Way", showing JD Sumner's talent in bass singing and song writing, and of course, the beautiful, "Stranger Of Galilee", showing the magnificent, collective voices this group always had. Other personnel on these recordings include Dr James Blackwood, Cecil Blackwood, Wally Varner and Bill Lyles.

I was an ardent fan of the Blackwoods and southern gospel as a teenager during the 50s. How I loved going to the concerts at Ellis Auditorium in Memphis! However, after moving away I lost touch with the music and even gave away all of my recordings. I had recently been looking for old Blackwood Brothers recordings on eBay--particularly recordings from the 50s--without much success, but as luck would have it, my fingers accidentally struck Amazon.com instead of eBay on my "Favorites" listing. I did the usual search without realizing it and was surprised with a listing of remastered Blackwood Brothers CDs, as well as links to the Statesmen. Wonderful! I had no idea this music was being re-released.

I am primarily interested in songs recorded before the plane crash that took the lives of Bill Lyles and R.W. Blackwood in 1954, and there seem to be several of those on this CD. (I have also ordered their "Smooth and Classy" CD, which consists of songs taken from their radio programs made prior to the crash.)

The quality of this CD is exceptional and I recommend it highly; however, I wish it incuded information regarding the dates the recordings were made, since the makeup of the group changed over the years. Inclusion of some of the fascinating history of the group would have been appreciated.

Outstanding Southern Gospel Quartet from the 1950's. James Blackwood is still strongly associated with gospel music. The world's greatest bass singer, J.D. Sumner made a major contribution to the sucess of this quartet. I hope more of their music will be remastered to additional availability of CD's so all can hear one of the best quartets who have ever performed. Maybe Bill Gaither will take this challenge.

They weren't quite as sensational as the Statesmen, but the Blackwood Brothers were far ahead of the other groups in their field, especially in their heyday. Without question, James Blackwood, even today at age 79, remains the finest lead singer in this field of music.

The quartette has a beautiful sound blend---smooth!