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From gospel to blues and back : the Hill Country Gospel of the Reverend
This seducing album reminds me the great Charles Laughton's 1955 movie “The Night of the Hunter” where a dangerous preacher played by Robert Mitchum has the word 'Love” tattooed on the top of his right hand fingers and “Hate” on the left ones, an allegory of the constant fight between good and evil. And as far as we are concerned here, between Gospel and the music of the Devil, Blues.  |
| Mitchum in “The Night of the Hunter” |
Like his renowned father, Rev. Robert Wilkins, John Wilkins had Gospel tattooed on one hand, and Blues on the other one. And rather than opposing them, he fused Memphis soul-flavored gospel music and Delta and Hill Country blues into an appealing mix : not Love versus Hate, but Love and Hate together. “I haven't read nowhere in the Bible where the music will take you to hell”, he rightly used to say.
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The musician...
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A child of the North Mississippi Hill Country by family ancestry, though born in Memphis in 1943, the young Wilkins was already playing indifferently in church, at parties and in blues clubs in the 1960s. This bridge between the sacred and secular had been built by his father who was a blues guitarist before becoming a minister. But rather than discarding his old songs, he just adapted their lyrics. |
... and the minister
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In the mid-1980s, John Wilkins followed his father’s call to ministry : he became the resident pastor at Hunter’s Chapel in Como, Mississippi, a congregation that counted influential Hill Country musicians as the late fife players Othar Turner (1907-2003) and Napoleon (sometimes spelled “Annapolis”) Strickland (1924-2001), and before Wilkins' arrival, Fred McDowell (1904-1972) and his wife Annie Mae…
The album features Memphis soul gospel numbers, with all attached musical attributes (church organ and female background choir), as the slow soulful opening track “You Can't Hurry God”, the superb “Sinner's Prayer”, the gospel ballad “Let The Redeemed Say So” played with vibrato guitar, the stirring “I Want You To Help Me”, and the final “On The Battlefield”.
The blues tattooed hand is giving his guitar a definite blues tone on songs like the typical repetitive Hill Country “Jesus Will Fix It”; the outstanding version of his father's song “Prodigal Son” (the one that caused legal copyright problems with the Rolling Stones), a long sorrowful Delta blues played on acoustic dobro guitar; the cover of Fred McDowell's iconic “You Got To Move” in a definite raw Hill Country style again; or the nice acoustic Delta blues “Thank You Sir”.
The nine tracks are at the same full of feeling and energy, sung with the powerful voice of a minister used to impress his congregation with his sermons during the offices. The lyrics, totally gospel, have the repetitive pattern of the Hill Country blues, while the Reverend keeps himself fully to the service of his holly message : no temptation to play the guitar hero, his guitar is skillfully but simply there to underline the words he sings with fervor. If my local priest was like the Rev. John Wilkins, I'd certainly go to church every Sunday!
Rev. John Wilkins died in October 2020 from the aftermath of Covid-19 that had kept him in intensive care for a month-long stay. The prodigal son has joined his father... ■
Videos
■ Interviews & Documentaries ► The relations between Blues and Gospel, a documentary featuring Rev. John Wilkins : https://youtu.be/dX1q1kAGsmg
► An interview with Wilkins at the Port Townsend Country Blues Festival, WA, 2008 : https://youtu.be/LBx9_Flexion
► "You Can't Hurry God", interview and song, Sun Studio, Memphis, 2016 : https://youtu.be/0xgHJeOdv6A
► Deep Blues Festival, Clarksdale, MS, 2015 : https://youtu.be/SuWi4BHg-S0
► Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival, New Orleans, 2018 (full set) : https://youtu.be/co8eKcfEpbk
■ Songs from the album
(the three plumpy young women on backing vocals are the Rev's daughters)
► “You Can't Hurry God” :→ Blues Rules Festival, Crissier, Switzerland, 2012 :https://youtu.be/XEOQzQ41KTI
→ North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Waterford, MS, 2013 : https://youtu.be/ieXnUEEuyFE
→ Memphis, 2016 : https://youtu.be/fnEspxw73AI
→ Como, MS, 2019 : https://youtu.be/OTwSeDzstMY
→ Deep Blues Festival, Clarksdale, MS, 2019 : https://youtu.be/ZhOHfdlRDOc
► “Jesus Will Fix It” :
→ North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Waterford, MS, 2013 : https://youtu.be/iD9-LBUWL5w
→ Rouen, France, 2019 : https://youtu.be/Hr4m5HKUP38
► “Sinner's Prayer” :→ Blues Rules Festival, Crissier, Switzerland, 2012 : https://youtu.be/0m60c2CLHU0
→ Memphis, 2016 : https://youtu.be/ofO_GWlgYuU
→ Memphis, 2017 : https://youtu.be/4SwUb0ddGIw
► “Prodigal Son” :
→ North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, 2008 : https://youtu.be/2fJHB4lkiBg
→ Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, 2011 : https://youtu.be/7pkqkQABCkw
→ Saint Louis, MO, 2011 : https://youtu.be/vHiZhHKPgcg
→ Memphis, 2016 : https://youtu.be/bGAkUqKuQNc
→ Rouen, France, 2019 : https://youtu.be/H9EUhVDxGaw
→ The song by its author, Rev Robert Wilkins audio : https://youtu.be/A7SDdMo9BTU
→ The Rolling Stones version live in 1969 : https://youtu.be/25Sp7PQmXbw
► “You Got To Move” :→ Blues Rules Festival, Crissier, Switzerland, 2012 : https://youtu.be/aXM8kbkq5kI
→ Rauma Blues Festival, Finland, 2012 : https://youtu.be/sfI2oAPUvDk
→ Memphis, 2017 : https://youtu.be/npN70IVrCl4
→ Diamond, MO, 2017 : https://youtu.be/_eOb8IkbejI
→ Rouen, France, 2019 : https://youtu.be/PkZbY82rhd8
► “I Want You To Help Me” : → Blues Rules Festival, Crissier, Switzerland, 2012 : https://youtu.be/OhE1tHjnKeU
→ Diamond, MO, 2017 : https://youtu.be/Fdn_rVKF-RQ
→ North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic 2016 : https://youtu.be/joMEErYjXHA
→ Lucerne Blues Festival, Switzerland, 2019 : https://youtu.be/ribrIAmFZ6A
■ Not on this album► “Trouble” :
→ Rouen, France, 2019 : https://youtu.be/mgghkNQinIE
→ Como, MS, 2019 : https://youtu.be/HgSU-OJzgaw
► “Victory”, Rouen, France, 2019 : https://youtu.be/lFS-Iq5qojc
► “I've Come Through the Storm and Rain“ :→ Memphis, 2017 : https://youtu.be/jBDNKIIBd0g
→ Diamond, MO, 2017 : https://youtu.be/zL7u2_oNgJs
→ 2020 : https://youtu.be/dZgs0b3j8wY
► “Wade In The Water”, Memphis, 2019 : https://youtu.be/-asBindDWc0
► "Get Right Church" :
→ North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Waterford, MS, 2016 : https://youtu.be/ZwFIj49AwmE
→ Diamond, MO, 2017 : https://youtu.be/zL7u2_oNgJs
► "God Is Able" :→ Memphis, 2019 : https://youtu.be/y1okhBv5tnk
→ North Mississippi Hill Country Picnic, Waterford, MS, 2016 : https://youtu.be/lwfE6uu1QGo
► "Down Home Church", Como, MS, 2016 : https://youtu.be/vU1OIw7Lxq4
► Richmond Folk Festival, VA, 2015 : https://youtu.be/DX2fIdILRZA
► GonerFest., Memphis, 2012 : https://youtu.be/OIZi-w3OmT8
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The Reverend Robert Wilkins
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■ The preacher...► Rev. John Wilkins preaching in his Hunter Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Como, MS, 2015 : https://youtu.be/eu4vfjxeBrI
► Hunter's Chapel, Male Chorus performance, 2014
https://youtu.be/XlQf-Plsi0o
■ … and his father
► Rev Robert Wilkins Complete Post War Recordings, 36-track playlist (audio) : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpnG2psBH4Qt-4bu1WieOP4yDuTQv_g_G
Reverend John Wilkins, 1943-2020
The blues tattooed hand is giving his guitar a definite blues tone on songs like the typical repetitive Hill Country “Jesus Will Fix It”; the outstanding version of his father's song “Prodigal Son” (the one that caused legal copyright problems with the Rolling Stones), a long sorrowful Delta blues played on acoustic dobro guitar; the cover of Fred McDowell's iconic “You Got To Move” in a definite raw Hill Country style again; or the nice acoustic Delta blues “Thank You Sir”.
The nine tracks are at the same full of feeling and energy, sung with the powerful voice of a minister used to impress his congregation with his sermons during the offices. The lyrics, totally gospel, have the repetitive pattern of the Hill Country blues, while the Reverend keeps himself fully to the service of his holly message : no temptation to play the guitar hero, his guitar is skillfully but simply there to underline the words he sings with fervor. If my local priest was like the Rev. John Wilkins, I'd certainly go to church every Sunday!
► “You Can't Hurry God” :
► “Sinner's Prayer” :
► “You Got To Move” :
■ Not on this album
► “I've Come Through the Storm and Rain“ :
► "God Is Able" :
2 comments:
An album not suitable for agnostics Onur, a marvel with 9 tracks of the purest hill country.
By the way, a great film that you mentioned at the beginning, a jewel of cinema
Hi Luther. First, thanks for visiting Onurblues. Second, I disagree with you on two minor points: the quality of the Rev's music makes it appealing not only to believers but also to agnostics. It's like saying blues or jazz are not suitable to white or asian people.
Second remark, I don't think the Rev's music is "the purest Hill Country". It sounds as much like Memphis soul. It's precisely the melting of both styles which makes this album so unique...
Hope to see you back here.
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