Country Vets Get That Ol' Time Religion

07/25/2004 6:12 PM, Reuters
Deborah Evans Price

Randy Travis and Billy Ray Cyrus are among the country artists who have added a new dimension to their careers with successful gospel albums. Now several veteran country acts are serving up their musical contributions to the country gospel trend.

Bill Anderson, the Kendalls, John Conlee, David Frizzell and Brenda Lee are among those that have just released or are planning to issue gospel CDs. In addition, Willie Nelson and his sister, Bobbie, have recorded "Farther Along: A Gospel Collection" for Sugar Hill.

"Country gospel has just turned into a great category for us," says Dave Roy, senior VP of product development for Madacy Entertainment Group, which is releasing the Anderson, Kendalls, Frizzell and Lee projects.

The albums are being worked to the country and Christian music markets. Roy says both country fans and gospel music lovers are receptive buyers.

"Our target audience is the Wal-Mart shopper," he says. "We do so much business with the mass merchants like Wal-Mart, Kmart and Target. This is all-American music. These are great gospel songs by great country legends."

Anderson first released his gospel collection, "Softly and Tenderly," June 1 on his own TWI Records. For the veteran Grand Ole Opry star, this marks his second foray into Christian music. The first was an album for Decca decades ago.

"This is really the first full-blown gospel album I've done since back in the '60s," Anderson says. "I was going to go into the studio last winter to do a new country record, and Jack Jackson came to me and said, 'We've gotten quite a few calls out in the marketplace for some country gospel."'

So Anderson recorded some of his favorites. In addition to his original tune "I Can Do Nothing Alone," the 11-song album includes such classics as "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," "Love Lifted Me," "I Saw the Light" and "Life's Railway to Heaven."

"They don't sing these anymore in a lot of the churches," Anderson says. "They are so into a lot of the new stuff, and they don't go back and dig out these old chestnuts anymore. That's another reason I wanted to do them."

ENJOYING ARTISTIC FREEDOM

In addition to reintroducing audiences to near-forgotten gospel gems, many veteran country acts are releasing gospel projects because they finally can.

Often when an artist is at the height of their career, major labels aren't interested in letting them record a gospel album. So most have to wait until later in their career when they have more artistic freedom to record such projects.

"It's a longtime dream, and it's exciting to get to scratch that itch, so to speak, with this album. I have wanted to do one for at least 10 or 12 years," Conlee says of his 15-song CD, "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." It is due this fall on his own RCR label.

"I worked up a version of 'Amazing Grace' and started doing it in the show several years ago, kind of testing the water," Conlee says. "It got such great response that it encouraged the desire I had to do (a gospel album)."

The album will include standards like "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Amazing Grace" alongside such newer fare as "They Also Serve," a patriotic song about soliders' families. It also contains the Harley Allen song "Pass It On," Sonny Throckmorton's "Safely in the Arms of Jesus" and the Dickey Lee-penned "Peace Within."

The Kendalls' "Best of Country Gospel" album was recorded in 1996, two years before Jeannie Kendall's father and duet partner, Royce, passed away. The project was put on hold until Madacy's Roy saw Kendall performing at Fan Fair last year, supporting her Rounder solo debut. He was so impressed that when he learned of the gospel album in the vault he jumped at the chance to release it.

Kendall, who is working on another solo album for Rounder, says she and her father would include gospel songs in their shows. She feels that country and gospel audiences overlap considerably.

"Through the years we had so many requests from fans to do a gospel album," she says. "We thought (that) even if we didn't have it out as a regular release, we wanted to have it available at shows."

The Kendalls album features 21 gospel classics, among them "This World Is Not My Home," "The Wayfaring Stranger," "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Just a Little Talk with Jesus."

The album was released May 25. Roy says it has been a slow but steady seller.

Reuters/Billboard