Jesus is a Sure Thing – Perfect Peace (2006)

Perfect Peace
Jesus is a Sure Thing
Self-produced 2006
(256) 329-2258

Husband and wife gospel singing duos have been active at least since the 1920s. Prominent examples include Memphis evangelists A.C. and Mamie Forehand, who recorded “Honey in the Rock” (Victor, 1927), complete with Mrs. Forehand’s ringing finger cymbal percussion. William and Versey Smith’s shambolic ode to the Titanic disaster, “When That Great Ship Went Down” (Paramount, 1927) is another.

In the 1950s, Iola and Sullivan Pugh turned the harmonizing husband and wife team into a hit maker as the famed Consolers. Their smash “Give Me My Flowers” remains a gospel music classic and church catchphrase.

Guess he who sings together stays together.

Today, Lee and Ruth Burns of Alexander City, Alabama, former members of the Alabama Spirituals, have taken the married-with-voices concept into the 21st century as the group “Perfect Peace.” Their 2006 CD Jesus is a Sure Thing is all-too brief but packed with bright, bluesy congregation pleasers that hum with the duo’s spit-polished Southern harmonies. There’s no question that the Burns’ quartet roots show proudly throughout the project.

The duo’s “I Believe in Jesus” and “God’s Love” are gospelized versions of popular songs. The former riffs on Mac Davis’ 1972 “I Believe in Music” and the latter replaces the Temptations’ “My Girl” with “God’s Love,” complete with the iconic bass line intro.

Additional voices appear alongside the Burns on “Weeping May Endure,” leading me to believe that some of the Alabama Spirituals lent their voices to the project. All together, they give the song the kind of deep-groove soulfulness that female quartets of the 1970s were so skilled at committing to vinyl.

The finest track on Jesus is a Sure Thing is the Burns’ version of the chestnut “The Old Rugged Cross.” This lovely cut will play especially well on radio stations below the Mason-Dixon line.

Whoever produced Jesus is a Sure Thing (Lee Burns?) did a fine job balancing the sound and giving the project depth, as well as capturing the nuances of the exquisite harmonies. Traditionalists will enjoy this latest version of the husband-wife singing troupe.

Three of Four Stars