Essential Gospel – Classic Recordings: No. 140

“Come Ye Disconsolate”
Dixie Hummingbirds
Peacock 3012
1964
[also on Peacock single 3402 and Peacock LP PLP 115 “Prayer for Peace,” Song Bird SBLP240, and ABC D-4013]

Think about the music of the Dixie Hummingbirds and what comes to mind is energetic, post-jubilee singing with a strong bass line and Howard Carroll’s guitar as lead vehicle of a quartet pulsing at the speed of Kenyan runners. The Birds were equally capable, however, of slowing it down to perform breathtaking gospel ballads with thick, lush harmonies, such as their 1964 recording of the 19th century hymn, “Come Ye Disconsolate.”

In my experience, gospel arrangements of “Come Ye Disconsolate” often lack musical imagination, varying little from what’s printed on the page in the hymnal. Leave it to the Dixie Hummingbirds to change that by interpreting the hymn with a harmony line rich as fudge yet beautiful and delicate as crystal. Over a medium-slow waltz tempo maintained by drums, guitar and piano, Ira Tucker sings gently in the high register as the rest of the Birds harmonize quietly behind him, akin to a musical afterthought.

“Come Ye Disconsolate” was coupled on Peacock single #3012 with the equally dignified “Our Prayer for Peace,” a “why can’t we all get along?” plea. Released shortly after the JFK assassination, the single captured the frustration and sadness that gripped the United States as it struggled to come to sobering terms with a world that changed in the flash of a rifle shot.