TBGB Pick of the Week: March 12, 2006

Henry Green, featuring Melvin Williams
“My Story”
From the album Henry Green – Mr. Green’s Session
Blackberry 2006
www.blackberryrecords.com

Henry Green is an original member of the Williams Brothers, formed in 1960. After more than 45 years with the quartet, Green has released his first solo album: Mr. Green’s Session.

On one of the tracks, “My Story,” Green is joined by a fellow member of the legendary quartet, the smooth crooning Melvin Williams. Together, they produce the traditional, funky, deep-South sound that we have come to love and expect from the good folks at Blackberry Records.

The back-story of the singer’s testimony is heartbreaking, if unfortunately typical, but ends on a predictably positive note. “I remember when I was a little boy/Growing up in the hills of Mississippi/Some old men told me, ‘Son, you’ll never be nothing in life’/Ohhh, but look where God has brought me from!”

Triumph over adversity articulated among, and affirmed by, members of the quartet brotherhood is a good example of gospel music group therapy. But the emotional lift exemplified on “My Story” will be effective medicine for anyone within earshot.