TBGB Reviews…The Canton Spirituals

Driven
The Canton Spirituals
Zomba Gospel 2007

Driven is a fitting title for any quartet recording, but especially for the latest release by the Canton Spirituals. For more than 60 years, since Harvey Watkins, Sr. founded the group in Canton, Mississippi in 1943, the group has traveled the length and breadth of the gospel highway behind the wheel of a car or bus. And of course, the rhythmic “drive” of quartet music is legendary.

In keeping with its title, the CD opens with the scanning of an auto’s AM radio dial that at last rests upon “That Man From Galilee,” the first single from Driven. Featuring a superb vamp, “That Man From Galilee” is easily the finest track on the project.

There are plenty of cuts on Driven, however, to warm the traditional quartet lover’s heart. For example, “I Recommend Jesus” starts with the strum of a sixth chord, a throwback to a day when the only way a quartet recording was kicked off was with the strum of a chord to give everyone his opening note. “Put God First” also has a traditional flavor, and “I Got Him on My Mind” is a high-energy workout prefaced with the Canton Spirituals’ assertion that “Down in Mississippi, we used to sing songs like this.” Thank God that down in Mississippi, they still sing songs like this.

The harmonies on “Get Aboard” are dense and heavy, dripping with the humidity of a Mississippi afternoon in August, as the quartet employs the familiar gospel train metaphor to pay tribute to former members who have hopped the train and gone home.

Driven is an excellent CD from a quartet known for the quality of its recordings, and from a state renowned for producing traditional quartet music that stands the test of time.

Three and a Half of Four Stars