Monday, July 20, 2009

'On Jordan's Stormy Banks' / THE PROMISED LAND

Peggy Brayfield of Charleston, Ill., videotaped three versions in the Sacred Harp of the text by Samuel Stennett. The first is THE PROMISED LAND ... the others are SWEET PROSPECT and NEW JORDAN ...



Zipping along even faster than the Sacred Harp singers, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir proves you're not immune to "bluegrassing it" even when you're backed by an orchestra. Arrangement by Mack Wilberg.

First verse and chorus, sung right by the Clara Ward Singers ...

A nice. up-tempo Southern gospel piano version by Keith Hinson of Alabama ...

A credible version, a little slower and backed by guitar and banjo, by a West Virginia band called Appalachian Tradition ...

Also, maybe the best of the bunch although the tune is different, Christian rock band Jars of Clay, of Greenville, Ill., plays the song at a tempo I think is suitable to the text ... their lyrics, which are basically Stennett's, are available on line.

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