Different Hymnals.
Joel Mabus
fossil 2517
LINER NOTES FROM ALBUM COVER
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INSIDE FIRST FOLD
As
a kid growing up in small southern Illinois town, much of my music was served up
in a little roadside Pentecostal church where the only choir was the
congregation itself. Singing, clapping, and “shoutin’ glory” was a big
part of most worship services. My brother and I played some old-time bluegrass
around the house, but that humble little church – where our big sister played
piano – schooled us every week in rhythm, harmony and song structure. Some
powerful lessons that got baked into my bones.
At
age seventeen, a National Merit scholarship bought me a bus ticket to a big
college up north. Turns
out, that was just the first leg of a very long journey. It’s
as the old song says – I’m a pilgrim and a stranger, just traveling through.
But
in all my wayfaring, I have always kept an ear out for the music of the elders
– in all sorts of spiritual traditions.
Here I offer some fruit from that mighty vine.
It’s
a full 500 years now since Luther famously nailed his theses to the door and
split his church asunder.
Theology aside, Western music has never been the same since.
The Reformation in Europe ushered in radical new ideas of hymnody and
song; in the fertile soil of North America those ideas took root in ways that no
one could have predicted.
Hymns of the seekers, spirituals of the oppressed, anthems of the
revived, and the rousing gospel of the redeemed – they all continue to swirl
in the great melting pot. Their choruses echo in stained glass cathedrals and in
lowly store-front missions. Their themes are repeated in symphonic concerts and
in corner juke joints; the same tune throttled on Sunday’s pipe organ gets
pounded on Saturday night’s guitar.
If
you know me, then you know that in these past forty years of recording, I’ve
often woven songs of faith into my mix of original and traditional music.
It’s just my natural fabric.
At long last, in this album, I am shining full light on the wellspring
that has informed so much of my musical life.
This collection represents a wide variety of inspiration and traditions,
different dogma and creeds.
Different
hymnals.
Same hope.
INSIDE SECOND FOLD
The idea was to record
a collection of favorite old hymns on fingerstyle guitar with no vocals. It
would be “A Parlor Guitar Hymnary,” a sequel to my earlier “Parlor
Guitar” albums. Most of the purely
instrumental tracks here were part of that first plan.
But then, two of my
featured guitar arrangements picked up new lyrics. I
had written two bits of verse that seemed to fit The Navy Hymn (MELITA) and the
Sibelius (FINLANDIA) to become “Everybody’s Grace” and “One Simple
Song” – the first a festal blessing in rhyme, and the second a simple plea
for peace. I judged both were better
sung than said, so I answered the call to sing.
And this work took a new direction.
One of the oldest
stories in the world is here in “Low Lazarus & Lord Diverus.” After it,
the scolding Jeremiad, “God Don’t Like It.” Some
would say neither is technically a hymn – and the latter I’ve reworked
significantly. But I sing two proper
hymns from the great Charles A. Tindley: “Stand By Me,” and “We’ll
Understand It Better Bye & Bye” – both published in 1905, and included
since in hymnals of every stripe. I urge you to learn about Rev. Tindley’s
life – he is a true inspiration.
One of the earliest
non-conformist hymns, “Must Jesus Bear The Cross Alone,” slides into “Let
It Shine,” a rousing African American spiritual. Also on bottleneck guitar,
two seminal hymns link their tunes: “Jesus, Lover Of My Soul” and “Nearer
My God To Thee.”
“No Not One!” is a
rather obscure gospel song I find refreshingly guileless. Words
written in New Jersey in 1895 by Methodist preacher and insurance man, Johnson
Oatman, Jr., with melody by George Hugg.
“Jesus Knocking At Your Door” is a song I wrote for this album,
drawing elements from the “Do Lord” family of traditional songs.
A word about my
guitars: for the tracks in standard tuning I play my primary concert guitar –
a Bryan Galloup maple cutaway, his “Spartan” model.
My slide guitar is a mahogany C.F. Martin I keep in the open-D
“Sevastopol” tuning (DADF#AD) – a heavy brass slide serves as my
bottleneck.
And finally a word
about faith: I didn’t come to preach or proselytize. I
bring songs. Like most everybody, I
have my firm beliefs and my many doubts. But
I’ll just keep them to myself, if that’s okay. The
songs abide.
I will give you this:
a good song doesn’t necessarily make for the best theology. And that goes the
other way around, too. As the wise
old cook said: Just because roses smell better than cabbages, it doesn’t mean
they make better soup.
I just hope you find
this particular pot of soup as satisfying as I do. Come
and dine.
Joel
Mabus – 2017
1.
Four Early Shape Note Hymns
4:37
Traditional melodies adapted
and arranged for guitar by J Mabus – The tunes: FAITHFUL SOLDIER, NEW BRITAIN,
PISGAH and RESIGNATION
2.
Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone / Let It Shine
6:10
Traditional hymns adapted and
arranged by J Mabus – Original hymn tune CROSS AND CROWN, 1838
with original first verse text by Thomas Shepherd, 1693. / Second hymn
based on a traditional spiritual
3.
When Peace, Like a River 2:44
Traditional, adapted and arranged
for guitar by J Mabus – Original melody VILLE DU HAVRE by Philip Bliss 1876
4.
Stand By Me 3:25
Traditional hymn adapted and
arranged by J Mabus – Original by Rev. Charles Albert Tindley 1905
5.
Love Lifted Me 2:45
Traditional hymn adapted and
arranged for guitar by J Mabus –The original melody by Howard Smith in 1912
6.
No Not One! 3:06
Traditional hymn adapted and
arranged by J Mabus –Original by Oatman & Hugg, 1895
7.
Everybody’s Grace 2:15
Lyrics by J Mabus with traditional
hymn tune adapted and arranged by J Mabus – from the tune MELITA by J.B.Dykes,
1861
8.
Low Lazarus & Lord Diverus
6:10
Traditional English carol
adapted and arranged with some new verses by J Mabus
9.
God Don’t Like It – I Don’t Either
3:07
Words and music by J Mabus –
chorus and tune based on a traditional American song
10. One Simple Song
3:00
Lyrics by J Mabus with traditional
hymn tune adapted and arranged by J Mabus – from the tune FINLANDIA by Jean
Sibelius, 1899
11. Jesus Knocking At Your
Door 4:14
Words and music by J Mabus
– Inspired by traditional spirituals.
12. Jesus, Lover Of My Soul /
Nearer My God To Thee 3:18
Traditional hymns adapted and
arranged by J Mabus – Original tunes: MARTYN by Simeon Marsh 1834 / BETHANY by Lowell Mason 1856
13. We’ll
Understand It Better Bye & Bye
3:25
Traditional hymn adapted and
arranged by J Mabus – Original by Rev. Charles Albert Tindley 1905
14. Old Hundredth
1:25
Traditional hymn adapted and
arranged by J Mabus – Original tune attributed to Loys Bourgeois 1551
All tracks (P)(C) 2017 Joel Mabus,
published by Fingerboard Music
Fossil Record #2517
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Ian Gorman for
La Luna Recording & Sound, Kalamazoo, MI
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