Porter Wagoner and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet - The Grand Old Gospel (1966/2015) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

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Porter Wagoner and The Blackwood Brothers Quartet - The Grand Old Gospel (1966/2015) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

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Porter Wagoner & The Blackwood Brothers Quartet - The Grand Old Gospel (1966/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time - 32:38 minutes | 630 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Front cover

Though this longstanding fellowship has rarely been played up in any explicit sense, let alone exploited commercially, the two styles have always shared an audience. In fact, countless country stars through the decades have first learned to sing in the Southern gospel style prominent at camp meetings and other revivals, or in the traveling shape-note singing schools that proliferated in the first half of this century.

Wagoner was no exception to this rule, raising his youthful voice with a Baptist church congregation on old numbers such as 'When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder'. And make no mistake: Though the two acts get equal billing here, these albums are Porter Wagoner projects through and through. Wagoner and the Blackwoods are accompanied by an A-team band that doesn't do anything much differently than it would have on any other Wagoner release – though that does sound like the quartet's longtime accompanist, Wally Varner, chording along at times, even kicking off a few numbers.

In fact, the Blackwood Brothers – who, along with the Statesmen, were the finest groups Southern gospel produced – barely provide much more than backing vocals on most tracks. Missed opportunities aside, though, 1966's Grand Old Gospel and 1967's More Grand Old Gospel are consistently engaging efforts, of a piece both with one another and with Wagoner's solo gospel work.