November 5, 2018

These Gospel-Inspired Artists Are a True Godsend

The Louvin Brothers and Joe Simon have some music worth your while.

Album Reviews

The Louvin Brothers
Love and Wealth: The Lost Recordings
Modern Harmonic

Joe Simon
Step by Step: The Complete Pop Hits
Real Gone Music

Gospel music aims to nurture the spirit of believers, but its impact has extended far beyond the church. A slew of gifted artists who started in gospel have gone on to success in a variety of genres, while the sound and energy of the music itself have been a cornerstone of rock, R&B, and blues.

Tennessee’s Ira and Charlie Louvin played gospel exclusively until the mid-50s, when they added secular material to their rural repertoire. Whatever the focus, the siblings’ music was magical, thanks to high lonesome vocal harmonies that set the stage for the Everly Brothers. Best remembered today for the album “Satan Is Real” (with its bizarro cover) and such songs as “The Christian Life,” later covered by The Byrds, the Louvins’ body of work is prized by Nashville traditionalists, which makes “Love and Wealth” all the more special. This 29-song set is a godsend, containing previously unreleased demos of tunes they pitched to others. Vibrant and exhilarating, these thrilling performances span corny humor (“Television Set”), lovelorn laments (“Take My Ring from Your Finger”), and expressions of faith (“You’ll Meet Him in the Clouds”). Even the country-averse may find it hard to resist.

Louisiana-born Joe Simon sang gospel before he first entered the pop charts in 1964 and returned to the fold in the early 80s, after the hits dried up. “Step by Step” collects the singles of one of the most underrated soul artists ever. Blessed with a rich, resonant voice, Simon had the leisurely delivery of fellow country-influenced R&B crooners like Arthur Alexander and Percy Sledge and boasted the kind of elegant power that made Jerry Butler so arresting. Many listeners have probably encountered the melancholy ballad “(You Keep Me) Hanging On”—not the Supremes song—the searing blaxploitation epic “Theme from ‘Cleopatra Jones,'” or the funky dance-floor raveup “Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor)” without knowing the name of this wonderfully versatile artist. A great singer awaits your discovery!

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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