Today’s post was written by Paul.
The video I’m sharing today is the very first recording that my cousin Maria and I made together. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t feature a bunch of instruments, like “Daddy’s Hands,” which was made with the help of some professional karaoke tracks. This recording features only the little classical guitar that Wayde Powell, II gave me (which was recently featured in the video of “The Blind Pig Bounce“).
According to Google: “The gospel and bluegrass classic “Who Will Sing for Me” is most famously attributed to Carter Stanley (of the legendary Stanley Brothers), who adapted and popularized the song. However, its lyrical roots trace back to an older hymn written by John Thomas Ely in 1922.” To learn more about the song and Thomas Ely, visit hymnary.org.
When we made this recording, I intended to play a harmonica break in the middle, so I left a “gap” there, where the guitar just chords or plays rhythm alone. The fact that I never got it done in 36 years shows how great I am about procrastinating! 🙂 You might recall, though, that the only harmonica I had at the time of this recording was in the key of D, so I couldn’t have played that break without getting another harmonica. The pitch wheel on the cassette recorder wouldn’t decrease speed enough to drop down two frets from E to D. I think the top E string on that little guitar sounded really great on the run that it makes at the end of that “gap.”
This recording has very low volume. I boosted it as much as I could (along with a lot of tape hiss) for this upload, but this is about as loud as I could make it. I apologize for the low quality of the recording. I didn’t really know much about setting mic levels back then. The other “found” recordings with Maria that I will share in the coming weeks feature more volume/better recording quality.
I think I did a little better job on my harmony by staying “tucked” behind Maria’s lead vocal on this one (compared to “Daddy’s Hands”), though my vocal did stick out a little in a couple of places at the ends of the lines.
Although this song is quite old, and Pap knew it well, I had never heard it until Maria sang it for me. I remember when we played the recording back, Maria was a little disappointed that she accidentally sang “tread” in the second verse, rather than “turn,” but the take had such a good feel to it, that we decided not to do it again. We also figured that “tread” still made sense in the song.
When I uploaded “Come Morning, there’s Glory for Me” a while back (see Maria Campbell playlist here), Maria liked it, but she said that she felt a little self conscious about the sometimes highly “proper” ways that she pronounced certain words in her singing. She said that it was the influence of being in high school chorus at the time. I can hear what she’s talking about (in that song and in this one), but I don’t think it hurts anything. To me, the precise or proper pronunciation goes along just fine with her very precise vocal control.
Though it was never planned to be that way, this song is one of the last songs that Pap and I sang together. You can see the video of us here. Pap’s conception of or approach to the song was a little different from Maria’s, but I like both approaches.
With Pap, I sang lead, and he sang harmony. He had me change a couple of notes by singing them slightly higher, particularly on the word “sea.” You can tell in that video that Pap’s strength was failing him, but he still sang his part very well.
Pap and his brother, Ray (Maria’s father), sang for many, many funerals, by request. Pap told me before he passed, that he would like for the Robbinsville Quartet to sing at his funeral. They came out of retirement to honor that request, which greatly touched me. I thought it was unusual for Pap to request a quartet when he loved duet singing so much. I guess he just admired them as singers and as men that much, that he wanted them to provide the singing at his service.
I haven’t really wondered who will sing at my funeral. If I am able to make arrangements prior to passing (with a local funeral home), I think I will give them some recorded music to play, featuring a few of my favorite songs. I have wondered more about what will be the last song that I will sing or hear. I don’t know, but I know who does know, and that’s the Lord. Thanks for watching.
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016).
The Wilson Brothers Words of Life Album released in the 70s.
