Hello my friends and welcome back to another service of Cowboy Church.
For the writer of the fast upbeat gospel classic, I Saw the Light, Hank Williams had a fondness for darker gospel songs as well, because he recorded a lot of them. One of the best is I Dreamed of that Great Judgement Morning. Hank's voice is perfectly suited to the material with a mournful twang that only he was capable of. Others have recorded this song (including greats like Roy Acuff and George Jones), but none of these other versions have the sheer emotional power of Hank's power. This song is about what will happen in the tribulation (in the book of Revelation) after the church has been called away. This is something that luckily any one who has put their faith in Christ will not see, but there are sadly plenty of people who will be there. I pray that no one reading this will be there to see this. This song was written in 1894 and was once a southern gospel standard. The hymn was written by Rev. Bertram Henry Shadduck and Leander Lycurgus Pickett. This recording comes from a 1951 episode of Hank's Mother Best radio show. This is followed by The Charlie Daniels Band with Protected by Prayer from their 1994 Christian album, The Door. Charlie Daniels said in his book, Never Look at the Empty Seats, "I think the most pressure I was ever under as a songwriter was when I wrote the songs for our first gospel album The Door. It was such a special project to me. I wanted it to be much more than just another gospel album. I wanted the lyrics to have impact and hopefully speak to some of the people who, like me, had a hard time understanding the gospel message and were falling through the cracks. I wrote, rejected, accepted, started over, changed and rearranged the songs until I was satisficed with the words and how they fit into the music. It was all worth the effort." It certainly was, this is an excellent album. It would also win the band a Dove award and more importantly spoke to many of the band's fans about God. This is followed by a classic cowboy gospel song recorded by its writer cowboy music legend Stuart Hamblin. If you want to hear how this song was written, the video below it has Stuart Hamblin telling the story behind the song. This is followed by Porter Wagoner with his recording of Matthew 24. This followed Roy Rogers and Dale Evans singing a medley of gospel songs (That Old Time Religion, Daddy Sing Bass, Cowboy Camp Meeting) on the 30th episode of Hee Haw (aired on September 15, 1970). As a huge fan of Johnny Cash as well as Roy and Dale, there is something that makes me very happy about them including one of Johnny Cash's hits (even if the song was written by Carl Perkins) in this medley. After comes Jim Reeves' recording of Oh Gentle Shepard from his 1962 gospel album, We Thank Thee. During the late 1950's and 60's there was a movement going through country music towards what was called Countrypolitian. This was a movement away from the harder honky tonk sounds of earlier to a softer more easy listening type of sound designed to make the genre appeal more to pop fans. While this type of country music understandably has its critics, it could work very well when done right. Jim Reeves proved to be one of the best singers to take part in this music and when he was in front of the microphone Countrypolitian music worked beautifully. Today's musical selection ends with Sons of the Pioneers singing How Will I Know Him (When He Walks By). This recording comes from their 1963 gospel album, Hymns of the Cowboy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=OLAK5uy_mCgU4RbjP--UN8VUoOubRGcoJl3IVxhM8&v=K64V5Y44h4A&feature=emb_title
-Michael J. Ruhland
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