Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.
Today's musical selection begins with The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1937 recording of Heavenly Airplane. This song was written by Bob Nolan, one of the group's founding members and one of my favorite songwriters. As well as writing this song, Bob also sings lead. Also in the group at this time was Leonard Syle, who would later become known as Roy Rogers. This was towards the end of his time as a member of The Sons of the Pioneers. He would leave the band with dreams of movie stardom and dreams that he certainly would reach. Roy would later write, "Seventy-five dollars a week, each and every week! That's what Republic agreed to pay me for the next seven years. I was sitting on the top of the world. Before I signed, I had to wrangle out of the contract the Sons of the Pioneers had only recently signed with Columbia Pictures. Actually that was easy. Harry Cohn the studio boss, was happy to release me so long as I promised to find someone to replace me in the group. His decision made my move to Republic possible, and also underscored why I wanted to be at Republic rather than Columbia. I would have been just another cowboy singer at Gower Gluch - easily replaceable - rather than the potential leading man the way they were talking at Republic. Besides Republic made the best most action packed westerns in those days." To replace him in the Sons of the Pioneers, Roy got Pat Brady, who would later become his "comical sidekick" on Roy's TV show. There was no hard feelings between Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers. Though Roy was no longer a member of the group, they would appear together in many films and record many songs together. This is followed by Charlie Rich with Amazing Grace. This hymn was written by John Newton in 1772. It is no coincidence that John Newton wrote this hymn, as he was someone who badly needed God's grace. Looking at his life before he gave it to God, there is not much to find that is admirable and in fact some of what we see is downright horrific. He played a part in one of the darkest (if not the darkest) parts of American history. He was a slave trader. To say that slavery in the United States was a tragedy and a horrible part of our history is an incredible understatement, and this man was a part of that horrific system. Later he even admitted that he treated the human beings that he was bringing over harshly. If there is anyone, we in our humanness would think is beyond God to reach it would be this guy. Yet God did reach him and being God completely changed him. He not only abandoned his job, but he gave his life to God's ministry and helped fight slavery every step of the way. If God could do this with him who is to say that any of us or anyone we know could possibly be out of God's power to reach. Next comes the Hee Haw Gospel Quartet with There's Power in the Blood. This song was written in 1889 by Lewis Edgar Jones while at a camp meeting taking place at Mountain Lake Park, MD. This is followed by George Jones with Give Me Just One Day. We only have so much time on this Earth and none of us know how long we will be here. Therefore it is important for us to let God use us any way he can, during our time on Earth. Now for Randy Travis with Precious Memories. Though this is a sweet uplifting song, it was based upon a tragedy. In 1922, John Wright lost his five year old son. Wright would later say about this song, “’Precious Memories’ was born in the midnight hours as I bathed by pillow with tears, likewise all my songs came through life’s severest tests.” Though this is a very famous hymn, John Wright only received $36 for writing it. He would remain a janitor that was always struggling to make ends meet for his entire life. Next comes The Charlie Daniels Band with Jesus Died For Me. This song cam from their first gospel album, The Door. In his memoir, Never Look at the Empty Seats, Charlie Daniels wrote, "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 such a hard time understanding the gospel message and were falling through the cracks." Charlie worked very hard on each song and rewrote some multiple times. The effort paid off. This fantastic 1994 album shows The Charlie Daniels Band at their best and it won them their first Dove Award. Next we join the Maddox Brothers and Rose for their 1949 recording of the southern gospel classic I’ll Fly Away. This song was written by Albert Edward Brumley and was first published in 1932. He grew up in Oklahoma and when he wrote this song he was living in Rock Island, Oklahoma where he was helping his family plant and pick cotton. This was hard and grueling work and Brumley later admitted, “Actually, I was dreaming of flying away from that cotton field when I wrote ‘I’ll Fly Away.’” Today’s musical selection ends with Roy Rogers singing Peace in the Valley. he hymn was written by Thomas A. Dorsey who later explained the origins of this song, “Peace in the Valley,” “It was just before Hitler sent his war chariots into Western Europe in the late 1930s. I was on a train going through southern Indiana and saw horses, cows and sheep all grazing together in this little valley. Everything seemed so peaceful. It made me question, “What’s the matter with mankind? Why can’t men live in peace?” Out of those thoughts came “Peace in the Valley.”
Now for a discussion of the classic western, 7 Men From Now (1956).
Motion Picture Daily, 1956
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24
Thanks for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.
Resources Used
Happy Trails: Our Life Story by Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.
http://www.trialanderrorcollective.com/collective-collab-blogs--playlists/ill-fly-away-a-brief-history-of-the-quintessential-gospel-song-and-ten-great-renditions
https://dianaleaghmatthews.com/peace-in-the-valley/#.YmbFre3MK3A
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