Oh Lord!

The Traveling Inner Lights “Let’s Have A Family Prayer”

I’ll be honest with you, I’m not the type of person to get excited about the prospect of a “family prayer.” Nevertheless, upon hearing this amazing live recording of the Traveling Inner Lights from 1961, the concept suddenly became a LOT more appealing. The band sound exceptionally warm and joyous on this song, and as the group settles into a brisk vamp, the gravel-voiced lead singer becomes increasingly unhinged in his ecstatic exhortations to worship his lord and savior. There’s something especially mesmerizing about the vamp section — it almost sounds as though they are emulating the sound of a skipping record, with the vocal harmony and guitar rhythm settling into a very tight groove. It’d be very interesting to hear some modern acts play around with this sort of arrangement and performance, while not necessarily while working in the gospel genre.

Buy the Art of Field Recordings Volume II from Dust-to-Digital Records.