Campbell Brothers – Sacred Steel On Tour
In a year blessed with outstanding guitar-driven gospel albums by the Blind Boys Of Alabama, the Holmes Brothers and the Imperial Golden Crown Harmonizers, perhaps the most welcome “good news” of all is Sacred Steel On Tour by the Campbell Brothers.
These amazingly versatile musicians don’t hesitate to incorporate such divergent elements as howling multi-guitar jams, carefully crafted jazzy touches, and a healthy dose of down-home sacred steel testifying. All of that is necessary to faithfully support the variety of singers the Campbells regularly employ — from the contemporary soulful style of Denise Brown (heard here on an ecstatic “I’ve Got A Feeling”) to the classic gospel sound of the masterful Kate Jackson (on a version of “Didn’t It Rain”).
Whoever the singer though, it’s the Campbells’ unerring trademark that the guitar’s response meets singer and song at their most telling, and then proceeds to lift them clear to the heavens. That they accomplish this without resorting to empty pyrotechnics or diluting one iota the essential gospel message is a tribute to the bedrock spiritual nature of their gift.
My only reservations about this disc involve the editing; a single disc can’t contain the essence of such a dynamo. Someday the Campbell Brothers may decide to record the full rush of one of their services or performances on a multi-disc set, and we’ll have a full-fledged gospel classic. In the meantime, with Sacred Steel On Tour, we’ll have to settle for one of the year’s most joyous recordings.