For fans of old school gospel, one particular show scheduled for tonight, December 3rd — An Evening of Sacred Soul with Elizabeth King and Elder Jack Ward — will feel like the Great Awakening, as the Bible & Tire Recording Co. presents an evening loaded with unique elements to bring earthy, down-home gospel to life like never before. It all stems from several years’ worth of work and planning by Bruce Watson, fellow sanctified soul enthusiast (and erstwhile Royal Pendleton) Mike Hurtt, and the once and future DJ and visionary of Memphis gospel, Pastor Juan D. Shipp.
“I always wanted to do a gospel thing,” says Watson. “All the modern gospel stuff that I’ve heard lately is pretty horrid. One of my jobs is collecting old masters and buying old labels and stuff, and that gospel stuff from the ’60s and ’70s was always just so amazing, and I just didn’t hear that in modern gospel music. So basically I wanted to create a Memphis based label that concentrated on recording gospel music and try and make it sound like it was recorded in the ’60s and ’70s. And also reissue stuff.” That became Bible & Tire Recording Co. in 2019.
As Watson explains, “I contacted Pastor Shipp and said, ‘Look, I’m starting this gospel label and I would love to buy the rights to the D-Vine Spirituals label and kick start this new label.’ And suddenly I was working with the Barnes Brothers, with the Elizabeth King release and the box set for the D-Vine Spirituals stuff, which is absolutely amazing. So that’s how it all came together.”
Tonight will be an apotheosis of sorts for all of these projects, with an exclusive showing of a documentary, The D-Vine Spirituals Story, followed by performances by Elizabeth King and Elder Jack Ward, supported by the Sacred Soul Sound Section. A meet-and-greet/record signing with the artists will be held at Memphis Listening Lab at 6 p.m. prior to the show.
The documentary promises to be well researched, as extensive liner notes for Bible & Tire’s D-Vine Spirituals box set were penned by author Hurtt, perhaps best known for the book he co-wrote with Billy Miller, Mind Over Matter: The Myths and Mysteries of Detroit’s Fortune Records.
As Watson notes, Hurtt was integral to the process of unearthing the D-Vine Spirituals catalog. “Mike’s really the one who saved these recordings. He reached out to Pastor Shipp and asked, ‘What’s the story?’ So Mike and Pastor Shipp drove down to Southhaven and got all the tapes, and stored them all in Scott Bomar’s for the longest time. And every time I’d go over to Bomar’s, I walked past that closet filled with those tapes. And I’d say, ‘Hey Scott, you’re not gonna do anything with those tapes?’ Then he called and said, ‘I’m not gonna do anything with those tapes.’ Finally he called and said, ‘Man, are you gonna come get these tapes?’ And I was like, ‘Of course I will!’ But if Mike Hurtt hadn’t taken the initiative and gotten the tapes with Pastor Shipp, none of this would have happened, as far as D-Vine Spirituals. We transferred 150 master tapes, and they were all in pretty good shape.”
Now, thanks to Bible & Tire, not only are the gems of the ’70s gospel label’s catalog being re-released, artists from that era like Elizabeth King and Elder Jack Ward are finding new audiences and releasing new albums. It will all be on display tonight, both live and onscreen, at the Crosstown Theater.
An Evening of Sacred Soul with Elizabeth King & Elder Jack Ward
Friday, December 3rd, 7 p.m., Crosstown Theater