Take My Hand, Precious Lord

Ward Singers, The Clara

album cover

From the Amen Corner to the Street Corner

It couldn't have been easy out there on the gospel highway in the America of the 1940s and '50s. The quartets and quintets of singers, most of them African American, heard the call and went on the road intending to spread the joy they'd found. Inevitably, this took them to the South and other places where black strangers, even those singing songs of joy and faith and forgiveness, were not exactly welcome. What they encountered along the way—routine bigotry, meanness, mistrust—would test anyone's faith. Singer Marion Williams, who was a key member of the Clara Ward Singers during the 1950s, recalls travel as a daily trial. "We couldn't use the bathrooms on the highway. If they did have one for us, there was a sign on the door that said 'Colored.' "

Somehow these challenges did not adversely affect the Ward Singers, five powerful women whose unflappable enthusiasm and intricate harmonizing can still raise goose bumps. One of the early gospel acts to perform in nonchurch venues (and the very first to work a Las Vegas lounge), the Ward Singers appeared onstage wearing glittering dresses and lavish jewels, and within minutes their exceedingly determined vocalizing would melt any resistance in the room. They had help, of course: a songbook filled with just about every revival-meeting standard, as well as current gospel hits, imaginatively arranged by leader Ward to take advantage of the theatrical whoops of her soloists.

This disc showcases many of the Ward Singers' signature songs. It's divided between studio recordings made in the late '50s and a sizzling live performance (featuring the dynamic lap-steel guitarist Sammy Fein) at new York's Town Hall from 1958. The program offers a comprehensive picture of one of gospel's most sparkling ensembles. The Wards were solid on the fundamentals of traditional gospel, and at the same time not content to preach to the converted. Like the great Sister Rosetta Tharpe and others, they take the word from the amen corner, pump it up to overdrive, and send it out into the world beyond church. Where it might actually do some good.

Genre: Gospel
Released: 1996, MCA
Key Tracks: "Take My Hand, Precious Lord," "You'll Never Walk Alone," "I Found the Keys to the Kingdom."
Catalog Choice: Meetin' Tonight
Next Stop: The Caravans: The Best of the Caravans
After That: The Fairfield Four: Standing in the Safety Zone
Book Pages: 845–846