Sin...Ain't it a Shame.

If I might address my adoration of Gospel 78's for a moment...

The wonderful thing about gospel music is that the purveyors were more often than not just as guilty as the sermonized when it came to worldly matters. It is that same lapse in reason that allows me to present to you, w/ no small amount of irony, Rev. A. Johnson's 1952 oratory on divine disapproval - God Don't Like It.

Note: Don't worry, you don't have to believe in the God of Abraham to enjoy , you just have to believe that ole' A. J. believes - Faith by proxy

Surely Great Aunt Mahala would have balked at the notion "quit that drinkin' moonshine", but such is the duality of sin and sacrament that the classification of Guitar Evangelist became the general term for Bluesmen trying to balance their "Wine. Women & Laughter w/ some sobering "Sermons & Soda Water the day after".


Having dropped the proverbial "Bottleneck Bomb" on several non-secular (there's that word again) tunes from his own 'Angel' record label, native Floridian Anderson Johnson took a back seat to Mr. Henry stone w/ regard to a kinder gentler Gospel endeavor:

"Henry Stone began playing the trumpet in his teens, inspired by jazz great Louis Armstrong. Later at a military camp in New Jersey, he played in bands. After being discharged in 1946, he began selling records out of the back of his car in Los Angeles. Later he became a 78 rpm record salesman for the Bihari Brothers' Modern Records, traveling across the U.S. selling to jukebox owners. In 1952, he established his own recording studio, Crystal Recording Company, and started a blues label, Rockin', and a gospel music label, Glory, in Florida. A big hit on Glory was Rev. A. Johnson's God Don't Like It"

I would love to be able to tell you more about ole' A.J., but the past is just not that kind to a man of the seer-sucker cloth. Seeing as how 78's can be a fool's errand these days, check out the complete Anderson Johnson on the '1950's Gospel Classics' comp from Document Records.

Now that I have the 'spirit', maybe I can finally get around to finishing Mrs. JJB's Gospel Comp.

God Don't Like It - Reverend A. Johnson

If I Could Hear My Mother Pray Again - Rev. A. Johnson