Andrew Wartts was an aspiring songwriter from Greenville, MS who grew up
singing in church choirs, moved to St Louis, Missouri, worked for the
police department and sang in the Southern Wonders gospel group between
1961 and 1967. In 1983, while living in Bloomington, Illinois (a
next-door neighbour and good friend of the late Donny Hathaway) Wartts
formed the Gospel Storytellers, hoping to interest other artists in his
heavily scriptural compositions.
"I wanted to do something different with gospel music and still make
people feel good about life,"
says Wartts.
says Wartts.
"The truth is that all of the songs on that album were written for the express purpose of getting some major group to record them. I wanted to be a songwriter. However, no-one was interested. I mean we sent those songs out to so many people and couldn't get anyone to record a single one. Now, as life goes, shortly after we recorded the album I was approached by a representative for a major Rhythm and Blues star who is now deceased. But he was a big star. Everyone knows his name. He was interested in doing a gospel album. He liked what he heard and wanted me to write the material for him. I began to think that maybe the songs were pretty good."
Stunning songs. Wartts holds hard to a then-outmoded
JB's/Curtom sound, with funky drums, soft, wailing organ, golden
harmonies and Oliver Sain guitarist Earl Wright laying down a minor-key
chicken-scratch soul groove. Wartts burrows into the far corners of the
Bible (the 37th psalm;
25th verse; Luke, Chapter 16; John 14; the third chapter in the book of
Acts), his sweet harmonies making these dusty, forbidding words sound
like the mesmerizing entreaties of Curtis Mayfield. A silvery, euphoric
sound, that is also effortlessy funky, it comes close to convincing you that the way of the Lord is a joyous one, not merely the mean choice between being a sinner or a winner.
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