I Saw the Light cover

I Saw the Light

Various Artists

Compilation · 1958 · DL 8769

I Saw the Light was Bill Monroe’s first gospel album, released by Decca on 11 August 1958 (DL 8769), less than two months after his first LP, Knee Deep in Blue Grass. The idea came from Owen Bradley, who had taken over as Monroe’s producer at the start of that year. Its twelve songs were recorded at four sessions at Bradley Film & Recording in Nashville, on 25 February and 19, 20 and 21 March 1958.

The accompaniment is spare: Monroe’s mandolin, Edd Mayfield’s guitar and string bass, with Bradley adding organ to four songs, among them “Wayfaring Stranger” and “Precious Memories.” The singing is a four-part gospel quartet. Mayfield, a former Blue Grass Boy whom Monroe brought back for these sessions, sings lead on most songs with Monroe on tenor; Kenny Baker, the band’s fiddler, sings baritone; and the bass voice is Gordon Terry at the first session and Culley Holt, formerly of the Jordanaires, at the others. Monroe takes the lead on Merle Travis’s “I Am a Pilgrim” and sings Hank Williams’s “House of Gold” alone.

The title song is also Hank Williams’s, and three songs come from Albert E. Brumley: “I’ll Meet You in the Morning,” “I’ve Found a Hiding Place” and “Jesus Hold My Hand.” Decca later issued “Precious Memories,” backed with “Jesus Hold My Hand,” as a single in June 1960. These were Mayfield’s last recordings; he died of leukemia on 7 July 1958, aged 32, after falling ill on tour with the band.

Tracklist

  1. 1 Precious Memories alt version 2:49
  2. 2 House of Gold Source Recording Hank Williams · key A · 168 bpm 2:06
  3. 3 Life is Like a Mountain Railway alt version 3:28
  4. 4 Lord Lead Me On Source Recording Marion W. Easterling · key B · 101 bpm 2:26
  5. 5 I’ve Found a Hiding Place Source Recording Albert E. Brumley · key E · 157 bpm 3:25
  6. 6 Jesus Hold My Hand alt version 2:24
  7. 7 I Saw the Light alt version 2:28
  8. 8 I’ll Meet You in the Morning Source Recording Albert E. Brumley · key A · 153 bpm · 3/4 2:11
  9. 9 Just a Little Talk With Jesus alt version 2:28
  10. 10 Angels Rock Me To Sleep - 1951 Version 2:39
  11. 11 I Am a Pilgrim Source Recording Traditional · key B · 68 bpm 2:32
  12. 12 A Beautiful Life alt version
  13. 13 Lord Build Me a Cabin in Glory alt version 1:37
  14. 14 Wayfaring Stranger alt version 4:31

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