The Starlight Gospel Singers - Say a Word for Me
recorded and produced by Frederic Ramsey in Little Rock Baptist Church, Sunday May 2, 1954. Perry County, AL
from Music from the South, Vol. 8: Young Songsters, Folkways
The Starlight Gospel Singers: Nathaniel Benson, Joseph Massey, Cleophus Sanders, Leophus Holman, James Belcher, Ira T. Cash
"While singing, the group rocks back and forth with
the rhythm, feet tap on the floor, and hands clap
sometimes, but not always, as accompaniment....
During the session at Little Rock Baptist Church,
some of the benches began to fill up as neighbors
down the road got word that something was going on. '
And at conclusion of one of the selections, a little
Girl in a white dress rose from behind one of
the pews and: asked if she could sing. Her voice
carried fantastically; she could have filled an
auditorium without help from any microphone. And
she seemed to have molded it to a way of singing,
a sort of passionate expression of personal and
religious feeling, that was breathtaking in its
impact." -F. Ramsey
photos: LOC, Debbie Fleming, John Cohen, Bruce Jackson, Marion Post Wolcott, Margo Cooper, Daniel Karliko
