Sam McGee: God Be With You, Until We Meet Again
- There Is A Fountain 2:50
- Farther Along 2:37
- How Great Thou Art 1:46
- Life’s Railway To Heaven 2:18
- Whispering Hope 2:51
- Where No One Stands Alone 2:04
- Wayfaring Stranger 2:47
- Amazing Grace 2:05
- What A Friend We Have In Jesus 2:21
- Where The Roses Never Fade 3:01
- I’m S-A-V-E-D 1:56
- God Be With You Until We Meet Again 2:21
A few years ago I was attending one of the marathon picking sessions held regularly in Sam McGee’s farmhouse in Williamson County Tennessee. Everybody had taken a break and headed into the kitchen for more coffee- the strongest drink ever served at such sessions- and for a time Sam and I were left alone in the front room. The music, as usual, had ranged from fiddle breakdowns to western swing, from Sam’s guitar masterpieces like “Buck Dancer’s Choice” to popular numbers like “Yakety Sax,” but it had recently turned to sacred music “Wayfaring Stranger,” and “Amazing Grace.” Sam turned to me and said, “You know, when a fellow gets to be my age, he’s got to start thinking about his Maker, and about how he stands with him. I think a lot about it now. You know, I ‘ve always liked to play sacred numbers, only more so lately. I’ve started playing some on the Opry, and I come to find out that other people like ‘em too. They’re sorta like me, old and simple, but I think they mean more to me than any other songs.”
Sam’s sacred songs have always been an important part of his life. Though his father was a fiddler, all the vocal music Sam learned from his parents was sacred music. He recalled his mother singing him “Christian songs” like “Wayfaring Stranger” and others that dated from well before the Civil War. His family were “strong church-goers,” and his father felt so strongly about church that he refused to take his fiddle into church or play for dances. As Sam began to develop his love for music and to develop his skill on the banjo and guitar, he naturally wanted to use his talent to reflect his faith. Yet at first he wasn’t sure it was proper for “church music” to be played on the guitar or banjo. One incident helped change his mind. As Sam told it: “I have played at these tent meeting churches; I’ll tell you what happened one time playing a big revival tent meeting. We used to have lots of that going through the country, and some of it now, but not like it used to be. I was a young fellow, and I’d just got this “Gibson Banjo-guitar, about 1928. I thought it would be fine too, and he wanted me to bring it along, So we went, and they had a big dinner on the ground and everything. Well, we were playing at a man’s house that had a big long porch on it, on the south side of the house, and when we went to eat, I left this banjo-guitar laying in a chair there. So we ate, and we were going to start back in, some of them singing and me playing with them, and I went to get the banjo. These heads will collect heat in the summertime, and the head was done busted out of it. I got a little superstitious, and thought maybe it was wrong to play it in church. But then I got my guitar, the preacher wanted me to play, and I went ahead and played with them; They’d sing from the hymnbooks, good sacred songs, and I ‘d play with them. It sounded fine, everyone said, and it was a good meeting, and I never worried much about it after that.”
Religion was a natural part of Sam’s life. He was no “Sunday Christian,” keeping his religion bottled up in one compartment; his faith shone through every aspect of his life, from working his farm, to raising his family, to making his music. And when he made music, he made no apologies for playing sacred music as a part of his natural repertoire. He loved it as much as he loved his land, his children his wife, and his God.
Thus it is understandable that for the last few years Sam has wanted to record a “gospel album.” He told me: “It may be that I can do two or three more albums, but I feel like I need to do that gospel album next; I want to make sure that I get it done.”
The idea for the album gained new impetus as Sam began playing more and more with Bill Lowery, a champion mandolin player from Rossville, Georgia. Bill and Sam had been friends for some time, but during the last three years they have been playing more and more together at various fiddling contests and bluegrass festivals. Bill’s mandolin style was a fine complement to Sam’s famous flat-top guitar style, and the pair soon became close musical companions. But they found they shared a great deal beside music: though younger than Sam, Bill comes from the same Southern traditional culture, and shares the same basic values as Sam. And these values include a deep and abiding faith; both Bill and Sam found that they both knew and loved that same old hymns and gospel numbers. It was only natural that an album emerge from their friendship.
In August of 1975, then, Bill and guitarist Jim DeFriese gathered in Sam’s big front room to record this album. Like most of Sam’s sessions, it was a friendly, informal affair. Sam and Bill were at their relaxed best, playing tunes both had known since childhood. Bill’s mandolin-played in a style that’s one of the softest and most melodic in the country- often played a harmony to Sam’s lead on his big Martin D-28 Dreadnaught. Sam usually sang lead on the numbers, with Bill and Jim occasionally backing him up; Jim and Bill sing by themselves on “Life’s Railway to Heaven.” Mrs. McGee watched with approval, and on one or two occasions helped locate a hymn in her old hymnal. Everyone had a good time, and the spirit was close to that of those all-day singings Sam talked about.
*****
Nobody knew it at the time, but these were to be Sam McGee’s last recordings. On Auguest 21, 1975, two weeks after recording this album, Sam McGee died at the age of 81. This album is his final legacy to us, and his most personal; it is the last of “Mr. Sam’s” good works, and one of his finest achievements:
---Charles Wolfe
Middle Tennessee State University
