Sanctified Country Girls 1927-31

Another delicacy from Lemmy Caution:

Here we have some more early ecstatic religious music: a fascinating collection of Pentecostal-style gospel performances by wonderful (though obscure) artists: Jessie Mae Hill, Cally Fancy, and Rev. Sister Mary Nelson -- rural Pentacostal women. Hallelujah! This is the raw stuff, as would be found on Harry Smith's Anthology or Revenant's American Primitive.

When Obama was in the early stages of running for president, a significant amount of bad press was drawn to his involvement in a black church. But when you consider the difference between black church music and white church music, can you really blame him? I'm no Christian, but you can bet I'd get up at the crack of dawn if one of these services was going to be within 10 miles of me. The speaking-in-tongues would be an added bonus...

Some wiki-info for you:
Pentecostalism is a renewalist religious movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on the direct personal experience of God through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, Greek for the Jewish Feast of Weeks, which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ as described in the Book of Acts, Chapter 2.

Pentecostal theology was shaped by the two movements it grew out of, the Wesleyan Holiness and the Higher Life revival movements. Participants in these movements believed that after the conversion experience (the first blessing) there was a “crisis experience of sanctification” or the second blessing. Wesleyan Holiness preachers taught that this experience would immediately eliminate sin in the Christian life, achieving “sinless perfection.” Higher Life Christians shared the belief in a second blessing. They understood it not as the total elimination of sin, but as “full consecration’ that empowered them for evangelism.” Early Pentecostals, therefore, understood Holy Spirit baptism as this second blessing and speaking in tongues as the physical evidence for this blessing.

Historians generally consider the 1906 Azusa Street Revival as marking the start of the modern Pentecostal renewal.

Today's Pentecostal movement traces its community's growth to a prayer meeting at Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas on January 1, 1901. Here, through careful study of scripture, many came to the conclusion that speaking in tongues was the biblical sign of the Holy Spirit's baptism. Charles Parham, the founder of this school would later move to Houston, Texas, where in spite of segregation, William J. Seymour, a (literally) one-eyed African-American preacher was allowed to listen in to the Bible classes. Seymour traveled to Los Angeles, where his preaching sparked the Azusa Street Revival. According to Pentecostals, this was one of the first newsworthy outpourings of the Holy Spirit, despite records of earlier occurrences, and attracted people from all around the world. Consequently, this event is regarded as the actual beginning of the Pentecostal renewal because of the impact it had on the world. The Los Angeles Press gave close attention to the Azusa Street Revival, which helped fuel its growth. A number of new smaller groups started up, inspired by the events of this revival. International visitors and Pentecostal missionaries would eventually bring these teachings to other nations. Almost all classical Pentecostal denominations today trace their historical roots to the Azusa Street Revival.

The early adherents of Pentecostalism were fueled by their understanding that all God’s people would prophesy in the last days before Christ’s second coming. They looked to the biblical passage of the Pentecost in Acts, in which Peter cited the prophecy in Joel 2, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.”(NIV) Thus, when the experience of speaking in tongues spread among the men and women of Azusa Street, a sense of immediacy took hold as they began to look to the time when Christ would come again. Early Pentecostals also saw themselves as outsiders from mainstream society, dedicated solely to preparing the way for Christ’s return.


Pentecostalism, like any other major movement, has given birth to a large number of organizations and denominations with political, social and theological differences. The early movement was countercultural, and African-Americans and women were important leaders in the Azusa Revival and helped spread the Pentecostal message beyond Los Angeles. As the Azusa Revival began to wane, however, doctrinal differences began to surface as pressure from social, cultural and political developments from the time began to affect the church. As a result, major divisions, isolationism, sectarianism and even the increase of extremism were apparent.

African-Americans played an important role in the early Pentecostal movement. The first decade of Pentecostalism was marked by interracial assemblies, "…Whites and blacks mix in a religious frenzy, …" according to a local newspaper account, at a time when government facilities were racially separate, and the Jim Crow laws were about to be codified. While the interracial assemblies that characterized Azusa Street continued for a number of years even in the segregated South, the enthusiasm and support for such assemblies eventually waned. After a while, the interracial assemblies were nearly non-existent in many Pentecostal churches.

Women were the catalyst of the early Pentecostal movement. Since they believed in the presence and interaction of the Holy Spirit in their assemblies, and since these gifts came to men and women, the use of spiritual gifts such as speaking in tongues, interpreting tongues, the laying on of hands and healing were encouraged in everyone. The unconventionally intense and emotional environment dually promoted and was itself created by other forms of participation, such as personal testimony and spontaneous prayer and singing. Women did not shy away from engaging in this setting and in the early movement the majority of converts and church-goers were female. Since the movement relied on the efforts and participation of lay members, both in the church and outside, women gained great cultural influence and helped shape Pentecostalism. Women wrote religious songs, edited Pentecostal papers and taught and ran Bible schools. The availability of these opportunities to women from the start of the movement may explain the preponderance of female adherents in the movement.




VA - Sanctified Country Girls 1927-31
The Complete Recordings in Chronological order of Jessie Mae Hill, Rev. Sister Mary Nelson, and Sister Cally Fancy
Label: Wolf (WSE 119)

Tracks:
01 Jessie Mae Hill - Earth is no resting place.mp3
02 Jessie Mae Hill - The crucifixion of Christ.mp3
03 Jessie Mae Hill - God rode in the windstorm.mp3
04 Jessie Mae Hill - This world is not my home.mp3
05 Jessie Mae Hill - Sunshine in the shadows.mp3
06 Jessie Mae Hill - I'm going to lift up a standard for my king.mp3
07 Reverend Sister Mary Nelson - The royal telephone.mp3
08 Reverend Sister Mary Nelson - Judgment.mp3
09 Reverend Sister Mary Nelson - The seal of God.mp3
10 Reverend Sister Mary Nelson - Isaiah-LV.mp3
11 Sister Cally Fancy - Everybody get your business right.mp3
12 Sister Cally Fancy - Goin' on to heaven in the sanctified way.mp3
13 Sister Cally Fancy - Hold on to God's unchanging hand.mp3
14 Sister Cally Fancy - I'm gonna tell my Jesus howdy.mp3
15 Sister Cally Fancy's Sanctified Singers - Death is riding through the land, part I.mp3
16 Sister Cally Fancy's Sanctified Singers - Death is riding through the land, part II.mp3

Tell My Jesus | Howdy for Me.
mp3 320kbps | w/ cover | 2 parts: 100mb & 16mb

thanks again Lemmy Caution!