Stained Glass Bluegrass
July 7, 2010
On this very significant holiday we’ll enjoy some patriotic songs for the 4th of July weekend plus a few new selections from Little Roy Lewis & Lizzy Long. Arthur Smith & The Crossroads Quartet add the 1903 hymn “Ready,” written by Charles Davis Tillman, to our list and start our singing at the start of the third hour. (Tillman, a popularizer of the gospel song, had a knack for adopting material from eclectic sources and creating a mix now known as Southern Gospel. Tillman gave us the popular versions of “My Mother’s Bible” and “I Am A Poor Wayfaring Stranger” among others. As for our addition of “Ready,” research reflects “Ready to suffer grief or pain” had a British author in the tradition of the Keswick Hymn-Book, but Tillman wrote the tune which is invariably and exclusively used in the United States.)
