Sunday, 2/5/12

one of my desert-island singers

Dorothy Love Coates (1928-2002) & the Gospel Harmonettes
“I Won’t Let Go” (AKA “I’m Just Holding On”), live

More?

Here. 

And here.

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lagniappe

Here’s the original recording (Specialty, 1950s).

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Were gospel to be more publicly acclaimed, she [Dorothy Love Coates] might have the stature of a Billie Holiday or a Judy Garland. Instead, for thousands of black people, she is the message carrier.

—Anthony Heilbut, The Gospel Sound: Good News and Bad Times (6th ed. 2002)

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[I]t was obvious that Keith [Richards] and Gram [Parsons] enjoyed spending time together. . . . [W]e just all cared deeply about the same things. We just loved, for instance, to sit and listen to Dorothy Love Coates, the gospel singer.

—Stanley Booth

(Quotes originally posted 3/28/10.)