music clip of the day

Fierce, insistent, soaring—this voice, which I first heard over 30 years ago, still gives me chills.

Inez Andrews

With the Andrewettes, “Let the Church Roll On,” live (TV broadcast), 1964

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With Rev. James Cleveland & the Metro Mass Choir, “We Are Soldiers in the Army,” live, 1981

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“A Stranger in the City,” “He Lives In Me,” “Lord, Don’t Move The Mountain,” “Mary Don’t You Weep,” live, Chicago (Apostolic Church of God), 1988

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With the Caravans, “Mary Don’t You Weep” (1958)/mp3

This track comes from The Widow’s Might, a wonderful DVD with nearly 700 gospel songs in mp3 format (everything played on Sinner’s Crossroads in 2009) that’s available as a $75 premium from WFMU-FM.

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lagniappe

The Caravans’ star then was Inez, whom they called the High Priestess. She looks the part. A coffee-colored woman with high Indian cheekbones and an intense, almost drugged stare, she can sing higher natural notes than anyone on the road. Tina [Albertina Walker] said, ‘The rest of us sang awhile, but the folks really wanted to hear Inez whistle.’

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

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Determination is important. You’ve got to be determined to live what you sing as well as sing what you sing. God understands the . . . difficulty that we go through for the truth. The Bible says your determination will be rewarded because God sees it when no one else does.

—Inez Andrews

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art beat

The Matisse exhibit at Chicago’s Art Institute (which I returned to yesterday) closes on June 20th, then opens at New York’s Museum of Modern Art on July 18th. I have only one word of advice: Go!

Interior with Goldfish, 1914