Music Notes 1-19-25

Down To The River To Pray, also known as The Good Old Way and Come Let Us All Go Down,

has been described as a Christian folk hymn, a gospel song, an Appalachian song and an African-

American spiritual. The exact origin of the song is unknown, but research suggests it was

written by an African slave. The earliest known version of it was published in 1867 in Slave

Songs of the United States, and bore the title The Good Old Way. Since then, it has been

recorded by numerous artists, including Lead Belly, Doc Watson, The King’s Singers and the

Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Our rendition was written for the George Clooney movie Brother,

Where Art Thou in the river baptism scene, and was arranged for the movie by a friend of mine,

noted film composer and orchestrator JAC Redford who gave me a copy, which is the version

we’re singing this Sunday.

Andraé Edward Crouch, a Los Angeles native, has been referred to as “the father of modern

gospel music” by contemporary Christian and gospel music professionals. Known for his

compositions The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power, My Tribute (To God Be the Glory) - which he

told me had been recorded 2500 times - and this week’s offertory, Soon and Very Soon, he was

also known for his collaborative work during the 1980s and 1990s with Stevie Wonder, Elton

John and Quincy Jones, as well as conducting choirs that sang on the Michael Jackson hit "Man

in the Mirror" and Madonna's "Like a Prayer". Crouch was noted for his talent of incorporating

contemporary secular music styles into the gospel music he grew up with. His efforts in this area

helped pave the way for early American contemporary Christian music during the 1960s and

1970s. His original musical arrangements were heard in the movies The Color Purple and The

Lion King, and in the NBC television show Amen. His awards and honors include 7 Grammy

Awards, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998 and a star on the Hollywood

Walk of Fame. After his father's death in 1994, Crouch and his twin sister Sandra took over the

shared duty of senior pastor at the church his parents founded, Christ Memorial Church of God

in Christ in Pacoima. I first met Andraé when we performed on the 1993 Grammy Awards

ceremonies together. He was part of the team that had produced The Messiah, a Soulful

Celebration (a gospel adaptation of 16 of the pieces from the Messiah), which was up for a

Grammy for best gospel album. We were both singing with the choir that performed a hybrid

version of the Hallelujah Chorus for the show, and during rehearsals we talked at length about

the piece. He asked, “I wonder what Handel would have thought about what we did to his

music?” I told him “I think he would have loved it. He was always ripping off his own music

for other uses, but I think he would have loved the idea that someone could have taken his music

and made it relevant and meaningful to a whole new generation, culture and race of people.” I

still think that. Sadly, we lost him in January of 2015.

Chris Tomlin was born in Texas in 1972 and learned to play guitar by playing along with Willy

Nelson recordings. He has become one of the dominant forces in contemporary Christian music,

and in 2012 CCLI announced that his songs were played 3 million times in churches that year.

His 2013 album Burning Lights debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, only the fourth Christian

album ever to open at No. 1, and he was pronounced the most sung songwriter in the world that

year. In 2018, he was the 1 st Christian artist to receive the “Billionaire” award from Pandora for

reaching one billion Pandora streams. The song Adore is the title track for the album Adore:

Christmas Songs Of Worship, which was released in 2015.