Rev. Charlie Jackson

“When I get up, I'm ready!”

Rev. Charlie Jackson at home in Baker, LA, June 23, 2001. Photo by Clare O'Dea.

Rev. Charlie Jackson (1932-2006) was a powerful gospel guitarist & singer who was a popular performer at church services throughout Louisiana & Mississippi for decades. Born in 1932 just outside McComb, Mississippi, he took up the electric guitar as a young man & started out playing the blues. He soon permanently switched over to gospel, but his strong roots in the blues could always be heard in his songs. He presented his emotionally resonant music with a deeply heartfelt & occasionally eye-catching delivery that had deep & lasting resonance with his community. In or around the 1970s, he cut a string of remarkable 45s for Booker Records in New Orleans & his own Jackson Records imprint that documented his instantly identifiable style and the immense drive & emotional immediacy of his music.

As Elder C.W. McKnight, a longtime friend, observed: "Any time that I heard him play, it was with spirit. It was touching. It found its way into your soul." Rev. Dennis "Clay" Jackson, one of Rev. Jackson's sons: "I don't care if it's four or five in there, he's gonna play like 4,000 was in there." (further insights from both of them are included below)

My first exposure to Rev. Jackson's music in 2000 (thanks to Kevin Nutt & Brian Turner) made quite an impact, to put it mildly. My search for more information about Rev. Jackson & his music, which was rather scarce at that time, led me to try contacting him directly. He soon invited me to visit him at his home in Baker, Louisiana, which I did in 2001 with photographer Clare O'Dea (some of her beautiful photos from that trip are included here). The resulting interview appeared in 50 Miles of Elbow Room issue #2 in 2002 alongside a reprint of Lynn Abbott's 1986 article, originally published in Keskidee, that presented some of his pioneering research into Rev. Jackson's life & music. In 2003, Kevin Nutt compiled & reissued most of Rev. Jackson's 45 on God's Got It, a landmark collection that launched his CaseQuarter label.

I continued to stay in touch with Rev. Jackson and his wife, Mrs. Laura Davis Jackson, and over time learned that they had an extensive collection of private audio & video cassette recordings, most of which were made rather informally at church services. After Rev. Jackson's passing, Mrs. Jackson entrusted me with these recordings so they could be the basis of a retrospective by 50 Miles of Elbow Room. This started me on a long journey in an attempt to collect a full picture of his story. So far, two LPs that have been issued in conjunction with this project (both currently out of print; details here).

July 11, 2022, is Rev. Jackson's 90th birthday. This occasion has inspired me to share a variety of artifacts: a mixture of personal favorites from Rev. Jackson's archive as well as some of my own research. These include previously unpublished videos, photos, interviews, liner notes from the two Rev. Jackson LPs released so far on 50 Miles, ephemera, & rare recordings by members of Rev. Jackson's community. Some of these may reappear in some form in the envisioned third volume in this series. In the meantime, additional information, corrections, suggestions, & feedback are eagerly welcomed. We begin with the biographical notes on Rev. Jackson written 2011 to accompany You Got to Move: Live Recordings, Vol. 1. To borrow a phrase that Rev. Robert Booker sometimes included on his releases, Adam Lore / 50 Miles of Elbow Room has put it all together. (May 2023: See also this companion article on Henry Simmons, Jr., another outgrowth of this project)

Reverend Charlie Jackson always had on his traveling shoes. His dedication to giving honor to God at every opportunity led him to perform the deeply moving gospel music that was his trademark at church services, anniversary programs, revivals, festivals, and community events throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and beyond for over 60 years. Rev. Jackson: “Places I go, some won’t say nothin’ and some will shout. But I’m goin’ on. I made a promise to the Lord.” According to his widow, Mrs. Laura Davis Jackson, “He really loved to praise the Lord. If you were lookin’ for him, look for him in somebody’s church. On the weekend, Sunday, he’d never be at home. He never was at home. He was always at somebody’s church, somewhere, singin’ and playin’ music. That’s the kind of person he was.”

He would address these situations with sincere, contagious, and seemingly inexhaustible enthusiasm, performing original and traditional spirituals that provided opportunity for both reflection and release. Mrs. Jackson recalls, “We would go to a church, we’d have to be at a program at 12 o’clock or something like that, during the day, then we’d have to be to another program at 7 o’clock that evening. We used to go to so many different programs. Sometimes we’d go to three programs in one day on the weekend, anniversaries and stuff. He was always helping somebody, always. If you was down, he’d put on a program to help raise money for you. He was just a good, kind person. He was always helping these ministers. They would always call on him and he would always go.”

Laura Jackson: “When they’d say Rev. Charlie Jackson was coming to their church, you didn’t have no standing or sitting room. That’s when people really praised the Lord, back in them times [the early-mid 1970s]. … Couldn’t nobody in Louisiana beat him playing a guitar, because he played it all kind of ways. Sat down on it, played it behind his head. Even took his tongue and played his guitar with it! I say I ain’t never heard of that before, but he did it! I say oooh, uh uh. So I said, ‘No wonder you’re so famous.’”

Rev. Charlie Jackson: “When I went to Helena, Arkansas, me and a young man there with a guitar, they had a contest, and, what could I do with a guitar: I sat down on it, played it, and put my hand on it, it take by itself [sustained notes]. And they wanted to know how did I do that, said, ‘It’s a gift God gave me.’ I could put it behind my head, play it just like it is in front.”

Baton Rouge blues musician Larry Garner remembers hearing Rev. Jackson during this period: “He played guitar and he used to make it sound like a drum. That’s what I remember about him most, because he used to tell people, ‘Any requests, write them on a piece of paper.’ I always used to write on the piece of paper my grandmother would have, I’d put on that, ‘Play your guitar like a drum.’ He’d put them in these boxes and he’d pull out the requests. Most people had songs, I just told him, ‘Make your guitar sound like a drum.’ [He] was cranking up the bass on it, taking the treble down, and cronking across the strings, with them muffled strings.”

Laura Jackson: “He can play. I’m not braggin’ on him, but he can play.”

Rev. Charlie Jackson: “I have a different thing with the guitar, y’see.”

--

Rev. Jackson in younger days, date & photographer unknown

Charlie Lee “Sonny” Jackson was born on July 11, 1932 in the Mississippi countryside between Summit and McComb, a musically fertile region that also birthed Bo Diddley (another guitarist who sometimes played his instrument as if it were a drum) in 1928 and longtime Sun Ra saxophonist John Gilmore in 1931. He was one of eight children. His parents, John and Annie Jackson, were sharecroppers who raised a variety of crops, including cotton, peanuts, and sweet potatoes. He attended and was baptized at Brown’s Chapel Baptist Church in McComb, where he would maintain a life-long connection.

At around eight years old, he took up the guitar and an older cousin, Samuel "Buddy" Jackson, taught him to play some blues. Soon he was singing songs such as “Baby, Please Don’t Go,” “Big Leg Woman,” and “Brown Mama,” while also playing in his family’s gospel band. Several years later, firmly encouraged by his mother [“[She] said, ‘Since you playin’ with the blues and you goin’ to these churches and things, look like you ought to sing a song about the Lord. If you keep on with that guitar, with the blues, I’m gonna take it!’ I didn’t like that, man!”] and feeling called to preach, he permanently gave up the blues for gospel.

Rev. Jackson: “I remember way back, man. Along in them times, they didn’t have electricity in the church. They had lanterns in the church, then. … To go to the church from home, I had to walk three miles, and we would walk, man, at night. My mama had a lantern. We had no car. Walked to the church. But I had that guitar with me. And I asked the pastor, ‘Look, is it alright, can I sing a number?’ ‘Yeah! Sing, sing!’ Then [at later services] he come back again, ‘Say, you wanna sing a number?’ Man, I would sing then.”

Samuel "Buddy" Jackson, Sr., who taught Rev. Jackson guitar. Photo courtesy of Vasti Jackson.

As a young man, he sometimes had the opportunity to perform on programs that featured established artists such as Mahalia Jackson and the Pilgrim Travelers. “I was around about 16 or somethin’ like that. Man, I’d go up there, man, I got ready to go up! I knew I couldn’t do like they were doin’ but I would try to be like they were doin’.” He developed a distinct style on the electric guitar, with a sturdy, driving groove that was open to tweaks or variations that would suit the moment and the desires of a congregation. He also incorporated some eye-catching showmanship into his repertoire, such as playing the guitar behind his head, sitting down on it, beating it like a drum, making it mimic the sounds of a train, and using a drinking glass as a slide. His stamina to take an enthused church as far as they would want to go, and outlast anybody else in the process, is well-remembered today.

From a young age, he was eager to travel. “From the cottonfield, then I went on to Frazier and Magnolia [both Mississippi]. The man had a lot of cattle. I got a horse and a wired up fence…just watching the cattle and everything. I done that for about two years. Then the man, he died. Then I left and went on to Kenner [Louisiana]…worked at the airport for two years. Come on to Houston, Texas, with my brother. He was a bulldozer driver and I worked with him a while, then come back to Amite [Louisiana]; kept going different places, and done all different kinds of work.” All the while, he continued to play music.

Rev. Jackson & Mildred Smith, his first wife, date & photographer unknown

Rev. Jackson’s first marriage was to Mildred Smith, with whom he had several children. When they got to be old enough, four of his sons would sometimes sing with him on church programs, billed as the Jackson Brothers. His youngest son, Stanford, could steal the show with a fiery rendition of one of his father’s most popular compositions, “Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus.”

In 1965, Rev. Jackson married his second wife, Frances, and settled in the Baton Rouge area. Though Baton Rouge is often considered to be a blues town, with artists such as Slim Harpo, Lightnin’ Slim, and Robert Pete Williams hailing from the region, there was also a parallel gospel tradition that was of comparable (& possibly greater) depth. Primarily active within their tight-knit community, most of these musicians either did not record commercially or produced only a modest number of releases on local or private-press labels. Indeed, Rev. Louis Overstreet, considered by many to be among the greatest gospel guitarists, lived in the area from 1933 through 1961 but didn’t record until after he relocated to Arizona.

One of Rev. Jackson’s formative connections was with Elder Utah Smith, the famous “two-winged preacher,” a pioneer of the electric guitar and a flamboyant, high-energy performer who influenced the younger musician’s style: “That’s what I learned from him, how to sit down on the guitar. I said, ‘If he can do it, I can do it, too!’” The two guitar evangelists developed a friendship after meeting at a church service in Amite and occasionally traveled together. Rev. Jackson recalled, “Sometimes they didn’t have electricity [in the churches] then, and he had a thing outside, a battery thing [a portable generator] there. Man, he’d hook that thing, we’d be singin’! … Yeah man, we had a time!” [See also Lynn Abbott’s I Got Two Wings: Incidents and Anecdotes of the Two-Winged Preacher and Electric Guitar Evangelist, published by CaseQuarter.]

Rev. Jackson & Bro. Isaac Haney, date & photographer unknown

Another pivotal contact was gospel singer Bro. Isaac Haney, who told Rev. Jackson about Booker Records, a New Orleans-based company that released a few of Haney’s records. The label was run by Rev. Robert Booker, who previously produced rhythm-and-blues 45s for Invicta and Big Bee. Early releases on his eponymous label were in a similar vein, as heard on records by Katherine Holt and Robert Parker. These productions had a contemporary, commercial sound, but the gospel records he produced after his religious conversion were much more economical, recorded either in Booker’s basement studio or live in the church. Rev. Booker: “A group would get together and put on chicken suppers, get enough to pay for a pressing. At that time, you could get 500 records for about $110.”

Rev. Jackson’s first two 45s for Booker, likely recorded in the late 1960s [FOOTNOTE: Rev. Jackson estimated these records came out in 1970, but matrix numbers on the 45s suggest a slightly earlier pressing date. This would also correspond with Rev. Jackson’s assertion that Rev. Cleophus Robinson bought a copy of his “Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus” 45 and then used it as inspiration for his own “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up,” released by Savoy in 1969. {FOOTNOTE TO THE FOOTNOTE: Sometime around the late ‘60s, Bro. Haney cut “I’m Wrapped Up in Jesus” for Booker. An uncredited guitarist plays on the side, but it doesn’t sound like Rev. Jackson.} It is fairly certain that Rev. Jackson’s third single wasn’t out until c.1975. Even with his health problems, would there have such an extended period where he was unrecorded? Given the local popularity of his first two 45s, this could seem unlikely but may indeed be the case.], introduced his intense, powerfully hypnotic style on original compositions such as “Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus” and “God’s Got It.” These records feature Rev. Jackson, his guitar, a piece of wood for him to stomp on, and a few friends clapping and singing backup, creating a raw yet full-bodied and sturdy sound for songs that are immediate, infectious, and profoundly inspirational. At around the same time, Rev. Jackson was also an accompanist on singles by the Caravan No. 2 of Zachary and Bro. Ike Gordon. In addition, for a number of years he hosted a radio program on WXOK in Baton Rouge where he would preach, play a couple songs, and announce his upcoming appearances, which helped to further expand his regional reputation.

Rev. Jackson c.1985, note WXOK bumper sticker, photographer unknown

During this period and for many ensuing years, Rev. Jackson traveled extensively as an evangelist. He usually stayed within a day’s drive from his home but occasionally ventured as far as Los Angeles and Detroit, while also making stops at churches and schools along the way. Rev. Jackson: “I like evangelist, because sometimes at the church that you pastor, 50 percent want you and 50 don’t, maybe. So when I finish, when I get through a revival or preachin’ or whatever it is, then I be ready to go and catch another place. I like to go from one place to another like that.”

It was probably 1971 when Rev. Jackson started to be hit with some major health problems. First, he was stricken by a heart attack and hospitalized for a week. The following year, he suffered a stroke that temporarily affected his memory and left him unable to speak for 30 days. “When they brought me to the hospital, my leg was dragging. I couldn’t speak nothing. I didn’t know nothing. The doctor said I wasn’t going to make it. He called my sisters from Mississippi. My children came; I didn’t know them.” Although much hard work eventually resulted in a substantial recovery, for the rest of his life he would sometimes struggle to find the appropriate words for what he wanted to communicate.

Glynda Barnes, Rev. Jackson’s speech therapist from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s, integrated music into his treatment. She recalls, “Rev. Jackson always brought his guitar with him and usually had a specific song, or even a few specific words from a song, that he wanted to work on. We used a tape recorder extensively, both from songs he had previously recorded and when he was practicing during the session. I wrote down the words to the songs from his original tapes, using large print. This seemed to be the single most helpful thing we did. We made a notebook of the songs, and he would take that when he went to sing, at least in the first years. … Rev. Jackson was fortunate in a way: singing is typically easier to ‘get back’ than regular speech, and certainly this was the case for him.” According to Rev. Jackson, “It never did do nothin’ to my guitar! The stroke didn’t do nothin’ with that. The words, I can’t say the words … but the guitar would do it. I said, ‘Let the guitar talk,’ and it talked for me.” He demonstrated this technique in “Testimony of Rev. Charlie Jackson,” which he recorded for Booker in approximately 1975.

Around this time, Rev. Jackson participated in an anniversary service held in a gymnasium in Port Allen, Louisiana. An acquaintance, Sister Hall, introduced him to her daughter, Laura Davis, who was then a member of the Zion City Gospel Explosions. A singer since age six, she was baptized at age 25 and dedicated herself to gospel: “I’m gonna do that until God takes me out of this world. I’m not plannin’ on turnin’ around, goin’ back out in the world, because there ain’t nothin’ out there in the world. So I’m gonna try to serve God until He takes me out of the world.”

Laura Davis Jackson & Rev. Jackson, St. Louis, 1996. Photo by Bill Greensmith.

Soon after meeting Rev. Jackson, she left the Zion City Gospel Explosions and accepted his subsequent invitation to join the Jackson Singers, his group that also included Frances Jackson and Sister Margie Poole on vocals. Laura Jackson: “We just had a glorious time, going different places, singin’ and praisin’ the Lord. I miss all of that. Because every Sunday, when I wasn’t workin’, I was gone. Gone to somebody’s church. Just had a wonderful time.” They would later marry, after Frances Jackson died in August 1997.

After his Booker 45s went out-of-print, Rev. Jackson established his own Jackson Records label in the mid-1970s so that he could continue to sell records at his performances. [FOOTNOTE: Larry Garner: “Charlie Jackson, he sold records. I remember that clearly. I think they were a buck per record, which was kind of high back then!”] He re-recorded a couple of his most popular songs, “Wrapped Up…” and “God’s Got It,” and paired each of them with a spare, emotionally resonant ballad. The third and final 45 on the label, recorded at a radio station in McComb and issued circa 1978, contained two beautiful duos with Laura Davis, “This Old Building” and “I am Thinking of a Friend.” Regarding the latter, an interpretation of “What are They Doing in Heaven Today,” she said, “Anything you sing, Charlie could play it. So I put the song together in my arrangement and sing it the way I want to sing it. … It’s not the idea you’re copying off nobody, you just sing it the way you want to sing it. You sing it the way you feel it. And I don’t care where I go, whenever I get to singin’ for the Lord, I ask God to use me. I get out of self, let Him get in me.”

occupational license for Jackson Records, 1979

In the 1980s, Rev. Jackson’s music began to be heard more broadly outside the gospel community. Aficionados from the United Kingdom led the initial efforts, with Krazy Kat including his first Booker 45 on one of their Get Right with God compilations, and Chris Smith’s Curlew label reissuing twelve of his Booker recordings onto cassette as Louisiana Gospel Dynamite! Several years later, St. George Records out of Illinois released newer, contemporary recordings on a CD, Way Over Yonder. He also appeared at events outside the church circuit, such as the Louisiana Folklife, River City Blues, and St. Louis Blues Heritage festivals. In 1996 traveled to Ireland for a brief series of concerts and a television appearance backed by the El Dorados and Big Joe Louis & his Blues Kings.

In 2003, the CaseQuarter label compiled most of Rev. Jackson’s 45s on a CD, God’s Got It! The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles, which received wide acclaim and connected with many enthusiastic new listeners. A couple years later, Crypt Records released an abridged LP version of the collection, furthering his reputation with a younger audience.

Though he was pleased to receive this recognition, Rev. Jackson’s primary focus continued to be on the gospel community in and around Baton Rouge that he had served for so many years. He was particularly active at St. Raymond Divine Temple of Faith Church, where he spent several years as a pastor and was ordained as a bishop. He was also a frequent musical guest at the City of David Church of God in Christ of Elder C. W. McKnight. Late in 2005, his health worsened and he lived his final months at the Community Care Center of Baker before being called home in the early morning hours of February 13, 2006.

Rev. Charlie Jackson wanted to share and celebrate what meant the world (and more) to him. It inspired him to tell it everywhere he went, with heartfelt, powerful songs that continue to resonate.

Sources:
Abbott, Lynn. “Wrapped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus: The Story of Reverend Charlie Jackson.” Keskidee, No. 1, 1986, p. 4-7.
Abbott, Lynn. “Booker Records.” Liner notes to God’s Got It! The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles. CD. CaseQuarter CASE101.
Barnes, Glynda. Correspondence with Adam Lore, especially March 2011.
Darwen, Norman. “Hey Man, Don’t You Dare Call them Bluesmen.” Interview with Larry Garner. Blues & Rhythm, No. 85, January 1994, p. 12-13.
Jackson-Jarvis, Frances L. “Deaths,” The Baton Rouge Advocate, August 28, 1997, p. 6-C.
Jackson, Laura. Several interviews/conversations with Adam Lore, especially June 30, 2009.
Jackson, Charlie Lee “Sonny”. “Deaths,” The Baton Rouge Advocate, February 16, 2006.
Jackson, Rev. Charlie. Interview with Lynn Abbott, May 12, 1985.
Jackson, Rev. Charlie. Several interviews/conversations with Adam Lore, especially June 23, 2001, with Clare O’Dea.
Jackson, Rev. Charlie and Laura Jackson. Interview with Kevin Nutt, March 2003.
Nutt, Kevin. Liner notes to God’s Got It! The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles. CD. CaseQuarter CASE101.
Russo, Chris. “Now He Sings: After Years of Speech Therapy, this Foot-Stomping Reverend is Back on the Gospel Track.” The Baton Rouge Sunday Advocate, October 25, 1987, p. 3-H.

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Gospel Singing Programs

By Kevin Nutt, producer of the CaseQuarter imprint & the Sinner's Crossroads gospel program on WFMU. This piece was featured in the booklet for Lord You're So Good: Live Recordings, Vol. 2

Rev. Jackson, Laura Davis Jackson, & Sis. Margie Poole, date & photographer unknown

Sunday afternoon gospel singing programs that feature local, community-oriented, non-professional gospel performers have been occurring in the black community at least since the 1920s and possibly even earlier. Though little research has been done on the history of these programs, especially before World War II, it is known that in areas of vibrant quartet activity like Birmingham, Alabama, and Norfolk, Virginia, singing programs were notable weekly events. The well-attended and publicized gospel singing battle royales of the 1940s and ’50s that featured professional touring gospel groups such as the Soul Stirrers, the Ward Singers, and the Blind Boys of both Mississippi and Alabama, often held at public venues or larger churches, would seem to be an outgrowth of these pre-war musical gatherings. With the decline of the professional gospel tours by the mid-1960s and the rise of soul music, the gospel music programs for the most part returned to the local churches and featured home-grown, amateur performers. 

It is often amazing to the outside observer that such a rich tradition and practice can exist within earshot of so many Americans. Think of the “Sacred Steel” phenomenon: outstanding musicians and an original, thriving tradition, but totally unknown to outsiders and only “discovered” by happenstance. Similarly, Reverend Charlie Jackson was a highly sought-after performer in Louisiana and Mississippi throughout the 1960s to the 2000s, but if he had not recorded his series of 45s in the 1960s-70s, it is probable that his entire career would have passed unnoticed to the outside world.

Even as of this writing (2012), it can safely be stated that in virtually every town with a church there is some kind of musical program being performed somewhere. But the gospel circuit has always been insular. Only programs with major gospel acts even make it into the local newspapers. Most of these events are word-of-mouth affairs, usually announced only at church services and prayer meetings, or perhaps on local gospel radio (typically AM) stations. Handbills are also distributed at churches and gospel programs, usually by members of the hosting group or church.

Handbill from 1985, courtesy of Lynn Abbott

Yearly group anniversaries are probably the most common gospel programs, typically held on Sunday afternoons and on the same Sunday of a particular month.  Eventually, certain Sundays of certain months become associated with particular groups. Also common are appreciation or honorary programs held to recognize lifelong accomplishments of singers, preachers, MCs, or notable laypeople who have made lasting contributions to their local communities and churches.

The programs themselves tend to follow a particular framework. Attendees are greeted at the door with booklets full of announcements, thanks yous, and a list of some of the groups performing. If it is an anniversary singing, group histories are often included. Programs begin with a prayer and a few announcements, followed by a devotional hymn sung by the congregation. Often these hymns are sung in the lined-out Dr. Watts style, which begin when a designated song leader chants a line of a hymn text that is usually drawn from hymns written by or associated with the 18th century composer Isaac Watts, and the congregation responds with a slow, ornamented style of unison singing. Indeed, for many churches nowadays this is the only time these older hymns are sung in this manner, making their performance especially prized and appreciated by the elders in attendance. By this time many of the groups and performers have already arrived and seated, but as the program progresses other groups arrive, sing, and then depart, often to other programs where they will perform again. For those who stay, both singers and listeners, refreshments and homemade meals are served.

Singings are less formal than church services, with people congregated inside and out, milling around and socializing during the performances. Usually the host church will furnish the food and drinks. Costs are covered by either requesting a modest donation at the door or by passing the offering plate, sometimes on several occasions. As the groups and singers arrive, they check in with a designated person who keeps a list of the groups to perform and passes them on to the MC. The MC can be the pastor of the host church, the chief organizer of the program, or a popular local gospel radio DJ. Most programs run four to five hours and can go longer to accommodate a larger number of singers. Groups and soloists are usually limited to just one to three songs. But, given the spontaneous nature of gospel performances, singers will often try to raise the spirit by locking into the improvisational or vamp sections of gospel songs. If the congregation responds, these sections can easily last over ten minutes. Audio and video recordings of the programs are often passed around and enjoyed later by attendees and friends.  

The music offered here is a rare, respectful glimpse into the world of regional, community-oriented gospel music programs. It is probably a thing right and proper that these programs have remained out of the broader limelight. The music and fellowship are not really meant for a larger audience; it is unselfconscious worship and praise music, and about camaraderie with a community of like-minded believers.  

from the Enterprise Journal of McComb, Mississippi, January 20, 1971

Further reading:
Pitts, Walter F.  Old Ship of Zion: The Afro-Baptist Ritual in the African Diaspora (Oxford University Press)
Stone, Robert L.  Sacred Steel: Inside an African American Steel Guitar Tradition (University of Illinois Press)

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Rev. Robert Booker
“He's a man that had his own ideas.”

Rev. Robert Booker in the basement studio of his home in New Orleans, 1984. Photo by Lynn Abbott.

As part of Rev. Jackson's God's Got It collection on CaseQuarter, Lynn Abbott wrote about Booker Records, a New Orleans-based label that released Rev. Jackson's first 45s as both a leader and an accompanist. As Abbott notes, "The 1960s saw more than a few little independent record companies crop up in the city of New Orleans. The longest running but least remembered of the lot has to be Booker Records, a one-man operation named for its guiding light, Rev. Robert Booker, and dedicated to black gospel music. Between the mid-1960s and the mid-1980s, nearly a hundred different 45s were issued on the Booker label, maybe more. However, minimal press runs and homely methods of distribution created an effective roadblock to recognition beyond the insular gospel communities that were initially targeted. An untold number of Booker releases remain untraced. Rev. Booker's recordings, especially the ones made for his own Booker Records imprint, are an invaluable document of the New Orleans gospel community."

On June 27 & July 12, 1984, Abbott interviewed Rev. Booker regarding his recording career and his groups such as the Booker Singers. They also discussed Rev. Jackson, as excerpted below. Thanks yet again to Lynn for being so generous with his research & for granting permission to share this previously unpublished work.

When did you first start doing live recordings?
 
Oh, I think it was in the...late '70s I started doing a lot of stuff at the churches. I found that the live stuff at a church was better. So sometimes it would run overtime and I'd have to sit down and break it down to fit the record. Like Rev. [Freddie] Dunn did Remember Me at a church, on a communion night. I had to sit down and break it down into two parts. Most of Rev. [Paul] Morton's stuff was done in a church.
 
What was the first tape recorder that you were using to do live recordings?
 
The Roberts, the one sitting inside there.
 
That's what you did Charlie Jackson with?
 
Yeah. (laughs) Most all of 'em.
 
So you'd use your basement for a recording studio for some stuff?
 
Well, that depends on who comes. Like Charlie Jackson, it was just he and his wife [Frances] and his group [probably Bro. Ike Gordon & Johnny Jackson] and a drum, so I would cut them in there. Premium [Fortenberry], a fella got an organ, got the drum, bass, and guitar, everything on there, so we would do it in here. Alberta [Harris'] stuff, I do it in a church.

But all that original tape is lost, huh? Charlie Jackson and all that...?
 
Oh, that's gone down the drain.
 
And Charlie Jackson is no longer able to sing?
 
He had a stroke. He was trying to get over it. I don't know how he's making out. I haven't seen him in a couple years. My daughter's is up there in Baton Rouge. She said he's kind of coming around again. But he's a man that had his own ideas.
 
The one record you pressed on him is really nice. I heard somebody's gonna try to reissue it in England, can you believe that?
 
(laughs) He's good. Everybody liked him. I've got a lot of stuff on Charlie Jackson that I did, some records if I can find. Such as God's Got It, I don't know if you've got that or not.
 
This is the only one I've ever seen: Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus and Morning Train.
 
I'll see if I can find God's Got It for you. Man, it's out of sight.
 
How did you first meet him?
 
Lord knows. I can't answer that question. He come to me. He come to me after the storm, right after the storm.
 
After [Hurricane] Betsy [1965]?
 
Mm hm. I was living on LaSalle Street. Somebody sent him to me; I don't know who it was.
 
So you moved from the Ninth Ward after the storm?
 
Yeah, I had to move! (laughs) … I told him, "Well, take out your guitar and let me hear what you got." And when I heard him I got interested in him. So he started singing Wrapped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus and I got it together right there in my den and took a perfect cut of it. He had always put his words to his things. He wasn't real good on arranging his music, but he had the story. You had to catch it. There wasn't too much more you had to do with it after you caught it. So this is what happened. Every time he'd come here, all I did was, this is what he would sing, add a little something to it and put it together. I never brought him in the studio, never. Everything I did on LaSalle Street, I cut it right in the basement.

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Elder C. W. McKnight
“As soon as he hit the string, you could tell that's him, oh yes.”

Elder C. W. McKnight at Rev. Charlie Jackson's 51st anniversary service
City of David Church of God in Christ, Baton Rouge, LA, 1992

Elder C. W. McKnight first heard Rev. Jackson in the early 1960s, and the music made an enduring impression on him. Their connection deepened in the 1980s, when Rev. Jackson accepted Elder McKnight's invitation to be a musician at the City of David Church of God in Christ in Baton Rouge, where Elder McKnight was a pastor. They remained close friends until Rev. Jackson's passing in 2006. This enduring bond informs Elder McKnight's perceptive insights into Rev. Jackson's contributions & their value to his community. This interview, which is expected to be published in some form in the notes to accompany the third volume in the Rev. Jackson retrospective, is a composite drawn from three extensive & highly enjoyable conversations at the McKnight's home in Baker, Louisiana, from 2014-2016. -Adam Lore

[a couple ed. notes: Elder McKnight refers to "Elder Charlie Jackson" in keeping with their relationship at the Church of God in Christ. All towns mentioned are in Louisiana unless otherwise specified.]

I was born in St. Helena Parish, in and around Greensburg, Louisiana. No main town, just rural. I was born January 26, 1947. At that time my father was something of a sharecropper. [I was] born on the premises of a white person, and I got my name from that white man. He was called C. W. Bridges. When I was born, my mama said they were thinking about a name and he said, "He's already named. His name is C. W."

So it doesn't stand for anything?

This is the part that I don't always tell because my name is C. W. … that's my birth certificate and everything, every legal aspect is C. W. His name was Charlie Wilson, but they called him C. W. So my mama didn't put Charlie Wilson. When he said C. W., she put C. W.

I grew up mostly in the St. Helena Parish. We moved around a lot, from Greensburg and that rural area in the St. Helena Parish, to Kentwood in the Tangipahoa Parish, and all the way near to Osyka, Mississippi, and then back into the St. Helena Parish.

You met Rev. Jackson in ’62?

1962, yeah. We used to have a church [E. St. Paul Temple] up in Greensburg, where I lived. He used to play up there all the time. We’d have revivals and what have you. The pastor there, Elder Jackson just started to like him and everywhere that pastor would go, he’d travel with him to play music. That pastor was a dynamic preacher and people would just enjoy them both.

What was that pastor’s name?

Elder Earl Buckley (1925-2012). He and Elder Jackson would sometimes come to Amite and play. Oftentimes [Elder Jackson’s] transportation was failing. My brothers would go and pick him up and bring him up there, take him back home and come back. It’s Church of God in Christ, and we’d get started kind of late and hold a long service, so sometimes they’d be two or three o’clock in the morning getting back.

Elder Earl Buckley

We used to have a dynamic time. It was a rural church, kind of close to a wooded area. Very sparse population. The community is called Sheridan. It’s not that far from Greensburg, probably about three and a half miles. The highway I think is 441, turn off of there and go in, sort of meander around a few curves and what have you. You know how it is in the country; one road leads to another like that.

It was a little wooden church. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of a Jim Walter home?

I don’t think so.

Jim Walter, he built a lot of homes in Louisiana. They’re a big manufacturer company. He built just the shell of this little church and we finished the inside. Elder Jackson would hook up and start playing, boy, there’d be some shoutin’ goin’ on! (laughs)

Preachers really cherished his presence. They all had a desire for him to go and be with them when they were going to preach. It was hard for him sometimes, [because] he had to make a choice where he's gonna go, who he's gonna play for. He and Elder Buckley, they began to be like the very best of friends. He traveled with Elder Buckley pretty much exclusively for a while. Any program [Elder Buckley] had, [Elder Jackson] played at the church all the time - five, six nights a week, sometimes seven.

[At that time], in that vicinity of St. Helena Parish, maybe even in Livingston, up in Summit, Mississippi, all that area, you in all likelihood knew [Elder Jackson] or heard about him. It was hard to be in that area and not know who he was or something about him. He played all over. His name was all over. People would just be talking, "They had this guy at the service and his name was Charlie Jackson. You need to hear him play that guitar. He made that guitar talk..." Just that kind of talk. He was a crowd draw.

We just had a terrific relationship. He knew us all, the whole family of us. … His first wife [Mildred Smith], my mother and father knew her father real well, Rev. Leo Smith. He used to pastor a church out from Greensburg, St. Helena Baptist Church. That’s an old, prominent church up there. It was actually seen on the movie, Sounder. The pastor at that time, Rev. [Thomas N.] Phillips, he’s on that movie. … [Elder Jackson’s] wife used to come to the services at Greensburg. ... I was very young then, like 15 years old.

I went into the [military] in 1966, so when I came out, I hadn’t seen him in a while, for the two years I was in the service. I didn’t know his whereabouts. ... I lost a few years of being in real good contact with many people after I came back from Vietnam. When I came back to the States, it just looked like I was in a different country or something than when I left. ... Even the makes and models of cars, I lost track, lost interest. I lost interest in a lot of things that I held valuable, even though I was young. Things I lost interest in, it took me a while to get back, quite a while.

In 1968 I was completely finished with the military and it was 1978, ten years later, before I started to go to church and give myself back to the Lord. Five years after that, that’s when I was called into the ministry. I accepted the calling. About three years after that, I started to pastor. All that culminated and it just looked like the picture of the Lord for us to get back in touch with Elder Jackson. So that brought us back together and it was just like old times. It was just so good.

I was so glad to reunite with Elder Jackson. I was so glad just to hear that guitar one more time. Boy, let me tell you, it was a delight. It took me back to the years, you know...Probably like '64, '65, until 1986 [or 1987]. That's how long a span it had been since I had seen him. Yeah, a little better than 20 years. I thought about him one day after I started preaching and pastoring, just picked up the phone book to see if he's in there. Sure enough, there he was, "Charlie Jackson, Reverend." I said, "Oh, that's got to be him." I called him up and he was happy to hear from me. I said, "I'm sure you're pretty busy on Sundays, but I was hoping that I could find a musician if you knew anyone..." He said, "I'm not that busy!" He said, "I've been knowing you and your family for a long time, I might could work something out." So we talked and that very Sunday he came. Oh, he was glad to reunite with my mama and them. It was like a family reunion, man. It was really good, really good.

Because he knew us so well, he only charged me $15 per Sunday to play for us. He said, “No, that’s all I want, don’t worry.” ... He knew that I didn’t have a large membership and so many members didn’t have that much money. There was a time we had an extensive membership, but even then, if I tried to give him more he just wouldn’t take it! He said, “No, this is fine. If I have enough for gas, I’m fine.” He just wouldn’t take any more. He really loved the family. He showed genuine love throughout the years for us. He was just a compassionate person anyway. I’ve never known him to try to hurt anybody. Just not that kind of person.

He played for me for quite a while ... [until] about 2000. ... He started playing for us after he had that stroke [c.1972]. He started testifying how the Lord delivered him from that illness, the stroke and all, and man, he’d just start crying. It would get very emotional, you know. It didn’t take much to tear him up. He’d be playing, preaching sometimes, he’d cry a lot. I didn’t see him doing that a lot before, but I know that was hard, two heart attacks and a stroke.

When you see somebody praising the Lord like that, you'd be surprised how many things they are relating to. They think about the hard times or the illnesses they had and all that, and they just get totally rejuvenated when they start thinking about where they could've been and where they are now. That's a lot of what goes on. ... They just start connecting during spiritual services like this and they just want to praise the Lord even more. Some people have been through some terrible things in their lives, some things you know and some things you don't, that some of 'em don't even talk about at all.

Rev. Charlie Jackson, Shrewsbury, LA, 1985. Photo by Lynn Abbott.

He used to tell me about his home in Summit, [Mississippi], and his sister up there. He told me how he played the guitar when he was a teenager, playing at I guess what we called jukes. He started playing around in those places and he said his mama said, “Now look, Sonny, I’m telling you, I don’t want you doing that. You’ve been going to those clubs, playing music. I heard about it. I heard that you’re out there doing it.” He said, “Boy, they loved me.” But his mama kept on telling him, “I don’t like you doing that.” So he stopped and he started to play for the churches. … I want to say maybe around 1954 or 1955.

When you heard Rev. Jackson in the ’60s, did he sound basically like he did later? Had he established that style?

He had already established that style. He had that distinction. It was just something about his music that was identifiable. Actually, in that time, he was much more powerful than what he was in the later years. Of course, the vitality is there when you’re younger. He could start a service off about 7 o’clock at night and play until after midnight. I mean, he’d just steady go. … He’d play a service, oh, as long as they stayed there, he’d be right there. … Anything they would play on the piano, the choir singing, he’d listen to it and just by ear he’d pick it up, without even having to rehearse with them. … Solo, group, quartet, choir, whatever it was, he could sing and play right along with it. Nothing in particular, just whatever it took.

Elder Jackson, he had a distinctive guitar sound. As soon he hit the string, you could tell that’s him, oh yes. He had that distinctive sound and a wonderful voice to sing. He’d play along with me while I was preaching and oh, he just made all the difference in the world.

It seemed like I felt a uniqueness, a different being of preaching, when he played with me. Talk about an aid, oh, it was. I mean, it was just beyond explanation. And for so many preachers. They had to influence him the best that they could to come and be with them, because they knew what his music did for their preaching. It enhanced the service, the attendance, everything. It meant a lot to have Elder Jackson on a program with you. Because he can just tune in to your voice and your cadence and everything. He could actually (laughs), believe it or not, give you a cadence. Whereas you're kind of going along and you're saying things just that come up and come out, like almost normal speaking, his music would put you into something of a cadence. And as he would do that, your volume would lift and lower, catch your breath I guess you'd say, that kind of a thing. He was very good at that. ... He could do a lot for your sermon. Oh yes, oh yes, there's no denying it.

He sung with quite a few groups. If they needed a guitarist, he would just pitch right in and start to play for somebody to help ’em out. He didn’t just sit there and say, “I have my group and I have my music. If you don’t have yours, that’s too bad…” If he saw that a group was there singing and missing somebody, needed somebody to sing, he would do it. He was just such a kind man, the best you can find. You know, I don’t have any bad things to say about him. I mean, he might have been capable of a few human errors, but as far as in the heart, he was a very, very good, humble man. Yes, he was.

Elder Jackson, he didn’t charge people very much for playing music. He could’ve gone much further. The fact that he didn’t have that extensive an education kind of hindered him some, too, because he grew up in Summit, Mississippi, and some things just weren’t made available to him, like a lot of us, you know. Especially after he had that stroke, he kind of slurred his speech just a little bit. He couldn’t quite get things out quite like he wanted to all the time, so I guess he kind of held back for that reason. But he was still as good as he could be, he could hold his ground with any of ’em, but I guess he just felt like he wasn’t quite doing it like he wanted to.

Mrs. Audrey McKnight: You remember he said he had a stroke and he couldn’t talk, he made the guitar talk. (laughs) Whatever word he wanted to say, that guitar would say.

He’d play that guitar and if you knew the song, you’d know the sound and the words that the guitar would sing. It was really something.

Mrs. Audrey McKnight: He was anointed with that guitar.

Yes, he was. Very gifted.

Mrs. Audrey McKnight: He played so good…I can’t sing, but he made me sound like I was Aretha Franklin! (laughs)

He could pick you up! No matter what, he could get right in tune with you.

Rev. Jackson outside his home in Baker, LA, June 23, 2001. Photo by Clare O'Dea.

Were there ever any other musicians who tried to emulate Rev. Jackson’s style, or was he always kind of on his own?

Pretty much from what I know, he kept his style distinction. Nobody copycatted what he did. The only thing that I’m aware of is the one with [Rev.] Cleophus Robinson. [ed. note: Rev. Jackson asserted that Rev. Robinson purchased his “Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus” 45 & then used it as a model for his “Wrapped Up, Tied Up, Tangled Up” recording for Savoy.] Other than that, just the local musicians, no. They might’ve had some sounds similar to his, but I don’t think they really tried. Either that or they just couldn’t ever quite pick it up. Because, see, he could take his guitar and he could turn it into a bass, he could make it sound like a drum, lead guitar…play it behind his head, sound like a train… Oh man, he was great. … Whatever you needed to do, he could do it.

As good a man as Elder Jackson was, it might sound like a sore subject, but there were a lot of other musicians and people that were very jealous of him because they’d sing and play whatever and it would be at a certain level, and then Elder Jackson would come in there and he’d just have everybody, you know? A lot of people just embraced him. I’m not trying to exaggerate him or push him out of his level, but he was just that much better a musician and singer than many of them. … He could just sing and play and bring it out.

When you think about the people who will hear these records and who never met Rev. Jackson or have never been to any of these type of church services before, what do you think is most important that people should know either about Rev. Jackson himself, or what he brought to people?

The person, he was such a humble man. He knew everybody. He had time for everybody. He didn't let his talent take him out of his concern for people. That is one thing that I hope everybody would know about him. He was very humble. But he was only human, you know. Maybe every turn that he made wasn't the very best for him, but he was only human. [That's] the way I look at it, and that's the way anyone should.

And as far as his music, he was talented. It was a God-given talent. It was inspirational. He treated it as if it were the Gospel, because he gave it almost freely. He drove long distances to play for people. He'd say, "I'm going to help this person out." That's the way he said it. He's gonna be at a certain place with such-and-such a person "to help them out." He could've made much more money than what he did. He just didn't charge much and he didn't complain about anything.

He didn't play anywhere that I've ever known, that you didn't feel the spiritual touch. Any time that I heard him play, it was with spirit. It was touching. It found its way into your soul. The way he'd make that guitar tremble and things like that, you just get into it in a spiritual way.

I really do believe that the older songs back then…were inspired by the Lord. That’s why there’s spirit in them. Like Elder Jackson, he didn’t have a lot of schooling, but he just got that gift.

The inspired ones: there’s just something about it, to me. People who had no education, no musical education or anything like that, it’s amazing what they can do. I think it’s a gift from God. Whatever it is, it comes from God and it’s up to us what we do with it.

And there are various reasons for different things...I don't know it all. I don't know what goes on with what people do, what the reason might be, what changes might come, I just don't know. I know like the Staple Singers, they used to sing gospel, oh man, it really sounded good. Then all of a sudden, it changed over. Aretha and all, they changed over. I guess money played a big part but maybe God had a purpose in all that, too. I don't know. I just don't know what the answers are to all of that. I don't want to condemn without knowing the whole picture of God because He does things, of course, in so many mysterious ways. I don't want to prejudge on anyone about that. I don't know. Like Sam Cooke, he sang with the Soul Stirrers. I mean, man, there were a lot of disappointed people when he changed over.

But Elder Jackson, once he came out of the barrooms, that was it for him. He stayed in church the whole while. I would like to see him become a legacy in some area, somewhere, I really would, because I think he deserves it. … He’ll never be forgotten, though, that’s for sure. Oh no, we could never forget him.

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Rev. Dennis "Clay" Jackson
“I don't care if it's just four or five in there, he's gonna play like 4,000 was in there.”

Rev. Dennis "Clay" Jackson, the third child of Rev. Charlie Jackson and Mildred Smith, led the Jackson Brothers, a group also comprised of his siblings Charlie Jr., Jasper, and Stanford Lee, who would often accompany their father on church programs in the 1970s. In later years he continued to travel with his father and sang with him both as a soloist (see video below) and with his group, the Jackson Singers (usually Laura Davis Jackson, Frances Jackson, &/or Margie Poole). The passages below are drawn from two extensive & enjoyable conversations with Rev. Jackson, conducted on July 8, 2013, in Austell, Georgia, and November 7, 2016, in Mableton, Georgia.

We used to go to churches, man, and church would be packed! Everybody heard when it's Rev. Charlie Jackson and his guitar. We went to a lot of different new churches, you know, sometimes a lot of different singers, different quartets, and this and that. It was awesome, man, I’ll tell you. (laughs) It was just awesome back then to get to see him perform and how much he put into what he was doing. … I tell people all the time, what really motivated me or what really helped me, [was] to see how much he put into what he was doing. That was his life.

He would get so full of the spirit when he played. Listening through so many tapes, sometimes the congregation is big, sometimes it doesn’t sound like there are many people at all. But it feels like it's the same performance for him. There’s never the feeling like he’s sad if there aren’t that many people there.

He wasn’t about the crowd. I don’t care if it’s just four or five in there, he’s gonna play like 4,000 was in there. That’s just how he was. 

He told me he had about thirty-something different ways he could play that [guitar]. He sure did. I used to love to see him play with his tongue!

Sitting down on the guitar is one thing he said he used to do...

Yeah, he'd let it swing, playin' it while it was swingin'...I was like, wow! (laughs) … Daddy liked doing a lot of his tricks on Morning Train. Wrapped Up was one, too, but his main one was Morning Train. Everybody used to love that Morning Train! ... Do you have anything with him playing with his tongue?

Not that I can tell.

What about with the glass?

Maybe a tiny bit. There is one brief segment that sounds like he might be playing slide with the glass, but what do you know about that? How would he do that?

(laughs) He used to play with his tongue a lot, and with the glass. Every time we would go to a program, he would take the glass with him. He got a song, Only Believe, he played with the glass. And when he get to playing that fast music, with the people shoutin’ and everything, he’d take the guitar off and start playing that same thing, what he played with his hands, play with his tongue the same thing. Oh man, that’d be trippin’ everybody out! Yeah, they were trippin’ out on that, man!

I used to love it sometimes when we’d be in church and the spirit of God would get all over him. Boy, I tell you, we had to come to get the guitar from him and everything. He’d be gone. (laughs) He’d be gone. Yeah, he was something else. Miss all them times. (laughs)

I remember when I visited him at home and he played a few songs for me, it was full on.

The same thing!

It wasn’t just a run through.

He’d be at home, he’d be in his little room, and man, sometimes Daddy would be in there thinkin’ he in church! Just being at home by himself. (laughs)

That was his life. That was his relationship with God. That’s what he wanted to do before God. It was all about God to him. He could’ve gave up after he had the stroke, but it was just so much in him. … I remember him just in the room when he couldn’t even talk, just playing the guitar to let his guitar do all the talking for him. Things started going down for him a little bit for him at that moment, but he still put all he had, whatever he could put into it. I guess you could say it was his life. It was just his life. It was something between him and God. He just loved God so much. That’s all I can say about that.

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Rev. Jackson's Archive

  
Covers for You Got to Move: Live Recordings, Vol. 1 & Lord You're So Good: Live Recordings, Vol. 2, design by Fitz Gitler

Beginning sometime around the early 1970s, Rev. Jackson often documented the church services where he participated, particularly throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, with a portable cassette or video/VHS recorder. Over the years, he accumulated an extensive archive of recordings that were mostly made by himself, Frances Jackson, or Laura Davis Jackson, with a local professional occasionally hired to record a noteworthy service. These tapes would primarily serve as mementos, as well as tools through which he could evaluate his performances. Selections might have been included on the cassettes he sometimes sold, but it seems these were most often keepsakes for casual posterity.

As one might expect from such informal recordings, idiosyncrasies abound. The recorder gets jostled, members of the congregation boisterously testify nearby, and the microphone sometimes becomes overloaded.

Rev. Charlie Jackson & Frances Jackson c.1992, note tape recorder at left

Sonic quirks notwithstanding, these tapes contain a wealth of outstanding performances. They also provide a valuable opportunity to take a broad survey of Rev. Jackson's music over roughly a 30-year period and obtain a much more detailed and vivid picture of the vibrant gospel community in which he traveled, something that was only hinted at by his commercial recordings. Listening to these performances, one can hear why Rev. Jackson was so in-demand: no matter the situation or the size of the congregation, he sounds fully engaged, with a sense of sacred duty.

What a Time, live at Rev. Adams' church, possibly in Baton Rouge, presumably in 1991:

Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus, as above:

Mrs. Laura Davis Jackson sings two songs accompanied by Rev. Jackson on guitar, as above:

God's Got It at Northeast High School, probably in Zachary, Louisiana, during the 1990s:

Rev. Dennis "Clay" Jackson sings accompanied by Rev. Jackson on guitar in Gloster, Mississippi, on November 28, 1987:

The State Gospel Singers accompanied by Rev. Jackson on guitar. This footage was recorded at Rev. Jackson's 51st anniversary service at the City of David Church of God in Christ in Baton Rouge, LA, on August 1, 1992. I am not sure whether the State Gospel Singers is the correct name for this group, so would appreciate any confirmation or correction!

Fix It Jesus, with Mrs. Laura Davis Jackson & Sis. Margie Poole, recorded for the Big World program in the UK c.1990. Unfortunately, this brief glimpse is the entirety of their appearance on the show:

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Some of Rev. Jackson's Extended Community

Sis. Margie Poole
Sis. Poole (~1940-2012) was a longtime member of Rev. Charlie Jackson’s group, the Jackson Singers. As far as I’m aware, she cut just one outstanding & scarce 45 side, as Margie L. Drake, where she is backed by Melvin Beverly on guitar & Caravan No. 2 of Zachary (also collaborators with Rev. Jackson) on vocals.

Bro. Ike Gordon
Rev. Jackson & Bro. Gordon were frequent & potent collaborators, as heard on the 45s under Gordon's leadership: Don't Let the Devil Ride / By the Grace of the Lord (Booker 102, c.1970) & I Gave Up All I Had to Serve the Lord / My Eternal Home (Booker 805, c.1975). This 45 for the Capital City Gospel Records label out of Baton Rouge (found on the same record as the Sis. Poole side above & again with the Caravan No. 2 of Zachary) seems to have been cut a bit later. He also had another 45 released on Capital City that included his version of Your Close Friends, reissued on the Time Will Make a Change LP (Mississippi). Bro. Gordon seems to have been open to more contemporary musical trends based upon two other very scarce 45s that are can be heard via the Baylor University Black Gospel Music Restoration Project website: Call Him By His Name / God Shall Wipe All Tears Away (Mitchell) & When I Take My Vacation in Heaven / Be Careful How You Treat a Stranger (Capital City Gospel Records).

The Voices of Harmony
The Voices of Harmony were an especially fine group who often played on programs with Rev. Jackson. They recorded at least two 45s for the Herald Recording Studio custom label (& are not to be confused with Voices of Harmony groups from elsewhere). The two selections included here show distinct facets of their output. A Little Misusing is a ballad whose beauty can be felt despite all the crackles on my well-loved copy of this rare record. On the live recording from Rev. Jackson's archive, estimated to be from the mid-1990s, they really stretch out and have church. A reminder that the recorded history of a group may tell only part of their story.

The Booker Singers
Group associated with Rev. Robert Booker of Booker Records. This rare 45 on Goldband Records was recorded at Cosimo Matassa's studio in New Orleans. Pearl Edwards sings lead. In 1983, Rev. Booker told Lynn Abbott: "I did one thing that Dorothy [Love Coates] recorded, Come in This House. I just went for the number. But what I did, I took it and changed it around from what she had it and added a little addition to the tail end of it. She came down here that year and they had dinner here and she listened to the record and she laughed. She said, 'Sometimes you write a record for other people, Booker.' She said, 'You did a beautiful job with this.'" Rev. Booker estimated this was recorded "somewhere around '59 and '60." In February 2024, a letter from Rev. Booker to Eddie Shuler of Goldband surfaced on Ebay; it suggests the release date may have been closer to 1962 or '63.

The O'Bear Family
Ultra lo-fi gospel from Bro. Kirk Gorden. The low volume & battered vinyl can’t disguise the full-hearted spirit this group gave to their music. This label was almost certainly the imprint of Bishop Louis "Black" O'Bear (~1936-2011), who sings lead on the other side of this 45. The certificate of appreciation shown below, presented to Rev. Jackson by the O'Bears, is an especially touching artifact from Rev. Jackson's archive.

The Superstars (w/Rev. Charlie Jackson)
Even taking into consideration the small pressing quantities & strictly local distribution of many gospel 45s, it was still quite a surprise that a previously "unknown" record with Rev. Charlie Jackson on guitar should surface in 2021.

The Superstars seem to have been led by Rev. Charles Ray Moncriffe Sr. and based in or around Jeanerette, Louisiana. They cut at least one other 45, as The Superstars Gospel Singers, for Booker Records (Merry Christmas Jesus, Pt. 1 & 2; Booker 600). According to Rev. Moncriffe's 2012 obituary, "Rev. Moncriffe was instrumental in forming many singing groups, such as Willie Mitchell and the Gospel Voices, the Superflies (sic?), the Untouchables, the Dynamic MPs, and many others." Pianist Emmaline White passed away in 2016.

Rev. Charles Ray Moncriffe, Sr.

Further details about this record have been elusive. To my ear, Rev. Jackson's involvement sounds spontaneous, somewhat in keeping with how he, in his role as a guitarist at church programs, would sometimes provide a basic, bedrock accompaniment to a vocalist would sing an unrehearsed song on the spur of the moment. The overall feel is heartfelt & sincere.

Russell Lee & the Holy Wonders
Including this 45 in this retrospective may be a bit of a stretch, since the only firm connection I have found with Rev. Jackson is that he had a copy of this 45 in his collection. What a record, though. One of my very favorites. 

Pastor J.R. Jones
A wonderful singer & guitarist who was still active as of 2019. To my knowledge, he has never recorded commercially.

Tylertown Spirituals
The Tylertown Spirituals, featuring the fiery guitar of Jimmy Wilson, recorded at the 12th anniversary of the Veal Brothers in Gloster, Mississippi, on November 28, 1987. The singer who is encouraged to take the lead at ~4:30 played bass & sang with another group later in the service; anyone know who he is? Many thanks to Scott Barretta, Matt Bowden, and Castro Coleman for their help in identifying this group!

Rev. David Lee Slack(?)
In Lynn Abbott’s I Got Two Wings book on Elder Utah Smith, he writes, “Among those who learned directly from the master, brothers Daniel and David Lee Slack are most often cited by local church members. … Elder Utah reportedly stayed at the Slack family home whenever he visited New Orleans, and the brothers learned to play at his feet. Daniel Slack is deceased, but as of the year 2000, David Lee Slack was still playing in church, exploring the open tuning that he learned from Elder Utah.” My guess is this footage is of Rev. David Lee Slack. This video was taken at the church of Rev. Adams, likely in Louisiana or Mississippi, in 1991. I'm unaware of any commercial recordings of either Rev. Slack. During this program, it was noted that Rev. Slack had a radio show on WSLG 1090 AM out of Gonzales, Louisiana. Please get in touch if you have any further information!

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How Rev. Charlie Jackson's Music First Received Wider Renown:
Some Background

Like most of his colleagues in the gospel music community in Louisiana & Mississippi during the 1950s-2000s, Rev. Charlie Jackson's music had a local focus that was nurtured & sustained by grassroots networks, which provided him with support & encouragement long before he ever recorded. Details of many of these connections seem to be lost to time, but those that have survived suggest that positive feedback was consistent throughout his development as a musician.

As described above, among his important early/foundational supporters were his mother Annie Jackson, his older cousin & guitar teacher Samuel "Buddy" Jackson, Rev. Utah Smith, Elder Earl Buckley, & Bro. Isaac Haney.

Other mysteries-to-me remain, such as the impact of Rev. Jackson's radio program on WXOK in Baton Rouge, as well as any local gospel promoters who helped foster his growth as an artist. These aspects of his development may be lost to time, but one can reasonably conclude that this active grassroots network must have helped Rev. Jackson and his music to achieve greater prominence within his community.

One thing that is clear: once his music started to appear on a remarkable string of 45s in around 1970 or so, word of its exuberant power spread far beyond the region where he performed. This seems to be the result of efforts by an array of enthusiasts from both near & far. It isn't entirely clear how this broad reach came about, but there are some clues.

Jimmie Dale Stricklen, photo by Kenneth Johnston

Jimmie Dale Stricklen (1948-1995) seems to have been a key early figure in this process. Stricklen was an avid & enthusiastic record collector who lived in Zachary, Louisiana, which is not far from where Rev. Jackson lived for most of his adult life. He was by all accounts an enthusiastic & avid record collector, remembered as an especially ardent fan of Muddy Waters, so it seems natural that Rev. Jackson's blues-based gospel music would catch his attention.

Stricklen wrote his name (or initials JDS on 45s) & its date of acquisition on each purchase. Records from his voluminous collection are still found rather often today.

Rev. Charlie Jackson 45 previously owned by Jimmie Dale Stricklen, with his trademark "JDS,"
purchase date of March 9, 1982, record #5783 in his collection

Over time, Stricklen apparently became known within the international community of blues fans, and was a point of contact for fellow enthusiasts who visited from out of town. One such visitor was blues researcher Frank Scott who, along with Mike Rowe, made a trip to Louisiana in the summer of 1970. There, they connected with Stricklen. Scott, now co-owner of Roots & Rhythm, shared some of this story with me in March 2023:

"I'm delighted to hear that you are researching the life and music of Rev. Charlie Jackson - he was truly an exceptional and original artist and the first time I heard 'Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus' it was, to put it mildly, a mind blowing experience.

"I'm now 80 years old so trying to recall details of something that happened more than 50 years ago is a bit of challenge. I'm originally from England and came to the USA in 1966 to work as an aerospace engineer. Over the next 15 years I would periodically make trips down south hunting for old records, doing interviews and the like. In late summer of 1970 I met up with fellow blues researcher Mike Rowe in Louisiana. We spent a couple of days in Baton Rouge and one of stores we visited was part of a department store and the manager was a young man named Jimmie who was thrilled to meet us as he was a big fan of blues but most of the people he knew were not interested. To the best of my recollection it was he who suggested we check out the Rev. Charlie Jackson release. I can't recall whether we found both of his first releases at that time or if it was just 'Wrapped Up' but I obviously acquired the second at some point which eventually led to my reviewing them for Blues Unlimited."

Blues Unlimited, April 1972

Scott's review, which appeared in Blues Unlimited in April 1972, is the earliest coverage I have found of Rev. Jackson's music in the specialist music press. The precise release date of Rev. Jackson's first 45 [Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus / Morning Train (Booker 434)] is unknown, but generally estimated to be around 1970. Stricklen must have connected with Rev. Jackson's music quite early, to recommend it in the summer of '70.

Baby Tate with Val Wilmer on her summer 1972 trip through the United States, photo by Terri Quaye
from the back cover of Wilmer's book, The Face of Black Music

At around the same time Scott's review appeared, renowned writer / photographer / historian Val Wilmer had a similar experience. In letters from April 2006 & October 2022, she wrote, "I think I can claim a modest role in the wider knowledge of the music of the Rev. Charlie Jackson! It was when I was travelling in the South in 1972 that I met a young music enthusiast in Baton Rouge, Jimmie Dale Stricklen. ... It was he who gave me two copies of RCJ's single, Wrapped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus. I thought it was amazing and passed on the spare copy to Alan Balfour, another English writer on blues. Over the years I had noted a couple of issues of Jackson's material and the article [written by Lynn Abbott] which appeared in Keskidee, but it was not until speaking to Alan after a long period of no contact that he reminded me that it was my passing on that 45rpm that had set matters in train and led to the Curlew cassette! [Louisiana Gospel Dynamite! (Curlew)]

"Your letter got me thinking back over the years and I was able to confirm, with the aid of an old address book, that it was Mike Rowe who gave me Stricklen's address and phone number. Mike was one of the people who started Blues Unlimited and someone known to me, although not very well at that time. He and Mike Leadbitter had been to the US and to Louisiana and as I was going to New Orleans (for the second time), I asked him for some contacts.

"Mike came up with Stricklen and I went to see him at the store where he was working in Baton Rouge [on Fifth Ave. ... [He] lived on Lynn Street, [in] Zachary]. I can't remember what kind of store this was and although I imagine I would have asked for some introductions to local musicians, he was not able to help. As I recall, he was friendly enough to me and my travelling companion, but he ended up just giving me those Rev. CJ records and that was that."

(One persistent question, as yet unanswered: Why did Stricklen have so many copies of Rev. Jackson's 45s to just give away to people who were essentially strangers? It seems his involvement with the Leisure Landing record store in Baton Rouge was still some years away. Might he have had some connection with Rev. Booker to promote the releases on his label, or perhaps directly with Rev. Jackson? Of course, Stricklen could have simply been generous.)

Blues Link, issue no. 2, October/November 1973

Balfour's review was published in Blues Link (another UK publication) in their October/November 1973 issue, directly above a review of Rev. Lonnie Farris' East Vernon Blues LP, penned by Chris Smith. Many years later, Smith released the first collection of devoted to Rev. Jackson's 45s, the Louisiana Gospel Dynamite! cassette on his Curlew label. In September 2022, he wrote: "That review is indeed where I first heard of Rev. Jackson. Alan Balfour was a close friend: we met at my university, where he was a librarian, and I borrowed from and taped his extensive blues collection for several years, and learned a great deal in the process.

"Alan's copy of the 45 came from Val Wilmer, who had returned from one of her US visits with a supply ... I never actually bought one (you'll notice that the review doesn't actually say how to get a copy, and I didn't know Val in those days), but I did hear Alan's copy, and was of course mighty impressed."

While Rev. Jackson's appearances at programs were occasionally mentioned in previews in the local press, I have been unable to find any reviews of his 45s in these periodicals. That said, one Louisiana-based writer who did have Rev. Jackson & Booker Records on his radar was Terry Pattison. In 1974, his reviews of Rev. Jackson's first two 45s, which were perhaps on their second pressings by that time, were published in Blues Unlimited. In the review, which also discussed vital Booker releases by Missionary Mamie Sample, Premium Fortenberry, & Alberta Harris, Pattison declared Rev. Jackson to be Booker's "most popular artist" and presciently advised readers to "Get these [45s] now because in two years they will be obscure masterpieces."

After this initial run of attention, the paper trail seems to lessen for a while, until scholars such as Lynn Abbott & Nick Spitzer picked up the efforts again in the 1980s, writing about Rev. Jackson & booking him at local festivals. Abbott's work was especially valuable in documenting details of Rev. Jackson's life & role in his community, along with illuminating more aspects of his discography. Then in time there were others, such as George Paulus, Kevin Nutt, & me. I raise my glass to all the lovers of music who helped bring Rev. Jackson's life-enriching music to our ears.

Jimmie Dale Stricklen's headstone, Ash Family Cemetery, Clinton, LA, photo by Kenneth Johnston

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Thanks to all who have contributed to this project, especially Rev. Charlie Jackson (1932-2006) & Mrs. Laura Jackson (1943-2020), Rev. Dennis "Clay" Jackson, Lynn Abbott, Matt Bowden, Keegan Cooke, Cooper-Moore, Joe Farara, Fitz Gitler, Bill Greensmith, Peter Hoogers, Vasti Jackson, Steven Joerg, Big Joe Louis, Bob Marovich, Mrs. Audrey McKnight, Elder C.W. McKnight, Paris McKnight, Berwick Moore, Kevin Nutt, Clare O’Dea, Peg O’Neill, George Parker, Sylvia Parker, Dan Rose, Pastor Ricky Simmons, Chris Smith, and James Williams.