Judge Jackson was born in Montgomery, Alabama in 1883 into a family of sharecroppers, and moved to Ozark in Dale County in his late teens, where he was Baptized, got married, and lived the rest of his life as a farmer and preacher. He was mesmerized by and addicted to the sound of the Sacred Harp music that he heard throughout southeast Alabama, where he learned to read and write shape-notes from fellow workers and worshippers. African American Sacred Harp conventions had been circulating in the South since the 1870’s, and Jackson was no stranger to them. At some point, he began adapting existing tunes to his own original lyrics, and many of those in his congregation preferred his songs over the official ones found in the The Sacred Harp and in Southern Harmony. He essentially became a modern-day black version of Singing Billy Walker. As the popularity of his music increased beyond the walls of his own church and out into the black communities of Lower Alabama (they actually call it L.A. down there), he began composing completely original songs (lyrics and melody) in the shape-note style.
Judge Jackson’s popularity grew in the 1920’s to the point where he was in high demand to run singing schools of his own throughout Alabama and eventually the entire Southeast. His singing school technique involved following the basic principles and constructs as outlined in B.F. White’s Sacred Harp songbook, but he quickly swerved his lessons to include his own original and adapted Sacred Harp music. None of his songs were published at first. They were simply sketched out on paper and hand-copied, and memorized by the students in the singing schools and the members of the congregations. Since Jackson’s songs were incredibly good, it was not hard at all for his followers to memorize all of them. They would perform traditional songs from The Sacred Harp using the book, and also perform some of his original songs from memory – and usually by demanded request. - source
Judge Jackson wrote songs with an insight into African American spirituality that reached directly into the soul of his followers. One of his most popular songs, My Mother’s Gone, has a tremendous combination of raw emotional pain and gentle soothing faith that is almost impossible to achieve with sophisticated song-writing techniques. He wrote these lyrics in 1904, and added the tune in 1927.
I have a mother way in glory,
One by one we’ll gather home.
Gathering, gathering,
One by one we’ll gather home.
Each verse is repeated with a different family member added to the lyrics, making the song adaptable to everyone, and the “Gathering, gathering” chorus is repeated between each verse. Eventually, the song concludes with this final verse:
When Christ will say, “Well done,” my brother,
One by one we’ll gather home.
It’s such a simple little song. The lyrics are touching and emotional, but when they are combined with Jackson’s energetic melody, it becomes electrifying. - source
No comments:
Post a Comment