Previous Vocal Group Record of the Week
(Week of 3/9/02 - 3/15/02)


SPOTLIGHT ON GOSPEL GROUPS PART FOUR!

"God Save America"
by The Spirit Of Memphis
on Peacock 1710
released in 1953

Photo Of The Spirit Of Memphis

Above: Circa 1953 photo of The Spirit Of Memphis, (L-R) William "Little Axe" Broadnax, Jethroe Bledsoe, Robert Reed, James Darling, Earl Malone, and Silas Steele. This spiritual group started in 1930 as The T.M. & S. Gospel Singers, after the names of churches of its members. Their name change in 1933 resulted from Lindbergh's successful flight across the Atlantic in his "Spirit Of St. Louis" airplane.

Peacock Label-Spirit Of Memphis-1953
Above: Peacock 1710, released in 1953. Little Axe sings tenor lead; Earl Malone sings the bass break. This song related to the Korean War, but could just as well apply to current events in Afghanistan. Windows Media Player for this and two other Peacock releases can be heard below. One of these, "It Won't Be Long Now", features Malone's superb deep bass capabilities.

The Spirit Of Memphis' popularity took off when they joined the King Label in 1950 and continued after their switch to Peacock in 1953, staying there through most of the 1960's.

Listen to this week's selections:

A) Click on an option below to listen to Streaming Windows Media Player.

"God Save America" - The Spirit Of Memphis - Peacock 1710 - 1953
"It Won't Be Long Now" - The Spirit Of Memphis - Peacock 1805 - 1959
"In The Garden" - The Spirit Of Memphis - Peacock 1798 - 1959
"ALL THREE SONGS" NOT FUNCTIONAL!

B) Click on an option below to listen to Downloading Windows Media Player.

"God Save America" - The Spirit Of Memphis - Peacock 1710 - 1953 (file size=422KB)
"It Won't Be Long Now" - The Spirit Of Memphis - Peacock 1805 - 1959 (file size=325KB)
"In The Garden" - The Spirit Of Memphis - Peacock 1798 - 1959 (file size=384KB)

TO HEAR MORE SPIRIT OF MEMPHIS RECORDS (USING MP3 AUDIO), PLEASE CLICK HERE. (NOTE: If using Netscape browser and the MP3 files won't download, try using Internet Explorer!)


Photo Of The Spirit Of Memphis
Above: Another circa 1953 photo of The Spirit Of Memphis, (L-R) Theo Wade, Fred Howard, Jersey Joe Walcott (professional boxer), Robert Reed, Earl Malone, Little Axe, Jethroe Bledsoe, and Silas Steele.

[Thanks go to George Moonoogian for providing scans of both photos of The Spirit Of Memphis shown on this page]


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