'This May Be My Last Time Singing' Is Primitive Gospel at Its Finest

From the same intelligent archivist and classic gospel lover who delivered 2009's Fire in My Bones: Raw + Rare + Otherworldly African-American Gospel, 1944-2007 comes that compilation's brilliantly parochial companion, This May Be My Last Time Singing: Raw African-American Gospel on 45 RPM, 1957-1982, on the attested Tompkins Square label.

That tireless archivist is none other than the Detroit Metro Times' Mike McGonigal, and his love for insular, superannuated gospel music knows no bounds. For this collection, McGonigal combed the depths of an uncanny trove of regional, self-released, 7", 45 RPM gospel records from the specified time period to deliver a whopper of a 72-song, 3-CD box set.

According to All About Jazz, Mr. McGonigal took his collocating talents to the next level for This May Be My Last Time, sweetly restricting himself to virtually unheard platters from the time period:

"McGonigal fine-tuned his selection criteria, restricting himself to gospel music released on 45rpm singles on small, local labels, between the mid 1950s and early 1980s. ... In the 1960s and 1970s, anyone could cut a 7-inch 45rpm single. ... In the case of regional gospel music, the end to the means was more often the sacred expression than the promise of financial gain."

The music presented on this set is as infinitely sublime as it is worshipfully lo-fi. In his review for OffBeat magazine, reporter Andrew Hamlin touched on some of the compilation's highlights while recounting McGonigal's excellent liner notes from the collection:

"You'll find drum machines and electronic keyboards here and there. Witness Deacon James Williams' "God is Taking Care" from 1980, where (presumably) the Deacon chants and the machine chatters. 'The only copies I have found,' McGonigal writes, 'are in pretty bad shape' -- frustrating to the curator and the listener -- but it comes over much less crackly than other sides herein, and as McGonigal admits, 'at least a few people liked it enough to play the record until it's hardly listenable.'"

Below, listen to Rev. Lonnie Farris doing "Peace in the Valley" from This May Be My Last Time.

TagsThis May Be My Last Time Singing, Raw African-American Gospel on 45 RPM, Mike McGonigal, Tompkins Square, Detroit Metro Times, All About Jazz, Andrew Hamlin, OffBeat Magazine, Deacon James Williams, Rev. Lonnie Farris, Peace in the Valley, Fire in My Bones: Raw + Rare + Otherworldly African-American Gospel, Gospel Music