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Former Cincinnati Music Critic Gives PBS Gospel-Music Special High Grades

Courtesy of Getty Images
With 96 years as a band and counting, the Fairfield Four electrify the house with guest star and former member Robert Hamlett (center).

For years, a lot of people who live in the Cincinnati area knew to pay attention to what Larry Nager was saying. Whether it was a concert review, a profile of a musician or news about upcoming record releases, people might spend money, sometimes lots of it, based on what he wrote -- first, for the afternoon paper, the Post, then for the "winner" in the battle for print allegiance, the Enquirer.

Nager's recommending again. This time not as a critic, but as a coproducer of an upcoming PBS gospel-music special, "Rock My Soul." (The two-hour pledge-drive program airs on CET Arts March 6 at 8 p.m. and March 7 at 5 p.m.; it will air March 8 at 11:30 p.m. and March 13 at 5:30 p.m. on KET2.) Recorded as a concert last September at Nashville's historic acoustical and architectural landmark, Downtown Presbyterian Church, it features names that are famous to those who know gospel music and music that should entertain anyone who enjoys watching performers create art.

http://youtu.be/OWgnM0fEOiU

The concert lasted almost three hours. From that, the following performances were taken, according to the program's press materials:

  • “Amazing Grace” – The McCrary Sisters
  • “Noah” – The Fairfield Four with special guest Robert Hamlett
  • Jesus Gave Me Water” – The Fairfield Four with special guest Amos Lee
  • “Children Go Where I Send Thee” – The Fairfield Four with special guest Lee Ann Womack
  • “Get Right With God” – The Fairfield Four with special guest Lucinda Williams
  • “Hold the Wind” – The McCrary Sisters with special guest Buddy Miller
  • “Use Me Lord” – The McCrary Sisters with special guest Van Hunt
  • “I Got Jesus (and That’s Enough)” – The McCrary Sisters with special guest Lee Ann Womack
  • “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around” – The McCrary Sisters with The Fairfield Four
  • “Rock My Soul” – Finale with The McCrary Sisters, The Fairfield Four and all guests

"Rock My Soul" also features interviews with artists that include Robert Plant, TajMahal and Jackson Browne, explaining the history and relevance of gospel music -- leaving viewers with a perspective of how it is a foundation of so much of what America has listened to for decades.
"Gospel is the roots of so much of the music we have," Nager said. "It is the absolute ground zero of soul music." In a similar way, he explained, other popular music such as doo wop and rock and roll trace their ancestry to it.

"It is a real primary color of American music . . . (gospel is) the American opera."

Nager left Cincinnati years ago, a casualty of the meltdown that began at the Enquirer decades earlier. He was a musician before he was a journalist, and though writing has not disappeared from his life, his home base of Nashville gives him plenty of opportunities to use both talents. His connections with the "Bluegrass Underground" public broadcasting programs teamed him with the people who produce that show as well as "Rock My Soul." Nager wrote the script and suggested the songs for each of the artists. The show's executive producers took on what could have been the daunting job of signing the performers.

Because Nashville is so full of top talent, Nager said, signing the musicians was easier than it might have been in many other locales. 

"We put together lists of artists we'd like to see. This city has a huge gene pool of artists," he said. "Nashville is the most musical place I've ever lived. Working out everybody's schedules was the most difficult. It took a lot of juggling."

Nager's credentials for choosing the songs started when, as a child growing up in New York City, he and his parents were part of the audience for one week's "The Ed Sullivan Show." The late Mahalia Jackson was one of Sullivan's guests, and her performance was "my introduction to live music." Gospel music has been an interest of his ever since. 

Some of the selections he chose were not standards connected with the artists, nor were some of the arrangements. But the agreed-upon songs made for an extraordinary program, he said, that was "just enough out of their comfort zone that it was fresh."

About five months after coming up with the idea, the gathering of gospel luminaries took place. More than 700 people filled the church that day. It was, it appears, a satisfied audience. 

Nager was asked if he missed sitting in the audience, judging the performances as a critic. 

"It's more fun to create than to write about it," he answered quickly. -- and convincingly. 

Tom Brinkmoeller is a Cincinnati native who wrote about broadcasting for The Cincinnati Enquirer in the '70s and '80s.