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reverend johnny l. 'hurricane' jones - jezus chris from a till z - parlortone - vinyl

New Copy

Genre: Funk / Soul

1. The Day Is Past & Gone
2. Prayer
3. Interlude By Rev Jasper Williams
4. Life Has No Sorrows That Heaven Cannot Heal
5. Jesus I Love Him/Up & Down Journey
6. I Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around/Nothing Less Than Jesus' Blood & Righteousness
7. One More Time
8. Jesus Christ From A To Z
9. Closing Response
10. Old Ship Of Zion

Since being introduced by Cole Alexander of the Black Lips, Dust-to-Digital founder Lance Ledbetter and Jones have worked together, listening to the vast archive of recordings that Jones has never released. Together, they've culled those tapes into Jones' first LP in 31 years, Jesus Christ From A To Z. The collected recordings are striking, loose documents of that Hurricane style: soaring organs, screaming congregants and Jones leading it all in his distinctive moan.

Called to preach at the young age of 19, Jones preached at country revivals and around LaGrange before settling in as pastor at Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in Atlanta. At the small church on Maple Street in the late '50s, Jones started recording the songs and sermon of each Sunday service on reel-to-reel tape. Jones started his recording career by putting out his own debut, an LP titled Working For God, financed with cash borrowed from his father. His third self-released LP, Jesus Is In Town, caught the ear of Stan Lewis at Jewel Records. The Louisiana-based record label -- "the largest Gospel one-stop in the business," according to Billboard magazine around that time -- re-released Jesus Is in Town in 1969 and continued releasing Jones' records throughout the '70s. Jones earned such a reputation for building up his sermons from slow teaching into a frenzied power that a local radio DJ started calling him "The Hurricane."
Jewel released Jones' last album in 1978. In the years since, those records have gone out-of-print, eventually circulating into used bins and thrift stores where they've been picked up by younger listeners unfamiliar with Jones or his church.