Say Amen, Somebody
One of the internships I did in college was at an independent studio in Smyrna, Georgia, right around where the Atlanta Braves stadium is now. They didn’t have a whole lot of business, but what they did was primarily gospel music. There’s an energy and emotion that comes through in the performance of Gospel that is invigorating, even if you didn’t come from a religious background where you were exposed to it; the church of my youth was a more traditional, Presbyterian choir. This documentary, made in 1983, and restored in 2019, is an engrossing look at the importance of gospel music in the black church, and African-American community.
The film centers its focus on two central individuals on the rise to prominence of gospel music- Thomas A. Dorsey, who is known as the father of black gospel music, and Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith, who was the mother of the musical form, through her long association with Dorsey. At the time of the film, she had been singing gospel for six decades, and her voice was as fresh and lively as ever, whether it’s singing in church, or just talking about faith and singing for God with people where she is. It’s interesting that this isn’t strictly a concert documentary, although there are wonderful performances throughout, and it isn’t entirely about the history of gospel, although with interviews by Dorsey and Smith we get a wealth of knowledge on that front. George T. Nierenberg, who directed the film, immerses us in the contemporary gospel scene of the early 1980s, and by following Mae Ford Smith and Dorsey, gives us wonderful insight about where gospel had come from, and where it was going with groups like the Barrett Sisters and the O’Neal Twins, and a convention that feels like a good ol’ spiritual revival. There are wonderful moments captured in this movie, and one of my favorites is when Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith is being driven around by a gentleman, and she’s talking about how, for her, as a woman, being able to speak her faith through music was refreshing, as women were not necessarily allowed to lead the congregations, and the driver is pushing back on the idea of women leading the church while trying to stress that he’s not being chauvinistic; he’s just comfortable with the familiarity of tradition. Thank God voices like Mother Willie Mae Ford Smith exist, though, from both a musical AND religious perspective. This is a film full of life and love of music; I first heard about it through the ’80s All Over podcast- I’m grateful Nierenberg has restored it, and given people a chance to experience it as if it were new. This is one of my favorite film experiences of 2019.
