Blues Style Worship Anyone?

We have a small "biker church" that is pretty flexible with the different styles of worship that we offer through music. We started introducing simple 8 Bar Blues songs into the sets that were simple and fun for the folks to worship with. They are starting to realize that Blues music isn't just for feelin' bad about life and all it's problems but that it's a style of music with feel, passion and expression.

Do you use this style somewhat in your worship?

Smilin' Willie

I wish! We were starting to practice for our first outdoor, street-playing thing, and as we were starting to feel around on "Spirit in the Sky," the pastor put the kibosh on us. I think it's pretty clear he has some issues related to where he came from in life and this kind of freaked him out, but if it comes up again I will talk to him about it. He once told me he "needed a screaming lead guitar," but he seems a bit reluctant to let it actually happen. One day!

Hey Bek,
we do screaming leads. SmilinWillie's pastor hasn't said anything bad about it.

Ever heard that camp song, Jesus is the Rock? Has a chorus with bop shu wah bop shu wah in it... Well we leave that part out of the lyrics and play it as a straight blues tune E A D, with some Clapton-ish leads added. It's all good if done in reverence. I wish we had some bikers here... Our praise band is all old rockers. It'd be a nice fit.

We do Jesus is the Rock and Anchor, both of which are 12-bar songs. We also do a couple of original rockers. Of course, we play at Church Under The Bridge (http://www.mpaustin.org/street/cub/), which meets under an elevated portion of IH-35 in downtown Austin, across the street from the Police Department. Lots of street people, and those who minister to them.

When I played at Life Connection Church, an Assembly of God church in Round Rock, we did an original 12-bar ZZT-style tune called Calling Jesus.

I appreciate your feedback! There's a whole genre' of blues music dedicated to this style. (I'm trying to stay within the rules here.. er uh) Anyway, I've heard some very talented artists put together great worship blues music. It's impressive how you can use this style to reach folks. (Like the folks under IH-35. That's so cool)

Anyway, sometimes I get RockerDuck to come to Greenville, SC and play with us and the folks absolutly love it. We've played Rockabilly, BBKing Blues and straite up rock n roll. We got a ZZ Top special we are going to do one day soon too. Adapted from "I thank you".

SW

I've been thinking about this, and thinking the first step would be to do it where it VERY NATURALLY FITS, and that is getting a jam session together - not necessarily for preparing for Sunday service.

Blues jams are very easy to ad lib with, and because lyrical white space and repetition sound very acceptable, it's easy for vocals to ad lib on lyrics. I would love to get a band together for a couple hours and just do some blues, and worship just like I pray - just saying what I'm thinking and what I'm led to say.

Record the sessions.

That could very easily lead to some original songs that can work in the Sunday service setting.

Are you hep to the sacred steel genre? Check out sacredstrings YouTube channel for many examples. Lots of blues influence. Its a steel guitar tradition and a favorite of mine.

Here's one example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-hnGUz8xg4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Anybody coverin' Robert Randolph. Dry Bones, I Belong to Jesus, Travelin' Shoes, Get There? Pretty rockin' stuff. Hold on.

re Spirit in the Sky...our Pastor said "the only thing is, that, I don’t think, the Spirit is in the sky, but all around us and in our hearts. Heaven is not some destination".

Google or you tube search the following:

Preaching Chords

I know I been changed

Feast of The Lord (Come over here, the table is spread)

Played lots of African American Gospel/Blues tunes Including

Walk With Me Lord
All the way from heaven Down
Amazing Grace (wide variety of tunes)
All Hail King Jesus (Funk Blues Melody seems local to Chicagoland may be hard to find)
I will Sing Hallelujah

Use the preaching chord search to get you to various musicians who can take you the rest of the way.

I like Todd Agnew. I think his is kind of a Blues Rock style.

We do I Am On The Battliefield in a straight blues style as one of our go to spontaneous unrehearsed songs.

Check out The Reverend Jimmie Bratcher. Hes the real deal!

On the battlefield is a good one for this as is Jesus is on the mainline.

Also do a search on metered hymns, specifically the Dr. Watts variety. They are done in pentatonic/blues scales in a call and response pattern. The leader sings the call at a steady tempo, the response is half or less the speed of the call and is "warbled" through the blues scale. Here is the most famous one but there are(were?) hundreds. This can be adopted to any lyric. Great fun for guitar players and if there is an organist and guitar it gets really funky!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Oh1eAJi8z4

Here's another simple blues tune, I know it was the blood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1_oYrXdjVc

Feast of the Lord:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PYz7OtVV3M&feature=related

I know I been Changed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gey_oEslEMw

I heard a great fast paced blues tune from a newer band called "echoing angels". I forget the name of the song but it was very SRV like!

We did this 2 weeks ago. Used this vid to set the tone before rehersal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxNYvzXQ3m4


.....and skip to 18:50. This is us doing it. I took verse 2 and 4 (more restrained on the reverb :) ) and the other guitarist took 1 and 3.

http://blip.tv/fcchworship/worship-music-11-20-2011-5753331

re Spirit in the Sky...our Pastor said "the only thing is, that, I don’t think, the Spirit is in the sky, but all around us and in our hearts. Heaven is not some destination".The main thing is that Spirit in the Sky is not really a Christian song... the writer, Norman Greenbaum, who is Jewish, decided to write it after seeing Porter Waggoner sing a Gospel song. In 2006, Greenbaum said, "'Yeah, I could do that,' knowing nothing about gospel music, so I sat down and wrote my own gospel song. It came easy. I wrote the words in 15 minutes."

The lyrics sound like they are satirical... kind of like "I Saw the Light", almost making fun of, or ridiculing Gospel songs.

I've never been a sinner, I've never sinnned. I've got a friend in Jesus, and you know that when I died, he's gonna set me up with the Spirit in the Sky.

On the other hand... he did play the rhythm guitar part on a Telecaster!

Our praise band, Crossfire, has done Spirit in the Sky when we play other than in church.... We played it by request at a funeral, and at a benefit for a local musicians family...
Only changed one line. "I'm a sinner, you know that I've sinned, but I got a friend in Jesus..."

Anyone ever heard of Martin Luther? Wrote a few hymns in his time. Used current tavern drinking songs for a couple so the locals would know the tunes... that was in the 1500's... So it ain't nothin' new to use popular music to do worship music.

Check out The Reverend Jimmie Bratcher. Hes the real deal!

I agree 100%. Bratcher is awesome. Also look at Mike Farris. There are others, but they are knock-offs of other blues players. The last recommendation would be a jam band named The Blues Counsel. They have one album and play every year at the Christian Music Seminar (CMS at the Chapel).

This is a great thread. Yeah, Todd Agnew is great, and I've been meaning to check out Jimmie Bratcher. There are so many. I'm trying to get "Church House Steps" and "Daniel and the Sacred Harp" (Ben Harper and the Band) to get played, just once.

Walk with me Lord

nzAe0CL-WaQ

Can't believe I left out two of the best:

Glen Kaiser
Darrell Mansfield

The core of the old REZ band. Amazing blues musicians.

I am a big fan of Darrell Mansfield and Glen Kaiser. Why should the Devil have all the good music anyway. Right now I am playing bass in my church Grace Fellowship. They want me to start playing a little guitar. My pastor plays guitar, he is one of those guys who can pick up any instrument and play it very well. He is a Jazz player, I can start playing a good blues groove on the bass, the drummer will will follow, and he will join right in. He also lets me do little bass leads during worship. We had alot of guitar players but only couple guys who could play bass, One plays first service, and I play second service. He heard me play guitar with teens and now wants me to play lead once in a while. But I am a big fan of the old Rez band.

Just wanted to share some music. I was recently made aware of this guy by a fellow member and i like what i hear. His music sounds real, heartfelt and a hundred years old.

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Here's some info...unfortunately the man passed in 2006.

http://www.50milesofelbowroom.com/artist/122-reverend-charlie-jackson.html

Rev Charlie Jackson....that was awesome.

I played worship with Randy Estell (I think that's how you spell his name), and whoa is he good. He played a little 12 bar blues thing on the piano. I think it was one of his own songs, and I gotta say it was a lot more fun then the normal contemperary stuff we usualy play. I'm not saying I don't enjoy playing the regular music, but I just love playing blues. Anyway, you guys should look randy up, I'm sure he has videos on youtube. I was blown away by the way he could play piano. I'm still mind boggled by it.

Yes, I know we're not straight up blues players but here we are having a bit of fun before service this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_HStuBs_Ys&sns=em

I'm the bass player.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe!!!!
'Nuff said!

Sister Rosetta Tharpe!!!!
'Nuff said!

Yeah buddy!