God's Got It: Legendary Booker & Jackson Singles
These spirituals cut by the electric guitar-slinging Reverend in the 1970s are so full of old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone preaching and Delta mud from Jackson’s native Mississippi that they sound as if they were recorded 30 years earlier. So there’s no shortage of gritty chills on this disc, whether from the raggedy goodness of Jackson’s licks or his tales of struggle, sin, and souls wailing for redemption. The born-again sermonette "Wrapped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus" is as raw and idiosyncratic as anything ever played in a juke joint. The hair-raising "Testimony of Rev. Charlie Jackson," with its probing tremolo guitar, is the tale of Jackson’s first stroke and recovery. Yet the most potent number is "Something to Think About," where Jackson sings about Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, and the struggle for Civil Rights. But all 18 of these performances offer fire-breathing proof that the distance between blues and gospel can be less than a razor’s edge. --Ted Drozdowski