His Hand In Mine

“His Hand In Mine” History of the recording and release of the first gospel album performed by Elvis Presley

Gospel music (the name comes from the words “God Spell” and means the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ) is an integral part of American culture, like the blues and country music. Its roots date back to the late 18th century and the traditional folk songs, the so-called “spirituals,” performed by Black slaves in America. They were then, as we read in one of the texts dedicated to the history of this musical genre, a combination of traditional music “brought from Africa and Christian music found on American plantations.”

Interest in these types of songs declined significantly after 1864, following the abolition of slavery, but returned with even greater force at the beginning of the 20th century, when the struggle for equality for African Americans began. The years 1917–1935 are known as the Harlem Renaissance due to the flourishing culture of the Black population. At that time, “spiritual” songs played a very important role. Over time, however, people attending Black churches began to feel the need to “express their religious feelings in a more expressive and spontaneous way than in traditional spirituals,” writes the author of the text on the history of the gospel.

To meet these expectations, Thomas Dorsey, now known as the “father of modern gospel,” and other musicians following him, began combining traditional spirituals with blues. Thus, a new trend in Christian music was born: gospel (initially called “devil music”).

Gospel quartets began to form in the 1920s. Many of them played a significant role in the history of popular music. Groups like The Blackwood Brothers, The Statesman, and The Jordanaires not only recorded albums with their own songs, but also collaborated with popular singers such as Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Ricky Nelson. Moreover, performing artists themselves were increasingly willing to use religious works, including them in their studio or concert repertoire.

Gospel music slowly left the walls of churches and became a fixture of pop culture.

Elvis became fascinated with gospel music when he was still a few years old. He and his mother attended services at the First Assembly of God Church. In Janusz P?o?ski’s book, “Why Me, Lord?” we read: “In church, singing and dancing together gave me a sense of forgetfulness and an escape from the brutal everyday life. For Elvis, the expressions of the faithful during these rites, their expressive movements, and their unashamed trance-like experiences were completely normal. And singing has become a source of satisfaction.”

Over the next few years, gospel songs accompanied him almost every step of the way. He sang them both at home, before television recordings or at the start of the next recording session, and before concerts.

Almost from the beginning of his career, he surrounded himself with gospel quartets such as The Jordanaires, Imperials, JDSumner & Stamps Quartet and Voice.

When I had the pleasure of interviewing Donnie Sumner, a member of J.D. Sumner & The Stamps and one of the founders of the Voice (Elvis’s gospel quartet in the 1970s), I couldn’t help but ask him about the role gospel music played in Presley’s life. He then confessed:

Gospel music was a way for him to relax. It accompanied him through the most stressful moments, turning them into moments of relaxation and rest. […] When things got really tiring, Elvis would ask The Stamps or The Voice to sing gospel songs like SWEET SWEET SPIRIT. Every time he heard a gospel tune, he would become truly calm and less melancholic.”

In 1957, as a popular artist, Elvis recorded some of his favorite songs in a recording studio. The RCA Victor record label, despite concerns (records with this type of music were not very popular at the time, and it should also be remembered that Presley did not enjoy a good reputation among adults in 1957. To their ears, the gospel hymns he sang sounded like a stain on sanctity), released them on an extended play album (popular EP) titled “Peace in the Valley” on April 11, 1957. Surprisingly, the album was a hit (for this type of album, the musical genre, and the time in which it was released), reaching number thirty-ninth on the charts.

Three years later, in 1960, Elvis decided to make another album of his favorite gospel songs. This time, he wanted to complete the material for the entire LP. Encouraged by the success of the album “Peace in the Valley,” RCA bosses didn’t object. Elvis’s manager, Colonel Parker, after Presley’s return from the army, created a new image for him, a “good guy,” that would be acceptable to all social and age groups.

On October 30, 1960, Elvis arrived in Nashville (he showed up at the studio with a broken finger on his left hand, which, however, had no effect on the quality or the progress of the recordings). At 6:30 p.m., the recording session officially began in Studio B. It was supervised by producer Steve Sholes and sound engineer Bill Porter. Presley was accompanied by a band consisting of Scotty Moore and Hank Garland on guitars, Bob Moore on bass, DJ Fontana and Murrey ‘Buddy’ Harman on drums, Floyd Cramer on piano, and Homer ‘Boots’ Randolph on saxophone. Vocal support was provided by the gospel quartet The Jordanaires (consisting of Gordon Stoker, Hoyt Hawkins, Neal Matthews, and Ray Walker) and Millie Kirkham. His military friend Charlie Hodge sang duets with Elvis on several songs.

Most of the songs recorded that night were selected by Elvis himself. He gave the prepared track list to Freddie Bienstock, who was in charge of selecting the material for most of the sessions, reviewing them in great detail from a legal standpoint (copyright and publishing possibilities). The day before recording began, the two met at the singer’s Graceland mansion to discuss the final details of the upcoming session and the list of songs to be recorded.

The recordings began with the recording of the so-called “Black Gospel” standard, the song “Milky White Way,” whose history dates back to 1943 when it was first recorded by the Coleman Brothers. Four years later, in 1947, the Trumpeteers took the song to number eight on the R&B charts. And it was probably their bluesy interpretation that Elvis modeled during this October session.

The first three approaches were played in the slowest key. “Boots Randolph followed the bass line on his sibilant, whispering saxophone, and the voices of the quartet and the soprano blended perfectly,” wrote Ernst Jorgensen in his book. In the fourth and subsequent rehearsals, the team played a little faster. “This is a good rhythm,” Elvis said after another brief false start (between the fourth and fifth attempts). The master version was recorded for the seventh time.

When selecting material for this session, Elvis primarily chose among his favorite songs. One such recording was, among others, the romantic song “His Hand in Mine,” written by Mosie Lister, arranger and member of Elvis’s father’s favorite gospel group, The Statesman (the band recorded their version of “His Hand in Mine” in 1953).

Presley really got involved with this recording. He sang with great emotion, changing the word “God” to “Lord” in the first verse. Like a few months earlier on the song “I Will Be Home Again,” he decided to sing it as a duet with his army friend, Charlie Hodge (Charlie sang the so-called harmony vocals). Their voices harmonized perfectly with the male voices of the gospel quartet accompanying them and the strong voice of soprano singer Millie Kirkham. Only five approaches were recorded (most of them were complete and good enough to be released). The master version was mixed with the studio’s best, the fifth approach, and the final version of the fourth rehearsal.

The next two recordings recorded that night also came from The Statesman’s repertoire. The first, recorded shortly before the break, “I Believe In The Man In The Sky,” was written by Richard Howard. In 1955, it was recorded by the Statesman group. Elvis, who knew their performance from the album, was captivated by the voice of the performer, Jake Hess. When the two artists met and performed for friends a few years later, Elvis congratulated Hess with the words, “Now you know where I found my style.”

“I Believe In The Man In The Sky” was recorded after only four attempts (the last one was included on the album). After a break of several minutes, a few minutes after 10:00 p.m., Elvis began working on the next song. It was another recording from the quartet album The Statesman. “He Knows Just What I Need” was written by Mosie Lister and recorded by his band in 1955.

However, the day before, when approving the set list for the session, Elvis approved a completely different song. Initially, the recording of “When You Travel All Alone,” also written by Mosie Lister, was considered. In the studio, however, the singer changed his mind at the last minute and decided to record the much more difficult “He Knows Just What I Need” vocal. The piece required skillful changes in rhythm and, to achieve the effect of extraordinary “fervor,” the finale, in which Charlie Hodge’s tenor would soar to the highest registers. In the end, however, as we read in Ernst Jorgensen’s book, after the first attempts, Charlie’s voice completely refused to obey and had to be replaced by Millie Kirkham’s. The album presents a very successful approach, although devoid of this “fervor.”

The recording of the following song was almost forced by the difficult situation RCA management found itself in. After the album featuring the hit “Are You Lonesome Tonight?”, there wasn’t a single song on the shelves that could be used as the A-side for the new single. All previous recordings have been released. All except the songs from the film “Flaming Star,” but those, according to Elvis’s manager, Colonel Parker, were to remain in the archives and not yet be released.

During this recording session, there was nothing left but to step back from gospel singing for a few moments and record at least one new song, material for a potential hit. The choice fell on the old Italian love song “Torn A Surriento” (the choice of song was primarily due to the fact that a few months earlier Presley had taken another Italian classic to the top of the world charts: “O Sole Mio”). This song was created in the early 20th century.

In 1902, it was written by two brothers, Ernesto (music) and Giambattista (words) De Curtis. Three years later, in 1905, the song was officially copyrighted. One story about the song’s creation is that the brothers composed it at the request of the mayor of Sorrento, who was a friend of Giambattista De Curtis. Another, more official version (supported by family documents, among others) says that the brothers deposited this work with the Italian Society of Authors and Publishers as early as 1894, and only a few changes were made to it eight years later.

The first official performer of “Torn A Surriento” was the tenor Mario Massa, who published this piece on his record in 1905. In the following years, this recording was used by great artists such as Enrico Caruso (for some time he was even considered the first artist to record “Torn A Surriento”), José Carreras, Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.

The first English text of “Torn A Surriento” was written by Claude Aveling. The song was renamed “Come Back To Sorrento.” In this version, it was performed by stage personalities such as Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra.

In 1960, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, especially for Elvis, created a new, more dynamic arrangement and wrote new English words. Thus, the song known today as “Surrender” was born.

Elvis was familiar with Mario Lanza’s original Italian performance and made his first attempts. During the first four takes, the band worked on the arrangement (changing the song’s tempo at least twice). When the song’s sound was set correctly, it turned out that the only person not ready to continue working was… Elvis. He couldn’t cope with hitting the high notes; he was delaying them, as Ernst Jorgensen writes in his book. Observing his fruitless struggles and growing anxiety about the situation, Ray Walker (who sang bass with The Jordanaires) asked Elvis to take a short break. The singers, wanting to be away from the rest of the band members, musicians, and studio staff, went to the… bathroom. It was the only place in the studio that could guarantee that. During that, Ray taught Elvis how to exercise to control his own breathing. He showed him how to use his stomach to take his voice to the highest registers.

Elvis turned out to be a very well-educated student. After returning to the studio, he immediately put his friend’s advice into practice and recorded subsequent attempts without any problems. The song was recorded on the eighth attempt. The version used on the single, however, was based on the fourth and eighth approaches to the so-called final piece of work, which was recorded some time later.

“Surrender” proved to be the only gospel music breakthrough during this session. Immediately after recording it, Elvis returned to songs with a religious theme. Another recording that night was “Mansion Over The Hill” by Ira Stanphill, the author of more than 400 (!) gospel songs. The first version of this song was probably recorded by Red Foley (the singer also had other songs later recorded by Presley in his repertoire, including “Just A Closer Walk With Thee,” “Just Call Me Lonesome,” “(There’ll Be) Peace In The Valley (For Me),” and “Old Sheep”) in May 1953.

A year later, the quartet The Blackwood Brothers added it to their repertoire. A few days after recording it, two band members died in a plane crash. This was just a few days before Elvis made his first recordings at SUN Studio.

Elvis Presley probably followed his performance that night. It only took him three attempts to record the master version.

After recording “Mansion Over the Hilltop” in the studio, a break was called for a few minutes, which, according to the session documentation, lasted until 1:00 to 2:30 in the morning. Immediately afterward, the musicians began working on the song “In the House at My Father’s.” The song, written by Ailecne Hanks, was another song Elvis knew from The Blackwood Brothers’ repertoire. The group recorded it in 1954. At the time, legendary bassist J.D. Sumner was in the band’s lineup. A few years later, J.D. Sumner backed Elvis vocally onstage and in the studio.

Elvis didn’t record his version of “In My Father’s House” after eight attempts. His voice harmonized perfectly with the voices of the members of The Jordanaires (listening to this unusual harmony of voices, it’s hard to believe that a few years earlier Presley hadn’t been allowed to join the ranks of the gospel choir…).

In the end, the master version used on the album consisted of the final, eighth attempt, and the first (and only) attempt at the end of the piece. The next two songs were stylistically very different from the previously recorded songs. The first, “Swing Down Sweet Chariot,” was presented to Elvis by his military friend Charlie Hodge. It came from the repertoire of the Golden Gate Quartet.

Presley met the members of this Black gospel group in person during one of his visits to Paris. During a backstage visit, he not only had an interesting conversation with them but also sang a song with them.

Recorded that night on its fourth take, his 1946 hit was a sort of nod to Elvis and the band that had an impact on him and his career.

This piece is often confused with another gospel standard, “Swing Low Sweet Chariot,” which was first recorded by the Standard Quartette in 1894 (although the 1910 Fisk University Jubilee Quartet is officially recorded as the first recorded version).

However, it’s worth remembering that the song “Sweet Down Sweet Chariot” was one of the few that Elvis recorded in the studio twice. The first version was created while completing material for the album “His Hand in Mine,” and the next, eight years later, for the soundtrack to the film “The Trouble With Girls.”

The story of the following piece dates back to September 1942. At that time, the vocalists of Harrod’s Jubilee Singers (a Black gospel quartet) recorded a song for Paramount called “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho.” A year later, Paul Robenson recorded the track with a slightly modified title, “Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho.” His performance was much more appreciated by the public. Four years after Robenson, the Golden Gate Quartet recorded the song “Joshua Fit The Battle of Jericho.” And its arrangement and performance were almost copied by Elvis Presley on the night of October 30, 1960, in Nashville.

The master version of the album “His Hand in Mine” was recorded after only four attempts. On Presley’s album, the song is abbreviated as “Joshua Fit the Battle.”

Shortly before the next intermission, Elvis covered a piece written by Cully Holt, the bassist for The Jordanaires, who was accompanying him that night: “I’m Gonna Walk Dem Golden Stairs.” The group recorded their version of this recording in 1946 for RCA.

During this session, Elvis attempted to sing this song several times. With the group that recorded the original version alongside him, he wanted to do his best. On the fourth attempt, he suggested a slightly slower tempo, which was abandoned on the subsequent fifth attempt. Ultimately, however, the first approach was chosen for the master version.

The session continued after a short break a few minutes after five in the morning. The first song the musicians focused on was “If We Never Met Again,” written and later recorded in 1945 by one of gospel music’s most popular composers, Albert E. Brumley.

It only took one try for Elvis to record it! Moments later, he began recording Stuart Hamblen’s “Know Only To Him.” Hamblen was a popular radio personality and actor at the time. He recorded his version of this song in the early 1950s, in 1952. He also wrote another gospel song that Presley included in his repertoire, “It Is No Secret (What God Can Do).” This recording was part of Elvis’s first gospel EP, 1957’s “Peace In The Valley.”

“Know Only To Him” featured two of Presley’s favorite vocal groups, The Blackwood Brothers and The Statesman (it’s also worth mentioning that Jake Hess, the lead singer of the latter band, performed “Know Only To Him” during Elvis’s funeral ceremonies at Graceland).

Elvis probably based his performance on a recording by The Statesman Quartet. The master version was recorded after five attempts.

Some sources say it was a favorite gospel song of both Elvis’s father, Vernon Presley, and the singer himself.

As the “baby steps” session drew to a close, Elvis surprised the studio crew by suggesting they record his well-known 1953 Artie Glenn hit, “Crying in the Chapel.” The musician wrote this song especially for his son, Darell Glenn, who recorded it while still in high school with his father’s band, the Rhythm Riders. The composer’s version of this song was released as a single in 1953 and soon reached the top of the Cash Box charts and sixth place on the Billboard weekly charts. Darell Glenn’s performance was equally popular, ranking sixth on the Billboard singles chart and fourth on the same magazine’s country and western chart.

This ballad has gone down in music history, performed by stars such as Rex Allen (No. 8 on the charts), Ella Fitzgerald (No. 15 on the charts) and Art Lund (No. 23 on the charts).

However, the version by June Valli and her orchestra, conducted by Joe Reisman, released in June 1953 on the RCA Victor label enjoyed the greatest acclaim. From the moment the song was added to the Billboard charts, it remained in fourth place for the next seventeen weeks.

In the early hours of October 31, 1960, Elvis recorded three approaches to the song in the studio. The session documentation, however, noted that none of these attempts were satisfactory enough to be selected as the master version.

The material was relegated to the archives, from where it was only recovered in 1965, when RCA was desperately searching for unreleased Elvis songs. “Crying in the Chapel” was released as a single for Easter in April 1965, along with the song “I Believe in the Man in the Sky.” The song was a huge hit. In the United States, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while in the United Kingdom it topped the charts for two weeks. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) awarded Presley a Platinum Record for selling one million copies of this single.

After a night filled with sensations and artistic achievements, Elvis left the studio after fourteen hours of work, around eight in the morning. Thirteen near-perfect songs remain on the tapes.

Before the session ended, Gordon Stoker of The Jordanaires suggested they record another song. “Working On The Building” was written by W.O.Hoyle and Lillian Bowles. In the second half of the 1930s, this song was added to their repertoire by quartets such as the Heavenly Gospel Singers, The Blackwood Brothers (both versions date from 1937), and the Golden Gate Quartet. When, during the session, Gordon Stoker asked Elvis which sound he liked best, he replied somewhat amusingly, “I do.” However, listening to his version, one gets the impression that he was inspired by the performance of the Black group Golden Gate Quartet because both recordings had a similar tone and a characteristic sway.

The master version was recorded after five attempts. Elvis was almost completely silent on the song. The Jordanaires were allowed to do most of the recording. He realized that the fundamental principle of gospel music in the sound of his favorite vocal quartets is the perfect harmony and harmony of the members’ voices.

Of the twelve, less than a month later, in November 1960, RCA released the album “His Hand In Mine” (the thirteenth, “Crying In The Chapel” was released as a single in 1965). The album was released under the catalog number LPM/LSP 2328 on November 10 and was available for purchase in two versions, as a monophonic disc and as a stereo one.

On the Top Pop Albums chart, “His Hand In Mine” ranked number thirteen.

Nine years later, in 1969, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded Elvis a Gold Record for this album. In 1992, “His Hand in Mine” was certified platinum. A year before Elvis’s death, in March 1976, RCA re-released the album with a completely revised cover (Part # ANL1-1319). The songwriting, however, remained identical to the original 1960 edition.

“His Hand in Mine” was Elvis Presley’s twelfth album and the first of three gospel albums in his career.

Information provided by Mariusz Ogieglo. EP Promised Land (Poland) http://www.elvispromisedland.pl/

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