Malford Milligan
The Gospel According to Austin Vol. 2
Independent

by William Michael Smith

"Buddha wasn't a Christian,
But Jesus would've made a good Buddhist"
Ray Wylie Hubbard ­ "Conversation With The Devil"

When Malford Milligan burst on the Austin music scene in 1994 with the release of Bluest Eyes, the first album by Austin supergroup Storyville, much was made in the press of Milligan's meditation discipline, his Buddhist chanting, and other Buddhist "spiritual" elements that allowed a shy young man from a Central Texas cotton picker upbringing to develop his distinctive voice and achieve the confidence it took to place himself center stage and in the spot light in America's live music capitol city. Listening to Milligan's honest, soulful gospel tracks on The Gospel According to Austin Vol. 2, I couldn't help but recall the Ray Wylie Hubbard line because, no matter what his personal religious beliefs are, Milligan's performance on this nominally "Christian" gospel album demonstrates that faith, dignity, sincerity and personal goodness are at the center of all things that are truly spiritual in the religious sense.

Milligan, whose vocal influences include Otis Redding and Sam Cooke, works out on nine tracks that range from a sparse, haunting, Delta blues on the traditional "Dark Was The Night" to a loose, funky, Southern electric blues arrangement of Reverend Gary Davis's "Lo I Be With You" to a version of Davis's "Death Don't Have No Mercy" reminiscent of the sparse folk-blues style of Odetta. His version of Sam Cooke's "Hem of His Garment," with Stephen Bruton's smooth and simple guitar styling, is direct, pure, and penetrating. On Harlan Rogers' "All of My Life," Milligan even exhibits the bluesy funk-rock that was Storyville's trademark sound. The album's producers describe Milligan's performances as "kick butt gospel."

There are some amazing musical performances by Milligan's supporting cast (which reads like an Austin musical Who's Who), but Steve James' standout acoustic 12-string Delta slide guitar on "Dark Is The Night" raises goose bumps and rates special attention. According to producer Greg Adkins, "Dark Was the Night (Cold was the Ground)" is an old field holler type song almost always sung in the metered fashion. I've met slide players from West, East, and Texas who say when they heard Blind Willie Johnson do that song is when they picked up a slide and started learning. I was amazed that such an obscure song from a "sanctified" minstrel could be so well known and revered by so many great contemporary players. Steve James is a musicologist and purist, and he really wanted to play it with and off of Malford together in the studio. But we couldn't get 'em in town at the same time. None of us, including Malford, knew what key Steve should do it in or anything. So Steve finally just laid down two beautiful tracks in a purist's conundrum with frustration -- and with a little bit of fire. Then he more or less dared us to make it work. When Malford got back, he just nailed it with two takes blended. Steve heard it and was guffawed. He just shook his head and said what most of the other musicians said during the sessions: "only Malford."

Milligan volunteered as soon as Adkins mentioned the project to him, and Adkins noted he couldn't have been prouder of the way the Milligan sessions turned out for the non-profit Gospel According To Austin project that contributes its earnings to various charities for Austin musicians.

"Malford is not a trained gospel singer, but he spent his time in church and sawdust floor tent revivals as a lad, and more importantly he grew up with tremendous rejection and difficulties. So when he stepped into that booth, he was singing from that same place of brokeness as the originators and it just seemed to pour out of him. 'The sand of heaven' is how one old woman described it."

Adkins also noted that Eddy Shaver was due in the studio to record "Death Don't Have No Mercy" with Milligan the day he died.

"Eddy was supposed to be recording with Malford December 29. That song actually spooked me that night we recorded it. Papa Mali did a great job that night in lieu of Eddy. Then in succession we had 'Mambo' Trainor, 9/11, and Champ Hood. That track is like a preparatory reminder about death."

These tracks were recorded in one or two takes and are extremely unvarnished in the production sense. It's fair to say this is "the Austin way." And in this day of multiple cable channels filled with over-produced, over-acted, blatantly hypocritical "gospel" music that is more about filling the collection plate than about filling the spirit, listening to Malford Milligan sing this earthy and simple music backed by some of the finest, least pretentious musicians around is truly an uplifting experience. Even for us jaded old backsliders.

*Do your quota of good by purchasing all three volumes of The Gospel According to Austin at www.gospelaccording2austin.com or by calling 512-261-6322. Religious music doesn't get any better than this.



Contact William Michael Smith at: wms-at-rockzilla.net

 
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