Foy Densmore was born and raised up with the songs on this record. As a young boy, Foy watched and listened to his parents, Mrs Jackie and Mr Lonnie Densmore play and sing as a Gospel duo at many Churches and Revivals. Early on, they lived out in California, and a few years later, after packing up their three young boys and relocating the family back to Kilbourne, Louisiana, they would perform around the Southeast Arkansas/ Northeast Louisiana area. Foy was always there, absorbing it all and occasionally getting to belt one out himself as he got older. Sadly, around 1975, Mr Lonnie passed away suddenly and afterwards, Mrs Jackie sort of drifted away from performing publicly and got busy raising her three sons in a Christian home, on her own. She truly is one of God's beautiful creatures.

It was shortly before Mr. Lonnie's passing that Foy and I met....about 4th grade. My Mother was the piano player in the First Baptist Church there in Kilbourne for many years and kept me front and center in Church "every time the doors opened,"too. We became fast friends almost immediately and have remained so to the present day. Almost 50 years.

As teenagers and later, as young men, both Foy and I would enjoy all the Rock and Roll and Country music that the 70's (and prior two decades) had to offer...as well as all the temptations and struggles that generally came with it. In our hearts, though, there remained a Love for The Lord and the teachings and songs of the Gospel.

As our lives took us off in all different directions, the two of us kind of lost touch with each other over the years except for the occasional running into one another around a homecoming holiday visit or maybe a funeral or two of a mutual friend. Sometime around 2015, though, the power of The Lord and the internet brought these two boys, now in their 50's, back in touch and we both soon realized that the love we had for the Old Time Traditional Gospel music we had been raised on, had not dimmed. After a visit to Foy's home in Mountain View, Arkansas in 2020, and a few nights passing around a guitar and singing, the decision was made that these songs had to be recorded and recorded as they were originally intended......very simply, with no showing out or fancy stuff and letting God's message do the talking. After a year of getting the gear together and Foy, getting all rehearsed up, I returned to Mountain View in October of 2021 with a mutual friend, Christian Mercker, and set about getting these songs committed to tape. Over the course of 3 days of recording, Foy sang his heart out with the Spirit of the Lord clearly driving his performances. Almost every song included here, is his first take and has been left completely unaltered. On the second day of recording, Foy's Mother, Mrs Jackie, who was then 84 years old, joined him for a most inspired rendition of "Family Bible", with Foy singing the parts of his father, Mr Lonnie. It was absolutely beautiful. This, as well as several other songs that day, were recorded out on Foy's front porch up on the mountain, as evidenced by the sounds of tree frogs and the occasional passing car in the background.

Once the recordings were finished, I returned to Michigan and immediately got to work fleshing out the sound with a very minimalist and primitive accompaniment. With the help of my longtime friend and collaborator, piano/organ player, Kenny Michelini on three of the songs, the finished record is, I feel, one of raw beauty in it's simplicity and commitment to the unvarnished, uncluttered sound of early Country and Western and Gospel music. Listening to these songs as performed by Foy, Mrs Jackie, Kenny, and myself, instantly takes me back to a place and time in the rural American South that, in the last half century, has given way and been largely overshadowed by the mega churches, televangelists and prerecorded backing tracks that so often accompany modern day Gospel music....A place where there was little or no air conditioning other than a big box fan if it was under a tent or at a little Country Church. A place where every word sung and every note played was filled with the spirit and it filled your soul. A hot, dusty jam session under a tractor shed or in the big back room of the feed and seed store.

I, for one, fondly remember and miss those simpler times. I was there for all of it. The world needs this record right about now. I'm very happy it's here and I thank God everyday that He saw fit to guide my hand in bringing it to you.
-Dale Beavers