False Accusations

One of the most hurtful things in life is to be falsely accused of something. Sometimes it happens as a result of a genuine misunderstanding and can be dealt with and set aside. In other situations allegations are made that are just lies - or that are a cynical and deliberately distorted version of the truth.

These things are of course nothing new. The Ninth Commandment that was carved by the finger of God into tablets of stone is "Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness" (Exodus ch 20). [The photo here is of Charlton Heston as Moses in the 1956 movie]

The Louvin Brothers wrote a brilliant song about this called "That's All He's Asking of Me" back in the 50s. The vocals (Ira Louvin on lead, Charlie Louvin on high harmony) are close to perfect for the genre. A large proportion of the Louvin Brothers' material was gospel music, but Ira became an alcoholic - he was wracked with guilt because he believed that earlier in life God had called him to be an evangelist, but he turned his back on the calling. (You could argue that by becoming a gospel singer who had enormous secular success far beyond his own lifetime, Ira Louvin became a far more effective preacher, reaching maybe millions of people with his message, than if he'd become a pulpit-based preacher). Sadly Ira was killed in a car crash in 1965.

Some of the lyrics are:

"I have had my best friends to forsake me
And turn me away from their door
With a heart filled with hate they have judged me
And robbed me of treasures untold...

...oh they may hurt my name, but I will never cry
When they falsely accuse me - and others believe.
For they cannot change my record on high
And that's all that matters to me..."

Hope you enjoy the song - just press the play button below.


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Four Oul Songs

Continuing the music testing here with 4 songs once again digitised from old 78s that belonged to my great aunt Rhoda. The first two are from a 78 by a group called The Gleaner Quartet from Belfast, recorded during the 40s or 50s. They are both classic old hymns that you might know already:

The Gleaner Quartet - If We Never Meet Again

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The Gleaner Quartet - Victory In Jesus

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The second two are from a 78 by American duo The McCravy Brothers, once again this is one of Rhoda's old records. The significant aspect of this is that I can remember being taught both of these at Sunday School in Carrowdore Mission Hall by Rhoda, and singing them at the annual Sunday School Christmas Prizegiving - not as a solo, but with the rest of my Sunday School class. The McCravy Brothers are a pretty obscure American gospel duo so it's amazing that the record made its way to the Low Country at all! Absolutely BRILLIANT simple "brother duet" harmony singing, great banjo, and bell sound effects. I've left a crackly intro on all of these - I think it adds something to them

The McCravy Brothers - The Glorious Gospel Train

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The McCravy Brothers - Does This Train Go To Heaven

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Hope you enjoy these.

Test - The Muttonburn Stream

This is a test of a number of things:
1) posting music on the blog
2) digitising old 78rpm records
3) to see if I can share with you all the sort of traditional Ulster folk & gospel music I grew up with, and which is now in many cases long-disappeared.

This is a version of the old Ulster-Scots folk song "The Muttonburn Stream", written by William James Hume, about a wee river near Ballycarry in County Antrim, sung here by Richard Hayward (1892-1964). This is from a crackly old 78 that I digitised a few days ago.


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Redeemed?

Clarence Larkin's drawings and charts are never far wrong. "Feeling is the Fruit - not the Root - of Salvation". Feelings and emotions can take us away from the simplicity of the gospel message. Here's a personal example.

About 15 years ago when I was a student and living in a wee red brick terraced house in Belfast, one Sunday morning I got invited to go to a church I'd never been to before. It was the "cool church" of its generation, very trendy and groundbreaking. I'm sure there were and are some great people there. It still exists, but I'll not mention it by name. Bear in mind that this was in pre-"Ceasefire" Belfast, and the area the church was in was an interface flashpoint where tensions had been stoked up.

So... imagine my surprise when as the service got underway, they said that the "praise group" (which was then a very new concept to me!) was going to play the Orange song The Sash... but that they were going to "redeem" it.

I was baffled - what did this mean? How were they going to "redeem" The Sash? I waited...

For those of you who aren't from Northern Ireland, The Sash is normally performed in one of three ways:
- as a folk song
- by a flute or accordion marching band
- by football supporters (they were still allowed to sing it at football matches back then)

Nope, to "redeem" The Sash they were going to play it (and I quote) "as a slow Irish air". The aran jumper-clad fiddle and tin whistle players took to the stage, and closed their eyes as they swayed meaningfully to the strains of the tune being played dirge-like at about 1/3 of its usual pace and with all sorts of extra notes and "twiddly bits" added on. The sound was weird, my mind was boggling...

I was stunned. Not by the music, but by the misuse and devaluing of the idea of "redemption". You see, in the world I grew up in "redemption" is the singlemost important spiritual experience in our lives, the restoring of the relationship between God and humanity, through personal individual faith in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption brings about forgiveness of sins (both past and future sins), brings a new nature (which from the point of salvation onwards is in a constant daily struggle with the old nature), leads to ongoing sanctification throughout our lives and results in eternity in the presence of God.

But, for these people in this trendy church, redemption was just another bit of "community relations" speak. Jesus Christ did not die on the cross to teach us to be nice to each other. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost" - Luke 19 v 10.

If anyone wants to redeem The Sash, or indeed any other secular song, they can do so by changing the words - from a story about an Orangeman going to Scotland and coming home again to Dromore - to a great old-time gospel hymn with the clear message of Christ and salvation at its core.

So years later, with this whole bizarre experience still ringing loud in my memory, the Low Country Boys redeemed The Sash on our first cd - we recorded the hymn "What a Friend We Have In Jesus" (written by Ulsterman Joseph Scriven) to its famous tune.

Don't get me wrong, improved community relations would be a good thing. I'm not criticising the people at that church - I'm sure they were motivated by the best of intentions, and in the few visits I made there I was warmly welcomed. But for me they missed the point. Redemption is our greatest spiritual urgency, it transforms lives. The results of real redemption are what the Bible calls "the Fruits of the Spirit" - Goodness, Meekness, Faith, Gentleness, Love, Joy, Temperance, Longsuffering, Peace. These are the characteristics of the redeemed Christian - you can read about them in Galatians chapter 5 v 22&23 - and every Christian should examine our lives to make sure we are daily living these out. That's the sort of redemption Northern Ireland needs. That's the message we should always try to present and proclaim.

Another Ulster-Scots hymnwriter, William J Kirkpatrick, co-wrote this hymn about redemption with Fanny Crosby:

"...Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!
Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through His infinite mercy,
His child and forever I am..."

Goodnight Red Shipley

This name might not mean much to most of you Ulster readers, but will mean a lot to American gospel bluegrass fans. Red Shipley was the presenter of a fantastic gospel radio show in Washington DC called "Stained Glass Bluegrass" on the station WAMU 88.5FM. When Hilary and I were in DC in 1997 on our honeymoon, we listened to the programme absolutely spellbound - it was the perfect soundtrack to our Appalachian road trip. Red played loads of brilliant Country Gentlemen songs that day, and I bought 4 of their CDs as a result. I've bought many more since then!

It was a MASSIVE honour when he played the Low Country Boys version of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" on his show when we were at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival back in June/July. It's hard to explain what that meant to me. It's a bit like the gospel bluegrass equivalent of being on "Top of the Pops". I'm sure we have Mary Cliff to thank for that airplay - Mary was one of the presenters at the Festival, and a presenter at WAMU as well.

Red Shipley retired from the show in September, and sadly died earlier this month. Thanks to Denise Graveline for letting me know about his passing.

So in some ways it's significant for me that the man whose show inspired me so much back in October 1997 should both retire and then pass away in October 2007 - at the same time that I decide to take a year off from playing live so that I can have some more family time with Hilary and the kids. All good things must come to an end... for a wee while anyway.

"Some glad morning, when this life is o'er, I'll fly away..."


(PS: Stained Glass Bluegrass is now on Bluegrass Country - it broadcasts over the internet each Sunday afternoon (UK time), so if you register online you might be able to enjoy some good Scotch-Irish hillbilly gospel from our American kinsfolk as you clear up the Sunday lunch dishes!

The Broad Road

Was out last nicht wi' Loughries Historical Society in Newtown, doin a wee talk about King Robert the Bruce. He's probably Scotland's most famous king, who came to the Scottish throne thanks to the achievements of William Wallace (I'm sure you've seen Braveheart!). Bruce's mother owned huge estates in Co Antrim, his wife was the daugher of the Earl of Ulster, and his wee brother Edward became High King of Ireland. Bruce himself hid on Rathlin Island for about 6 months in 1306/1307. Another great Ulster-Scots icon.

Well, Mark Anderson was doin a great quiz showing oul photographs of streets in Newtownards, and the audience had to guess the name of the street. I got ZERO points! I had to explain that, being a country boy, I was at a great disadvantage in a street quiz. Ballyhalbert only has two streets, one along the shore and one that goes inland - even a blind man has a 50/50 chance when doing a Ballyhalbert street quiz!

One of the streets - Francis Street - used to be called "The Broad Road". When the question came up, nobody had a clue, but Jack answered "I don't know where it is, but it leadeth to destruction!" I had a great laugh at this - a quick scriptural quip always tickles me - it was of course a reference to Matthew 7 v 13 "...Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat.."

It is sung about in an old old hillbilly song called "The Downward Road" - the chorus is "oh, the downward road is crowded with the unbelieving souls". Here's a quotation I found online about someone being convicted through the words of that old song:

"...Brother and Sister Ray seemed honest and so earnest in song, prayer, and preaching, I couldn't help admiring them for it. They sang, I remember now after twenty-two years, "Oh, the downward road is crowded with unbelieving souls." My hair would rise when they sang it, for I knew it was the truth and that I was on the road. And then they would pray and tell the Lord that the people were lost and how they wanted to see them saved, and would ask the Lord to convict them of sin.

I could see they were interested in me and I began to feel uneasy. The preaching was of such a nature that any one could understand it, and it brought up my past life and revealed the future so clearly that I decided to seek the Lord at the altar of prayer. The evening I made the decision..."

Here's a scan of an old evangelical tract from the 1970s (from my da's collection) depicting the Broad Road and the Pit of Destruction. I love this old evangelical "folk art" - if you have any similar examples please scan or photograph it and email it to me. I'll upload a few more soon.

Another Thousand Folk

Another month on the blog, and close to another 1000 visitors. Hope you're getting something helpful/useful from my ramblings!

Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. (Luke 6 v 26)

You'd hardly believe it. Our trip to Auschwitz has sent me digging up some unbelievable information:

1. In 1938, Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" was.... Adolf Hitler!!

2. In 1939 AND 1942 Time Magazine's "Man of the Year" was.... Joseph Stalin!!

Can you believe that? Arguably the most prestigious news magazine in the World voted these two mass-murderers as "Man of the Year"?!! In the years following these dubious accolades, Hitler killed 11 - 14 million people; Stalin killed 20 - 30 million!! (stats from Wikipedia).

You really have to wonder what's going on in this bizarre world.

(1730)

Scotland the Brave (aye, brave and close tae us!)

I've stolen this from Stephen Jamison's blog - a fantastic image. For those readers who are in far-flung places, this is the Ards Peninsula - the Low Country - and just across the narrow stretch of water is Bonnie Scotland. The distance across is just 18 miles from Donaghadee to Portpatrick, which was the main sea route between the two countries from 1606 until 1862.

At this point the shps were too big to get into the harbours, so a new route from Larne to Stranraer was established. Today, ferry operators (Stena Line and P&O) take about 1.5million people across the water every year. Donaghadee is close to the wee island you can see near the top of the Peninsula, and Portpatrick is about halfway down the Scottish peninsula opposite (its name is the Mull of Galloway)

When Sir Hugh Montgomery brought the first big Scots settlement across to Ulster in 1606 and established Newtownards, Scottish traders would come across every week on market day. They travelled over land to Portpatrick, loaded their goods onto boats, sailed to Donaghadee, loaded their goods onto horses and then went to Newtownards - and were back in Scotland by bedtime that same day.

And during the Covenanters' times of the late 1630s and early 1640s, many Ulster-Scots Presbyterians rowed across the water to attend church services in Scotland, and then rowed back to Ulster by bedtime.

(oh, to explain the title of this post, "Brave" in Ulster-Scots means something like "quite" or "rather", but with a positive/quirky inference. So "Brave and Close" in the title means "rather close")

(1699)

Holocaust

This is a picture I took at Birkenhau concentration camp on Friday morning of last week. Birkenhau is 3km away from Auschwitz and is spread over 300 acres of land. 1.5 million people, the majority of them Jews, were exterminated here by the Nazis. And most of them got off the train just here.

I can't tell you what an profoundly moving experience our trip was. I can't explain what it was like to see mountains of shoes, of suitcases, of clothes, and even of human hair - preserved in the museum at Auschwitz. I can't articulate what is was like to step into a gas chamber, or how it felt to stand next to two ovens in one of the crematoria where tens of thousands of people were turned to ashes just because of their faith.

For all the rubbish that's being taked about a "conflict resolution centre" being built on the site of the former Maze prison near Lisburn here in Northern Ireland (which was a prison where terrorist criminals served out their sentences, and even at that in most cases only a very small portion of their sentences), a visit to Auschwitz puts our recent Troubles into stark perspective.

Our tour guide told us that only about 15% of the senior Nazis were ever convicted for their crimes. About the same percentage of terrorist murders in Northern Ireland were ever brought to (a degree of) justice.

The clear message of Auschwitz/Birkenau is that memorials are for the victims, not the perpetrators.

(1673)

Goin tae Poland themorra

Me and Graeme are taking oor da - Eric - to Poland for a wheen o days. The new direct flights from Belfast International to Katowice make it handy, so we're stayin in a hotel in the middle o Katowice town itsel. We'll arrive there aroon midnight on Thurs night / Fri mornin.

The reason for goin is to take my da to see Auschwitz.

So it'll no be a happy trip, and I'm sure I'll hae thochts an comments tae blog aboot yince I get back hame again, but I'm looking forward to it. My da's had a fascination with, and deep sympathy for, the Jewish people all his life, so this is probably the trip of a lifetime for him. I've noticed throughout my 35 years that many Ulster evanglical believers have a real sense of spiritual connection with God's chosen people, and a deep sympathy for their plight and persecutions. It comes from being reared on generous helpings of the Oul Testament in between the tay an soda breid.

If it goes weel he's thinkin aboot takin ither folk on a repeat visit next year.

We'll be back in Belfast aboot 7.45 on Saturday night, and we're hopin to get doon the road to the monthly Saturday night Gospel Rally in Carrowdore Mission Hall, to tell everybody aboot the trip.

----------

For those of you with a love of literature, here's an interesting book which draws parallels between the similar outlooks and worldviews of the Ulster-Scots folk, the Israeli / Jewish people, and the Afrikaaners in South Africa. (And before someone points out the obvious to me, yes I know that not all Jews are Israelis/Zionists and vice versa. And no, I'm not a "British-Israelite".)

From the endpapers: "...what developments in Northern Ireland and South Africa since the seventeenth century – and in Israel during the twentieth – have in common is that… the dominant peoples of these three nations have based a cultural identity on a belief in a direct covenant or contract with an all-powerful, all-knowing God…”

Football, Faith and Supporter Songs

I've been a long-distance Chelsea fan since 1985. Allegedly, recently-ousted manager Jose Mourinho once said "There is God, then Jesus, then me". Mourinho is a man with an awesome sense of his own worth.

"The Special One's" near-divinity aside, have you ever noticed how many football anthems are based on hymns or gospel songs? Here are a few:

1. "Follow Follow, We Will Follow Rangers" is of course a rewrite of "Follow Follow I Would Follow Jesus" by William Cushing (USA), around 1878. Robert Lowry wrote the tune.

2. "Stand Up for the Ulstermen" / "Stand Up if You Love Rangers" etc is a rewrite of "Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart" by Henry Smith (USA) around 1978. (Village People wrote a song to the same tune, entitled "Go West" which they released in 1979, and which was then covered by the Pet Shop Boys in 1993)

3. "There's not a team like the Glasgow Rangers" is the same as "There's not a Friend like the lowly Jesus" by Rev Johnson Oatman (USA) around 1895

4. "We're Not Brazil We're Northern Ireland" is of course "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" by Julia Ward Howe (USA) around 1861

5. And I'm sure most of you are well familiar with the version of "Away in a Manger" sung at Northern Ireland matches, with the superb line "...the stars in the bright sky looked down where HEAL-Y, HEAL-Y, HEAL-Y...!"

6. "Glasgow Rangers, Glasgow Rangers, We'll support you evermore" is of course from the hymn "Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah" - the end of its first verse is "Bread of Heaven, Bread of Heaven, Feed me till I want no more".

And there are more. "Abide With Me" by Henry Lyte is still sung at every FA Cup Final in England.

Maybe this list of five is due to a fair proportion of Rangers and Northern Ireland fans having been sent to Sunday School, where they learned these choruses and hymns. The tunes are simple and memorable, they're easy to sing and sound great with hundreds or thousands of voices belting them out.

Back in July I took my oldest boy, Jacob (9), to see a pre-season friendly at Ibrox of Rangers v Chelsea. Rangers won 2-0. Jacob's now daft about Rangers and has a load of supporters songs on his MP3 player - so he's itching to sing "Follow Follow" in Carrowdore Mission Hall some Saturday or Sunday night! (Stephen are you listening?!!)

UPDATE:
"...of the thirty seven clubs that have played in the English Premier League since its inception of the 92/93 season, twelve can trace their origin directly to a church...", quoted from the book "Thank God for Football"

Fenians, Orangemen, Confederates and Ulster Scots.

Now if ever there was a controversial title for a blog posting, that's the one! But behind it lies a tale of propaganda and literature from the late 1800s. Allow me to explain…

Frank Roney (1841 - 1925) was a leading figure in the trade union movement in Belfast during the mid 1800s – he was an active member of the Friendly Society of Ironfounders, and was also a committed Irish nationalist and Fenian organiser. Roney’s family background was varied – he was a Catholic, but his mother had been raised as a Presbyterian, one of his uncles was an Orangeman, but his grandfather had been a committed United Irishman. Quite a cocktail of influences.

Roney was arrested in 1867 for his Fenian activities and, after a period in prison in Dublin, was allowed to emigrate to the USA on the condition that he never return to the UK or Ireland. He became heavily involved in the union movement in the USA, and died at Long Beach, California in 1925, aged 84.

A portion from his 1931 biography “Frank Roney, Irish Rebel and Labour Leader” (Univ. of California Press, 1931) was used by the renowned Sam Hanna Bell in his own compilation “Within Our Province – a Miscellany of Ulster Writing” (Blackstaff Press, Belfast 1972).



In the book, Roney describes the scene of the arrival in Belfast of the famous Confederate steamship the CSS Alabama, presumably at some point during the American Civil War (1861 – 1865). She was by far the most successful Confederate raider of the Civil War, sinking 58 Yankee ships. There is even a famous folk song about her history and exploits called "Roll Alabama Roll".

Here is the portion of Roney's book, quoted by Sam Hanna Bell:

..........

A CIVIC RECEPTION

The Confederate cruiser "Alabama" put into Belfast Lough ostensibly to get provisions, but really to create sympathy for the Southern cause. The aristocracy, Orange magistracy, and men of wealth, whom we classed as the natural enemies of the Irish people, hailed the coming of the vessel, knowing her mission, as an event by which to show, in the reception given her officers, how desirous they were to see the American Republic smashed to fragments.

The town put on its gala garb and with a band playing, and banners flying, the enemies of Ireland boarded a tugboat decorated with bunting, visited the ship and escorted the officers of the cruiser to the city. Carpets were laid from the gangplank of the tug to the carriages, and the sworn enemies of the American Republic were escorted to all points of interest in the city and vicinity, and feted at a banquet where every speaker delivered messages of comfort and encouragement to their Confederate guests. Bumpers were heartily drunk to the destruction of their common enemy, the United States.

No Irish Nationalist could complacently accept the compliments paid these officers as the expression of Irish opinion, and when in after years many of us were forced to leave our country, we naturally attached ourselves to the Republican Party, principally because the South, whose representatives were thus feted by our enemies, was the dominating power of the Democratic Party.

..........

It’s certainly a very romantic story, and heavily loaded with political allegations. The claimed allegiances between Orangemen and the Confederates will confirm the prejudices and suspicions of some readers, and the hopes and dreams of others!

But, the story is utter fiction. Roney invented the whole story, perhaps to try to stimulate pro-Irish nationalist sympathy in the USA in the early years that followed the defeat of the Confederates during the American Civil War. Equating the Confederate foe with the Orange foe in the minds of the American public would be a useful propaganda victory for him, and might secure American support for the Irish republican cause.

The truth of the story is:

1) The man who commissioned the Alabama to be built was Admiral James Bulloch, Confederate Purchasing Agent based in England. For a time the British government seemed to support the Confederate effort. Bulloch's nephew was the future US President, Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt later persuaded Bulloch to write “The Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe”. The Bullochs had emigrated to the New World from Glenoe in County Antrim in 1729.

In the book, Bulloch wrote:

… At 2.30 a.m. (31st), we got under weigh, and stood out of the bay under steam alone. At 8 a.m. the ship was off the Calf of Man, the sky clearing and wind dropping. We set all sail to a middling fresh breeze, and bowled along 13 knots, good. By 11 a.m. the wind fell light, and we lost the effect of the sails; at noon passed South Rock**, and steered along the coast of Ireland. At 6 p.m. entered between Rathlin Island and Fair Head. At 8 p.m. stopped the engines off the Giant's Causeway, hailed a fishing-boat, and (George) Bond and I went ashore in a pelting rain, leaving Captain Butcher to proceed with the Enrica, in accordance with his instructions.

During the evening it rained incessantly, and the wind skirled and snifted about the gables of the hotel in fitful squalls. Bond and I sat comfortably enough in the snug dining-room after dinner, and sipped our toddy, of the best Coleraine malt ; but my heart was with the little ship buffeting her way around that rugged north coast of Ireland. I felt sure that Butcher would
keep his weather-eye open, and once clear of Innistrahull, there would be plenty of sea-room ; but I could not wholly shake off an occasional sense of uneasiness. Bond gave me the exact distances from point to point, from light to light, and having been taught at school to work up all sums to very close results, I made the average speed of the Enrica to have been 12*89 from Moelfra to the Giants' Causeway, and felt well satisfied with the performance.

The next morning, August 1st, Bond and I took a boat and pulled along the coast to Port Rush. The weather was beautifully fine, and the effect of the bright sun and the gentle west wind was so exhilarating that I felt no further solicitude about the Enrica. From Port Rush we took rail to Belfast, and then steamer and rail via Fleetwood to Liverpool…


2) The ship that sailed from Liverpool wasn't even called the CSS Alabama. She was built by John Laird and Sons of Birkenhead in Liverpool under the codename Vessel 290, and at the time of her launch had been renamed as Enrica. Enrica was launched on 28th July 1862.

3) The ship never came to Belfast. After leaving Liverpool Enrica did however anchor briefly at the Giant’s Causeway around July 31st, where Bulloch and the ship’s pilot disembarked, stayed a while in Ulster, and then went back to Liverpool.

4) Enrica then sailed round Ireland to the Azores, where she was renamed CSS Alabama on 24th August 1862.

5) When CSS Alabama left Liverpool, she had a civilian crew. Even if she had come to Belfast there would have been no Confederate officers onboard as Roney’s account alleges.

..........

Language

In the chapter “A Soldier of the Irish Republic”, Roney acknowledged the language spoken in the Ards.

…As an evidence of the principles actuating the Newtownards men, the following personal experience may be of interest. I started out with one of them, one lovely Saturday afternoon, to visit the “Greenboys of “Greba” as Grey Abbey was called in the Scotch dialect of that section…

(** - South Rock is just off the coast of the Low Country, near Cloughey)

10 Years Married

This is Hilary. We were 10 years married yesterday. She has survived me well thus far (and the three weans forbye!)

Isn't it amazing how quickly time flies by. We are so fixated by clocks, calendars, by growing up, and by getting old. What will it be like to live in a place where there is no such thing as time?

"When we've been there 10,000 years
Bright shining as the sun
We'll have no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun"

Try to get your time-limited mind around that one!

Look Up!

(We've had 1100 visitors to the blog in the past month. Pretty good going methinks.)


A few years ago the very cool/trendy American gospel group Jars of Clay released an album of old gospel classics called Redemption Songs. Now the style in places is - for my taste - a wee bit overdone. The dancey tempo and drumbeats, the slightly off-key melodies, minor notes thrown in where you're not expecting them, strange instruments mixed in here and there - doesnt quite do it for me. Nothing that an old pump organ wouldnt fix!

Nevertheless, if you've got a spare tenner it's worth buying a copy. The words alone will lift your eyes to where they should be looking!

"On Jordan's stormy banks I stand
And cast a wistful eye
To Canaan's fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie

All o'er those wide, extended plains
Shines one eternal day
There God the Son forever reigns
And scatters night away

I am bound, I am bound, I am bound for the Promised Land..."

They say that the early Scots settlers coming to Ulster in the 1600s believed they were on their way to their Promised Land. Then a century later the Ulster-Scots thought the same when they emigrated to the New World (America) - there are 83 places called "Canaan" in the USA alone. They were either being optimistic or deluded. Our promised land is not on earth.

No. 160 in "The Believers Hymnbook" as used in Gospel Halls every Sunday morning sums it up beautifully:

"My rest is in heaven, my rest is not here
Then why should I murmur when trials are near?
Be hushed my sad spirit, the worst that can come
But shortens the journey and hastens me home

It is not for me to be seeking my bliss
And building my hopes in a region like this
I look for a city which hands have not piled
I long for a country by sin undefiled"

[by Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847) - he was born in Scotland, educated at Portora in Enniskillen and Trinity College Dublin. He also wrote "Abide with Me" and "Praise My Soul the King of Heaven".]

Nae Prootas in Scotlann

Now there are some who say that the Ulster-Scots language doesn't exist, that it's just the Scots language spoken in Ulster.

The Low Country Boys have spent weekends over the last few years performing in Moniaive in Dumfries and Galloway, in Prestwick in Ayrshire, and in Fraserburgh up north of Aberdeen. And many of the folk we stayed with and got talking to were amazed by our Ulster-Scots songs and speech. Many of those same people dispute that there's even such a thing as a single "Scots" language anyway - there are significant regional differences within Scotland. There are many words and expressions used in Southern Scotland that aren't used in North East Scotland, and vice versa.

One of the arguments for the distinctiveness of Ulster-Scots (ie as separate from "mainland Scots") is that over many hundreds of years Ulster-Scots has had a strong influence from the Irish language. And the picture here is what has triggered this post.

The humble spud. My parents, my grandparents, and probably their ancestors for generations before them, always called "potatoes" "prootas". There was the occasional reference to "tatties" (which is of course Scots), but 95% of the time it was "prootas".

So just today I decided to look up "prootas" in the 6 or 7 Scots language dictionaries I have. Wee yins and big brutes o yins. And not a single mention of "prootas" anywhere!!!

So I did an online search. It turns out that the Irish word for "potato" is "práta" - which sounds a lot like "proota" tae me, and gives more support to the claim of the Irish language influence. Here's a wee wheen mair:

- I will always call a potato a "proota" and not a "tattie".
- I also call children "weans" and not "bairns".
- I say "yin" but never "ane".
- I never say "fit like" (which is a very popular figure of speech in NE Scotland).

Any of you have similar examples of words that are used here and not in "mainland Scots"? It would be interesting for someone, or some organisation, to do a project on the differences and on the Irish influence. I wonder which organisation...

God's Gonna Cut You Down

This is an experiment to see if I can post audio files to the blog. May as well use a superb song for you to enjoy - it's an old traditional Gospel song. Elvis recorded a fairly upbeat version on his 1966 gospel album "How Great Thou Art"with the name "Run On". This version was recorded by Johnny Cash just before he died on Sept 12 2003, and is featured on his final album "American V: A Hundred Highways". It's not far short of terrifying.

"...You can run on for a long time.. but sooner or later God's gonna cut you down..."

Oh how awful the cost...

Thankfully not everyone is like "Person X". This wee chorus was recently sent to me by "Mr H", who like me sang it in Sunday School many many years ago. I had forgotten about it until it landed in my inbox last week.

"I've a soul to saved,
May this truth be engraved,
On my heart and my mind
While I'm young,
Oh how awful the cost,
If my soul should be lost,
And I die in my sins as I am
Die as I am,
Yes die as I am
All hope gone for ever
If I die as I am..."

Today's stats

Visits to the blog seem to have doubled today. Must be Person X and his/her network of upset friends ;-)

Ulster and Appalachia

Ok, back to the usual stuff.

Ulster and Appalachia. 3500 miles apart, yet so similar – in landscape, in culture, in people.

This shot of bluegrass banjo legend Dr Ralph Stanley is in the booklet to his self-titled 2002 cd. The cover and most of the rest of the booklet features black and white documentary-style photography (by Mary Ellen Mark) of Ralph outside the church - a little wooden building propped up on blocks, out in the middle of nowhere. Ralph is wearing a suit and is by himself. It looks like the heart of the Appalachian mountains. The CD has eleven tracks, four are gospel. It’s a superb album, recorded in the afterglow of his Grammy for the awesome “O Death” that appeared on the soundtrack to "O Brother Where Art Thou?", the movie that brought bluegrass to the masses worldwide.

The pic of Ralph inside the church – possibly the Primitive Baptist Universalist Church that he is still a member of in Dickenson County, Virginia – astounded me when I bought the cd. Because the design of the interior is virtually identical to the interior of Ebenezer Gospel Hall, at the Pink Brae outside Portavogie, where I attended until I was about 21 and also Ballyhalbert Gospel Hall too. Virtually identical! Here it is:



Maybe theologically the Primitive Baptists and the (Plymouth) Brethren here in the UK are similar, I don’t know for sure. (see here and here.

Primitive Baptists have no instruments in their churches. For the Brethren, some gospel halls have an organ or piano which is used in gospel/evangelical meetings (its sometimes jokingly referred to as “the wooden brother”) – but never used on a Sunday morning for the “breaking of bread”. Acapella singing only. A strong preference for the King James Version. No salaried ministers, but voluntary elders appointed from the membership. And, importantly, no centralised organisation. Everything is local. Everything is independent.

But what really struck me is that rural Scotch-Irish/Ulster-Scots communities, thousands of miles apart, in a quest for authentic, simple, New Testament worship have used the same style of building. Wooden floor. Single door at the back, right in the middle of the main room. Wooden “forms” (not pews) on either side of a central strip of carpet which leads up to the platform. No curtains (sometimes just simple roller blinds). Praying, preaching and singing. No art. No decoration. Just the people and the Word.

Today there aren’t many of the original, traditional gospel halls or mission halls left in the Ards. Most have been replaced by (sometimes expensive) modern buildings - Killaughey Mission Hall (near Ballycopeland Windmill) and the People’s Hall (beside Portavogie Harbour) might be the only two old style ones left. But some of the newer buildings have also been designed simply and have much of the spirit of the older ones – Maranatha Hall in Carrowdore is a good example of this (top pic of the four below. The hall is run by my da, Ronnie Wilson and Stephen Jamison. Graeme teaches Sunday School here too) The second pic here is of the platform of the old Carrowdore Mission Hall.




The important thing of course is that whether the building is old or new, the message is still the old fashioned gospel.

I wonder if we could ever get Ralph to visit the Low Country? He’d feel right at home. (last two pics are of the People's Hall in Portavogie, run by my uncle John)