Dixie_Bluegrass

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DIXIE BLUEGRASS BAND
"WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS"

MUSICS OF ALABAMA:
A COMPILATION

Photo by Anne Kimzey

David Black (Fiddle), Tina Ray Miller (Fiddle), Junior Saint (Mandolin), Betty Moon Ray (Guitar), Dwight Ray (Bass), Wayne Burgette (Banjo)

Junior Saint and Tina Ray Miller
Photo by Anne Kimzey

Dixie Bluegrass is a prize-winning band known for good fiddling and smooth harmony singing. Among its repertoire are bluegrass favorites, gospel, folk ballads, old-time fiddle and banjo tunes and buckdancing. The group is made up of Betty Ray and husband, Dwight, from Holly Pond and David Black, Junior Saint, and Wayne Burgette from Arab. Betty is the daughter of fiddler/instrument-maker Arlin Moon of Holly Pond. Tina Ray Miller, Betty and Dwight's daughter played fiddle with them for this performance. Tina, a champion fiddler, who has been playing since she was 6 years old, learned from her grandfather.

The song is a trusted favorite of many bluegrass and gospel groups. This particular rendition is an instrumental. The piece presents a lovely twin fiddle duet by Junior and Tina. Each year the Moons host a music festival at the city park in Holly Pond.

"What a Friend We Have In Jesus"
Recorded by Steve Grauberger with sound mixing by Dan Gainey May 13,1995 at the Gadsden, Alabama Amphitheater

"This hymn was written by Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) in 1855, near Port Hope, Ontario. He sent it to his mother in Ireland to comfort her in her time of sorrow. It was not intended for wider use. Ira Sankey in his My Life and Sacred Songs, wrote this about "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." The hymn was first published in Social Hymns, Original and Selected, in l865. Ira Sankey and Philip Bliss popularized it. A.W.Mahon states in his Canadian Hymns and Hymnwriters, 1908, "that this is undoubtedly the most popular Canadian contribution to Christian hymnody."" (excerpted from http://hymnuts.luthersem.edu/hcompan/texts/hymn439.htm)

ORDER NEW GOSPEL RECORDING FROM BETTY MOON RAY "Heaven's Mountain Band: Angels Rejoice" Tapes $8, CDs $15
Betty Moon Ray, 608 Cemetery Road, Holly Pond, AL 35083

E-mail Betty Here