It’s interesting to discover that the very first recording of a popular song is by a different artist than the one who made it popular. That isn’t the case with “Touring That City,” however. The Inspirations were the first to record the song, and their original recording quickly rose to the number one spot on the Singing News chart where it remained for five consecutive months.
The twist to the story of “Touring That City” is that another popular group had the opportunity to record it before the Inspirations. In fact, the song’s writer, Harold Lane, was a member of the Speer Family. They weren’t interested enough in the song to tell him to reserve it for their next recording session, so he was looking for another group to record it.
At that time, The Inspirations were making regular appearances on the Gospel Singing Jubilee with the Speer Family. When they approached Harold Lane to ask if he had any new songs they might be interested in performing, he showed them “Touring That City.” By the next taping of the show, The Inspirations had learned the song and sang it on the program. The Jubilee viewers loved it, so directly into the studio The Inspirations went to record “Touring That City” for release on their 1973 LP by the same title.
Here is a re-mastered version of that first recording:
The Speer Family soon realized they’d allowed a good one to slip away. They didn’t wait long to record their own version of “Touring That City.” After seeing the positive response to The Inspirations’ release of Lane’s song, they went into the studio and recorded it that same year. Their LP was also titled Touring That City and also hit shelves in 1973.
A number of groups have recorded “Touring That City” since 1973. Here is a list from our sister site, SGHistory.com:
- Archie Watkins (2009 It’s Still The Blood)
- Blackwood Brothers (1973 A Father’s Prayer)
- Blue Ridge Quartet (1975 Best Of The Blue Ridge; 197? Somebody Touched Me”)
- Connie Hopper (1974 Answer Concert Requests)
- Dixie Melody Boys (1979 Sing Happy Gospel; 2004 Historic Journey Volume 1; 2005 Like Never Before; 2005 Live At Pigeon Forge)
- Florida Boys (1972 Sing Gospel Hits Volume 1)
- Gaither Homecoming Series (1996 Heaven Is My Home)
- Gold City (1991 Super 70’s Gospel Hits Volume 2)
- Inspirations (1973 Touring That City; 1976 Nite of Inspiration; 1980 The Best Of The Inspirations Volume 1; 1999 Collection; 2000 Southern Gospel Treasury)
- Ivan Parker (1998 A Collection Of 20 Favorites)
- J D Sumner And The Stumps (1974 I Will Never Pass This Way Again)
- John Mathews Family (1975 Hallelujah Celebration)
- Lamar Sego Family (1975 Hold Me Lord)
- LeFevres (1974 Stepping On The Clouds)
- Lesters (1976 Live)
- London Parris And The Apostles (1975 Wall To Wall Gospel)
- Mark Trammell Quartet (2012 Lifetime)
- Sego Brothers And Naomi (1975 Gospel Singing)
- Senators (1974 Sing Gospel)
- Singing Echoes (1973 Come And See Me, In My New Home)
- Speer Family (1973 Touring That City; 1978 The Songs Live On; 1981 60th Anniversary Celebration; 1992 Masters Of Gospel; 1999 GMA Hall Of Fame)
- Spencers (1974 A Place Called Heaven)
- Statesmen (1974 Ain’t That What It’s All About)
- Teddy Huffam And The Gems (1974 He Touched Me)
- Toney Brothers (1974 He’ll Hold My Hand)
- Various Artists (1982 Canaan Classics; 1994 Great Gospel Moments; 2007 Canaan Revisited)
- Vicksburg Quartet (1975 Touring That City)
- Wesley Barnett And The Galileans (196? Touring That City)
I believe one of the reasons The Speers passed on it at first was the because the melody was slightly different. The Inspirations simplified the melody, Harold Lane agreed their way was better and rewrote the music (or something like that). :) The full story is in the liner notes of The Masters of Gospel – The Speers.