Soon after the release of “Keep Your Eyes on Jesus” in late 1970, the Inspirations began work on their next album, “Our Inspiration”, which would be released in 1971 and would also be their last album for Mark V. After recording 11 albums with Mark V, the group had caught the eye and ear of Canaan Records executive, Marvin Norcross, and by the end of 1971, they had signed a deal with Canaan Records and the record company re-released “Our Inspiration” on the Canaan label. At the time, Canaan Records was home to some of the biggest names in gospel music, including the Florida Boys, Happy Goodman Family, Thrasher Brothers, Wendy Bagwell & the Sunliters, Blue Ridge Quartet, Hemphills, Steve Sanders, LeFevres, Cathedrals and others. The Inspirations would enjoy a very long and fruitful season with Canaan, and they would remain with the label for close to 20 years.

“Our Inspiration” was a unique album in several ways, as the recording featured a lot of songs that were popular during the day, and it doesn’t really feature any songs that were unique to the Inspirations. Another interesting aspect of this album is the cover shot, which, to my understanding, was a concept that Ronnie Hutchins had come up with. It was a bit unusual for the Inspirations, and there are at least 2 variations of the cover, which I have included with this article. The “yellow” cover was the original cover art, but it was quickly changed with the next pressing to the all-black cover, as it was much more aesthetically pleasing. I never knew the alternate cover even existed until maybe 10-15 years ago, as I happened to run across it on eBay one day.

Much like their last album, “Our Inspiration” has some more progressive connotations, but nothing that was too far out in left field for the Inspirations that would alienate their fans, and all very well within their ability to sing and deliver. It would have been interesting though, to hear what the Inspirations would have done had they expounded on some of that a bit more, but after signing with Canaan, the group ended up truly finding their “center” and created a “brand” that made them the icons they would become throughout the remainder of the 70’s.

The exciting Jack Campbell penned tune, “Oh What a Happy Day”, gets the recording off and running. With its flamboyant piano intro, the Inspirations’ version charted briefly, peaking at #18 in January 1972, but the Rambo’s version is what ultimately took the country by storm, as they took it all the way to #2 in the Singing News chart for July and August 1971. Next to the Rambos version, the Inspirations’ rendition is my favorite, and I love how they quickly punctuate the word “what”, as the guy’s echo behind Archie singing, “what a happy day!”, before the tempo slows slightly as Marlin and Archie share lead duties on the song simply titled, “Beyond”. This song was a little different for the Inspirations and it’s always been one of my favorites from this album. In fact, the song charted briefly for the Inspirations during the first part of 1972, but never broke into the Top 20. The song was originally recorded by the LeFevres on their 1970 album, “Moving Up”, and was written by Neal and Christine McCormick and published by the LeFevres. Also worth mentioning, this song was a perfect example of how Ronnie and Eddie would swap parts, as at the end of the song, Ronnie takes the baritone and Eddie takes the high melody, further demonstrating what a beast of a singer that Eddie was, as Eddie really belts out the high ending perfectly! I truly believe Eddie’s talent as a vocalist is something that is often overlooked, and that his talent was one of the biggest assets to the Inspirations sound!

Slowing the tempo down further, Ronnie sings the Gaither classic, “He Touched Me”, before we come to one of my favorite songs from this recording, “New Jerusalem”, which features both Ronnie and Marlin. Coincidently, the Inspirations recorded a very up-tempo version of this song back on their 1967 album, “What a Wonderful Time”, but for this album, they reverted to the original “spiritual” arrangement, which has its roots in the black gospel field, and it was a sugar stick for the Kingsmen back in the late 50’s and early 60’s. Marlin shines brightly on this song and shows what a terrific rhythmic bass singer he was.

With a nice piano intro and accented with the banjo, the Inspirations turn in an excellent performance on the Gordon Jensen penned, “The Christian Way”, which features Eddie. The song fits the Inspirations like a glove, both musically and lyrically, before this side ends with an acapella performance of the classic hymn, “How Firm a Foundation”. It’s a very short inclusion on this recording as they only sing the first verse, and it rounds out the first side on a solemn note.

Kicking off the second side is the exciting, “Joshua”, which is one of my absolute favorite songs from this time-period, as the song exudes all the excitement and exhilaration that was so prevalent from this era of gospel music. Highlighting the Inspirations chiming in with their stair-step vocal arrangement, this was a huge hit song for the group, peaking at #3 in the February 1972 Singing News chart and was recorded by tons of groups during the early 70’s, including JD Sumner & the Stamps, Kingsmen, Jerry & the Goffs, Thrasher Brothers and many others. The song was written by G.A. Thacker and published by Stamps-Baxter Music in 1949, but it appears the song may have been written as early as 1921. The song pretty much lay dormant for years until the Lewis Family worked an arrangement and recorded it on their first Canaan album, “The Lewis Family Sing in Gospel Country”, which was released in 1970. The Inspirations heard the Lewis Family’s performance of the song and decided they wanted to record the song as well. Essentially, the Inspirations made the song a national hit and one of my all-time favorite quartet numbers!

Slowing the pace down, Eddie does an outstanding job singing the Gaither classic, “The King is Coming”, and as a kid growing up with this album, the Inspirations’ version was my initial intro to this song, and it remains one of my favorite versions of the song.

Adding to the Inspirations’ repertoire of “mama songs”, Archie steps up as he takes the lead on the Dottie Rambo penned, “Build my Mansion”, which was one of the Rambo’s biggest and best loved tunes. With its wailing steel guitar in the background, giving the song strong country undertones, the song fits Archie like a glove, before he steps up to deliver a memorable performance on the classic hymn, “Amazing Grace”. This is their second recorded performance of the song, and though there is some sparse instrumentation backing the Inspirations, the vocal arrangement more closely resembles their iconic acapella rendition, which has Archie singing the first verse solo, then the guys come in “ooo’ing” behind him on the second verse, and then they all join in on the final verse. This song has been a hallmark in the Inspirations’ repertoire, and it’s neat hearing how the song has evolved over the years.

Featuring some nice guitar work, the tempo picks back up for another one of my favorite “quartet” tunes, “I’ll Live in Glory”, which was written by John M. Henson. Written back in the 1930’s, the song was a popular quartet staple during the 60s and was recorded by such groups as the Oak Ridge Boys, Sego Brothers & Naomi, Speers, Statesmen, Kingsmen and others, and the Inspirations do a super job reviving this classic tune for this album. An interesting side note, Dolly Parton included the song on her autobiographical recording, “Smoky Mountain DNA”, which was released in 2024, and features Dolly, along with several of her family members.

Drawing once again from their influences with the Harmonizing Four, the guys close the recording out with another acapella performance on the classic hymn, “God Will Take Care of You”, which the Harmonizing Four recorded back in 1960. The song’s comforting message rounds out the album perfectly, tying in the messages of each song into one singular thought, “Be not dismayed whate’er betide…beneath His wings of love abide…through every day, o’er all the way…God will take care of you!”

For whatever reason, this wasn’t an album I listened to a lot growing up, and typically would skip through and only listen to the songs that I liked. Though it was basically an album of cover tunes and hymns, looking at this album retrospectively, I appreciate how the Inspirations approached each song, as they strove to make each song uniquely their own. One thing I did notice on this album, is that even though Archie technically has about 3 songs he is featured on, several of the songs have Archie carrying the melody, which indicates maybe at this point the musical direction may be leaning towards centering the Inspirations’ sound around Archie’s voice, which is something that definitely becomes much more prevalent over time. Nonetheless, as we move forward with their albums with Canaan Records, the Inspirations begin to really hone-in and perfect their unique style of singing that eventually would make them a household name, and one of the most iconic groups of our genre.

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