After the Inspirations signed with Canaan Records in 1971, things started moving very quickly for the group! In fact, just 3 months after the Inspirations released their first album for Canaan, “Wake Up in Glory”, they were back in the studio recording a brand-new album. Recorded in March 1972 and released the following July, the group (along with the same studio musicians from “Wake Up in Glory”) returned to the RCA Studios in Nashville to record, “Old Time Singin’”. I feel that this album solidified the identifiable sound of the Inspirations that made them a household name during the 70’s, and though there would be some tweaking of their sound over the next year or so, I still tend to point back to this album as when it all truly came together.

Produced by Marvin Norcross, “Old Time Singin’” featured exactly that…old time convention and campmeeting style singing, which was a hallmark of the Inspirations’ style and target audience. Even the cover shot of the guys all dressed in their finest overalls in front of the Cane Creek Baptist Church near Dahlonega, Georgia (which is still an active church today) gives full indication of what this album is all about. The back-cover shot of the guys in the church, holding songbooks and singing, recalls those by-gone days of brush arbor and old fashioned campmeetings, creating a perfect vibe and ambiance for this album. An interesting fact, the current Inspirations visited this very church in June 2023, and the inside sanctuary hasn’t really changed all that much! As they gathered around the old upright piano, they took a moment to belt out one of the songs from this album. They shared the video of their visit on their Facebook page, and I’m sure their visit to this church was such a surreal moment for the guys!

Kicking things off with Ronnie taking the lead, convention sounds abound with the enjoyable, “Swing Wide the Gates”, which charted for a couple of months for the Inspirations during the second half of 1972, but never quite breaking into the Top 20. Written by Horace Mauldin, who served as Chair of the Music Selection Committee for the Tennessee Printing & Music Company (which was the music and publishing arm for the Church of God of Cleveland, TN), the song sounds like it was tailor made for the Inspirations, featuring that “old time singin’” style!

Archie slows the pace down with the warm feel of the song, “Just to Know”, which was written by Bill Carter (the same fellow who wrote “The End of Time is Near” from their “The Night Before Easter” album). This is a wonderful faith-filled song, and the guys do a tremendous job interpreting the lyric…“Just to know I’ll wear a crown in that land beyond tomorrow, I will have a mansion there, where I’ll spend eternity, just to know He’ll be waiting, when I cross that lonesome valley, just to know is good enough for me”, and the song fit the group like a glove, before the tempo picks back up for the convention feel of “Keep Moving Along”, which features a nice lilting piano track. The Inspirations picked up the song from the Statesmen, who recorded it a couple of years earlier on their 1969 album, “New Sounds Today”. Written by Lonnie B. Combs, all 6 vocalists (Archie, Ronnie, Eddie, Marlin, Jack and Troy) join in the fun on this fantastic song from the Stamps-Baxter catalog. I was a little obsessed with this song as a kid, and it’s one of two of my top favorite songs from this album. Also worth mentioning, the song became a popular one for the McKameys during the late 70’s, and it saw a bit of a revival when the Perrys dusted it off and included the song as the title track of their 2019 recording.

Keeping things upbeat, Marlin does a great job on the quartet classic, “Roll on Jordan”, which was written by Bob Prather (writer of such quartet classics as “Led Out of Bondage” and “Headin’ Home”), before we move on to the sparkling, up-tempo Ila Knight penned, “I’ve Been Invited”, which feature step out lines by both Archie and Marlin (I love the bass/tenor harmony on the chorus). An exciting highlight of the recording, the song features a lively guitar track, and was no doubt, a concert favorite for the Inspirations back in the day. In fact, this was the song the Inspirations sang in 2023 when they visited the church from the original photo shoot for the album that I had mentioned earlier.

As we conclude the first side, the tempo slows down just a bit, as Archie takes the lead on the song, “There’s a Beautiful Home”. Several years later, one of my favorite groups, the Greenes, recorded a really nice version of the song on their 1994 recording, “Fields of Greene”. The song is an old hymn penned in the late 1800’s by HW Elliot, with the music being written by Emmett Dean. Interesting historical side note…the song was actually recorded by Hank Williams back in the 50’s, and released posthumously many years later, in 2009.

With a nice steel guitar track, Archie kicks off the second half of the recording with the bright, up-tempo tune, “The Best is Yet to Come”, which was written by Jack Campbell. This was a popular song for the Inspirations, charting for a few months in late 1972 into early 1973, cresting at #9 in the January 1973 Singing News chart. It’s been a popular concert favorite for the current group, as they have pulled this song out of the hat on numerous occasions, much to the delight of audiences everywhere.

Featuring nice piano highlights, convention style singing rings loud and clear, as Marlin is featured on the jaunty, “I Am Bound to Travel”. Written by Eugene Wright, this was a popular Chuck Wagon Gang tune from back in the 1950’s, and the Inspirations did a fantastic job with their adaptation of the song, before the tempo slows down ever so slightly, as Eddie takes the lead on one of my all-time favorite songs, “I Won’t Have to Worry Anymore”. Written by Jimmy Jones and James Goss, this song has been recorded by a ton of artists over the years including the LeFevres, Sego Brothers & Naomi, Dixie Echoes, Wilburns, Blackwood Brothers, and most recently by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver on their 2008 recording, “Help is on the Way”, as well as Jeff & Sheri Easter a few years later, on their 2012 recording, “Eyes Wide Open”. This wonderful song of faith is engrained into my heart, soul and mind, as I have dear memories as a teenager singing this song in our little church choir, making the song a major part of the soundtrack of my life.

With its wonderful, old-time piano intro, another favorite of mine is the classic Adgar Pace penned tune, “Old Campmeeting Days”, a song that fits in perfectly with the theme for this album. This was a popular quartet tune that has been recorded by the Statesmen, Masters V, and Cathedral Quartet, and it’s a highlight of the album, before the tempo slows down as Jack is featured on another old-time classic, “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me”.

With a bit of a Swanee River Boys feel and a highly enjoyable acoustic guitar track (expertly played by Ray Edenton), “Rock My Soul”, which features Troy singing bass, concludes the album perfectly, and along with “Keep Moving Along”, is my other top favorite song from this album. Fun songs that feature Troy on the bass became a highlight of any Inspirations’ live program or record, and this performance on this album doesn’t disappoint, as the Inspirations churned out a perfectly executed delivery of the song. This was a popular song in the black gospel field for such artists as the Golden Gate Quartet, and ultimately, the song crossed over into the white quartet field, as such groups as the Blackwood Brothers and Statesmen recorded popular versions of the song. Eventually, the song crossed over into rock-n-roll as it also became a fun gospel tune for Elvis Presley as well. The current group pulls this song out of the hat from time to time, and it’s always a highlight of the program, and I have to say Lucas has that guitar work on the song down perfectly!

“Old Time Singin’” had a nice warm feel to it and was such a great sounding album. It completely embodied what the Inspirations’ sound was all about, and solidified the Inspirations’ unique and identifiable style. I feel it was one of the most cohesive sounding albums thus far in their career, and I can hear just about every single song on this album easily finding a home on any Inspirations album for the following 20 years or so, which further demonstrates the significance of this particular album. In fact, “Old Time Singin’” was Marlin’s favorite album that he was a part of while he was with the Inspirations, and speaking of Marlin, after spending about 2 years with the Inspirations, Marlin left the group in late summer of 1972. Upon his departure, Marlin started working with his Father-in-Law selling cars, and eventually went into business for himself. Ultimately, Marlin went into real estate until he retired in April 2024. Marlin was a fabulous addition to the Inspirations and gave them a unique depth and texture to their sound. After Martin Cook retired and Archie assumed ownership of the Inspirations in 2017, Marlin returned to sing bass with the group from 2017 through 2020, and still fills in from time to time with the Inspirations as well.

1972 was another banner year for the Inspirations, as they took home their first Singing News Fan Awards during the 1972 ceremonies at the International Song Festival in July (which coincidently, they had signed with Canaan Records on the very same stage just a year earlier). The Inspirations walked away with the “Favorite Group” award, and Archie scored with “Favorite Tenor”. This was the first two awards of nearly 50 Singing News Fan Awards that the Inspirations have taken home between 1972 and 2024! This was the beginning of many other great things for the Inspirations, and despite a couple more personnel changes over the course of the following year, they didn’t skip a beat, and they kept right on marching forward, continuing to sing that “old time singin’” style that became their trademark and made them such a huge hit with fans all around the world!

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