1971 was a banner year for the Inspirations! On July 3, 1971, during the International Song Festival in Nashville, TN, the Inspirations signed with Canaan Records, and they immediately began work on their first of many albums for the label. Along with a new record deal, original members Troy Burns and Jack Laws had returned to the group to play bass guitar and flat top guitar, respectively. Since the group’s inception in 1964, Martin had been the only musician with the group, and now Jack and Troy, along with Martin, would create the first Inspirations band. In addition to playing guitar and bass, Jack and Troy would sing specialty numbers, and since they now had 6 vocalists in the group, they would create unique vocal combinations within the group, giving the Inspirations some additional variety in their concerts and on their albums, rather than just the 4 front-line singers.

Since their very first album in 1966, the Inspirations had always recorded at Mark V Studios in Greenville, South Carolina, and “Wake Up in Glory” would be the first album the group would record outside of that studio. Eventually though, the Inspirations would return to Mark V Studios, and they would frequently utilize them for many of their label albums.

Produced by Marvin Norcross, “Wake Up in Glory” was recorded at the famous RCA studios in Nashville, Tennessee in September 1971, and the album was subsequently released the following December. Musicians playing on the album were part of the “Nashville A-Team”, who were the elite on the Nashville music scene…Bill Purcell on piano, Bob Moore picking the bass, Harold Bradley playing the electric guitar, Weldon Myrick on steel guitar, Buddy Harmon playing drums and Ray Edenton on rhythm guitar. The happy cover shot was taken by a lake in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, and the liner notes on the back cover references their historic performance in June 1966 in Atlanta, Georgia, which essentially salutes the Inspirations’ past, but looking forward to the exciting journey ahead!

With Ronnie taking the lead on the verses and Archie on the chorus, the album kicks off with the title song, “I’ll Wake Up In Glory”, which was written by Loy E. Foust and published by the Stamps Quartet Music Company in 1954. With the final chorus featuring some bass call-back lines from Marlin, the song perfectly sets the mood for the recording, and was a huge hit for the Inspirations, peaking at the #2 position in the July 1972 Singing News chart.

With a nice guitar intro, the convention feel of the Luther Presley penned, “Oh, What a Day” keeps things light and fun. The Inspirations discovered the song from a gentleman named Harrison Stringer, who led singings for a lot of church meetings in North Georgia, and the song became a popular concert favorite for the Inspirations. In fact, the Inspirations revived the song on their 2022 recording, “A Pioneer Legacy”. Additionally, the song has continued to be enjoyed over the years by various artists, as the Perrys recorded an excellent rendition on their 2002 “Hits & Hymns, Volume 2” recording, and more recently, the Mylon Hayes Family did an outstanding job with their version from their 2020 recording, “Home”.

Slowing the tempo down a bit, we come to the old-fashioned campmeeting feel of the song, “Bring Your Burdens to Him”, which the Inspirations actually charted for one month in September 1972, clocking in at #36, before the tempo kicks back up for the delightful Ila Knight penned, “I’ll Never Die”. Martin arranged the song a little differently than Ila wrote it, using the classic stair-step vocal arrangement, which adds to the overall excitement of the song. As a kid, I was obsessed with this song, and it remains one of my favorites from this album.

Slowing things back down for the classic tune, “Where the Shades of Love Lie Deep”, Marlin takes the second verse, as he and Archie both swap out the melody on the chorus, and it’s one of my favorite songs on the recording. Jack and Troy join in for the final “love lie deep” on the final tag at the end of the song, and in fact, all 6 men (Archie, Ronnie, Eddie, Marlin, Jack and Troy) are singing on the final song on this side, “We’ll Be at Home Again”. Eddie takes the lead on the comforting message of the song, which also features Archie on the high falsetto harmony. Eddie brought this song to the group to record for this album, as it had a special meaning to him. Eddie’s grandpa was a mountain preacher who led a lot of tent revivals in the area, and this was one of the songs that Eddie’s mom, along with her sisters, would sing at those meetings. Eddie recalls his grandma would walk around shouting all over the place on this song, and he wanted to record the song in honor of his “mamaw”. This has long been one of my favorite Eddie features, and I’m so glad they were able to capture this song for the album.

Kicking off the second side is the vibrant, Jack Campbell penned classic, “I’m Going Up”, which features Archie. Re-arranged slightly from the original version recorded by Jack Campbell’s family group, Jack Campbell & the Ambassadors, the Inspirations version became an instant hit, climbing all the way to #3 in August and September 1972 of the Singing News chart.

Marlin takes the lead once again on the fun Stamps-Baxter classic, “Rocked in the Deep”, which was written by Luther Presley and Eugene Wright. Future Inspirations bass singer, Mike Holcomb, eventually recorded this song with Greater Vision, on their 2003 recording, “Quartets”, and it was a highlight of that recording.

Archie steps up to the mic once more, as he sings the beautiful, “A Place Called Heaven”, a song written by Ila Knight and was inspired by a poem her aunt had written about Heaven, before Troy takes centerstage showing off his bass singing chops with the classic, “Everybody Will Be Happy Over There”. One neat aspect is the exceptional guitar work by Ray Edenton, who played his part in just one take! Additionally, Jack steps into the baritone spot with Archie and Eddie handling the tenor and lead respectively. Speaking of Jack, he is featured next as he sings, “Obey the Spirit”, which was one of the early tunes penned by Colbert and Joyce Croft, who went on to pen such classics as “I Can’t Even Walk”, “I Believe He Died for Me” and “Is That Footsteps That I Hear”. On this song, Jack is joined by Archie, Eddie and Troy (who happened to be the vocal line-up for their 1970 album, “The Night Before Easter”), further demonstrating the versatility of the Inspirations.

Closing out the album is the song, “One By One”, which was written by Jimmie Davis and Marshall Pack. Jimmie Davis recorded the song on his 1960 album, “Someone to Care”, but it appears the Speer Family may have been the first to record it, as they recorded it in 1958 on their album, “Songs You’ve Requested”. Once again, showing off the versatility of the Inspirations, the song features Eddie on tenor, along with Ronnie, Jack and Marlin holding down the lead, baritone and bass parts, respectively.

“Wake Up in Glory” is one of my personal favorite albums by the Inspirations. In fact, this was one of Eddie’s favorite albums while he was with the Inspirations, and I feel that it is the first album where you really begin to hear that iconic Inspirations style come together. It’s not quite there yet, but this album is a good mix of the sound they perfected in the 60’s, and the sound that eventually evolved during the remainder of the 70’s. “Wake Up in Glory” is a highly enjoyable album, and was a very upbeat, exciting and joyful album, which reflected the amazing things that were happening with the Inspirations at the time. Speaking of amazing and exciting things, around this time, Bob Terrell, who wrote for the Ashville-Citizen Times (and who also wrote the book “What a Wonderful Time”, which is an outstanding book highlighting the history of the Inspirations), was able to get the Inspirations audience with Rev. Billy Graham, and they were able to spend time with him and his wife, Ruth, in their home, as they visited and sang a few songs for them. It was especially exciting and meaningful for Eddie (who was also a preacher) to be able to spend time with Rev. Graham, and to even sit next to him.

Much like this album, it was an extremely exciting season for the Inspirations. After hitting the road “full-time” in 1969, they have been enjoying frequent appearances on the Gospel Singing Jubilee, having multiple hit songs, singing on major concerts across the nation, being featured on the CBS Evening News, signing with Canaan Records…it was just a remarkably thrilling and busy time for the Inspirations! Who would have thought, that when they were having those nightly singing sessions at Martin’s house in 1964, that they would have become such a force within the Southern Gospel Music community in less than 7 years? It was a wonderfully “explosive” time for the Inspirations…and they were just getting started!

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