As the Inspirations wrapped up their 20th anniversary as a group, like clockwork, they were back into the studio at the beginning of 1985 to record this unique album titled, “Praise God and Country”. Given the political climate and the renewed sense of patriotism encompassing the country at the time, the title song would become a rallying cry for the Inspirations, and this album would become one of their more unique sounding albums in their repertoire.

“Praise God and Country” was produced by Martin Cook, and the group once again returned to Mark V Studios in Greenville, SC to record the album. This recording featured a few different individuals playing behind the Inspirations for the session. Returning are Otis Forrest, Bobby All and Russell Mauldin, who are playing piano, guitars and drums respectively, but we also have Mike Riddle, of the Primitive Quartet, assisting on rhythm guitar, Tim Compton playing bass, Terry McMillan playing harmonica and synthesizer, and Russell Easter, Jr. returns to play steel guitar and dobro. One thing I noticed that is a little different with this album, is the drums are little more out front throughout the recording. This was a bit of a departure from the norm for the Inspirations, as the drums have usually been mixed way in the background on most of their albums.

I’ve always loved both front and back cover pictures, artwork and overall layout for this album. The cover shot was taken at a Cracker Barrel in the Nashville/Lebanon, TN area, and if you notice, it appears the guys are wearing the same suits from the “Twentieth Anniversary” album (which was released the previous year)…a fact I never noticed until I started working on this article!

With the soft, haunting sounds of the harmonica and subtle guitar strains, the album kicks off with the title song, “Praise God and Country”, which features Archie. Naturally, the song has a strong patriotic feel, and as the song progresses, the drums have a stronger presence, along with the synthesizer playing lightly in the background, adding some extra support to the overall musicality of the song. Stylistically, this was a very different type of song for the Inspirations, but the sentiment of the song has “Inspirations” written all over it, as the group were proud of their country and the standards it was founded upon. Written by Aaron Wilburn and David Lehman, though it was a little out of the box for the Inspirations, J. Aaron Brown, who was over the publishing of the song (Prime Time Music), strongly believed in the song and thought it was a perfect fit for the Inspirations. Brown pitched it to Andy Tolbird (who was the Executive Producer for the album), who in turn pitched it to the Inspirations. The country was on a patriotic high during this time, and Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” was a smashing hit in 1984. Also, the Nelons had recorded Greenwood’s song on their 1985 “In One Accord” album, and they enjoyed tremendous success with it in the Southern Gospel market. With all that momentum, they released the song to radio as a single, and everyone had extremely high hopes for the song. Additionally, Canaan Records did a big promotional splash on the song, with the Inspirations dressed in full military dress, but oddly the song never charted (in fact, no songs from this album charted for the Inspirations). I never quite understood why the song didn’t do well, because even though it was very different for the Inspirations, I knew the guys could sell it better than anyone! Maybe it was just too different for their fans, as it seems the song just never really caught on.

Moving along and featuring some really cool guitar work, Jack takes centerstage as he sings the Lee Penland tune, “It Wasn’t the Nails That Held Him There”. I love the haunting feel of the song, and it remains one of my all-time favorite Jack features. In fact, the Inspirations re-recorded the song on their 2000 recording, “The Sooner the Better”, speeding up the tempo quite a bit.

After the album kicks off with a couple of slower songs, the tempo picks up for the remainder of the first half of the album, as we come to the acoustically driven, “It’s the Lord”. Featuring some nice guitar work, with the drum giving the sound of someone tapping at the door, the Inspiration sing…“who is that knocking at my door, I’ve felt His presence there before…”. The song was written by John Hanson, Ernie Goff and Don McHan, and published through Inspirations Quartet Music. McHan was a prominent bluegrass singer/musician/songwriter, who also traveled with the bluegrass duo, Jim and Jesse. With Troy taking the melody, the song is a group effort, leading perfectly into another upbeat tune entitled, “A Double Portion”, which features Archie. Published through Inspirations Quartet Music, the song was written by Rick Davis, who provided a couple of songs on the Inspirations’ “Wonder of Wonders” album a couple of years earlier. With some fun dobro and piano highlights, along with a prominent drum track, this is such an enjoyable song and one of my favorites from this album, as is the Squire Parsons penned, “He Made a Way”. Featuring some fun steel guitar embellishments, this wasn’t a chart song for the group, but it was a popular concert favorite, allowing Mike to show off his rhythmic timing. The Inspirations re-recorded the song several years later, on their 2011 recording, “He Makes No Mistakes”. When the current group began singing in 2020, this was a mainstay in their concerts for a couple of years, and in fact, they included it on their first recording together, “What a Wonderful Time-Live” in 2021, and it’s still a song they’ll pull out of the hat quite often. Squire Parsons and his group, Redeemed, recorded the song in 1985 on their album, “Keep the Fire Burning”, and though they had no bass singer, they flipped the script, and tenor, Ernie Phillips took the lead on a delightful version of the song.

Just like their previous album, the second side kicks off with a couple of Charles Wycuff songs, as Troy takes the lead on the thought provoking, “Mary’s Baby Was Born to Die”, before the tempo picks up for the novelty tune, “Lift Off Anytime Now”. Featuring Archie, I’ve never been able to really get into this song, but it does have that classic convention feel to it. As mentioned, both songs were written by Charles Wycuff and were published through Tuckaseigee Publishing.

Moving on, we come to a song that has a bit of a bluegrass feel to it titled, “I’m Moving On”. Featuring some nice acoustic guitar work, the song was written by Sherry Heatherly and published through Tuckaseigee Publishing. The song sounds like something the Chuck Wagon Gang would have sung, and it is reminiscent to something that the very early version of the Inspirations would have possibly recorded. It’s one of my favorites from the recording, as is the steel guitar infested tune, “Heaven Will Be Everything You’ve Dreamed Of”. Featuring Archie, this is another song written by Charles Wycuff, and though it’s a little different for the Inspirations, it’s a highlight of the album.

Just as Mike closed out the first side, he rounds out the second side doing a phenomenal job with another fabulous bass feature with the song, “Lay it Down”. Written by Bruce Thornhill, this is the same gentleman who wrote another fantastic Inspirations favorite, “Living on Higher Ground”, which they recorded 12 years earlier on the “Touring that City” album. The song enjoyed new life several years later, when a group called Valor recorded it in 2001 on their self-titled recording. Valor featured a phenomenal bass singer named Paul David Kennamer, Jr., who had an amazing vocal range, and this song became a popular concert favorite for Valor. I was privileged to see this group perform this song live on a couple of occasions, and it never ceased to bring the house down.

I bought this album when I saw the Inspirations during their yearly appearance at Fellowship Baptist Church here in Durham, North Carolina in the fall of 1985. I have reviewed CD’s by artists for over 20 years with a critical ear (I did always try to be very respectful, even if my assessment of the music wasn’t completely positive), but my goal with these discography articles has been solely meant to talk about the music from a fan’s perspective, while providing some historical context to each album. With that said, I’ll limit my critique and keep my opinion brief…but as a fan of the Inspirations, I have struggled for 40 years to truly connect with this album, and although there are some good songs on it, “Praise God and Country” has ranked as one of my least favorite albums by the Inspirations, and I’ve never really been able to totally pin point exactly why. Whether it may be song selection, arrangements, whatever…I’ve just never been able to get “into” this album, and it’s one I’ve never listened to all that much, though it’s been in my collection for 40 years! Interestingly, no songs from this album even charted in the Singing News chart, which does surprise me, as I think there are some chart-worthy songs on this album. As far as I can recall, after the title song was singled and subsequently didn’t chart, I don’t think they ever released anything else from this album to radio. Nonetheless, “Praise God and Country” is a very upbeat album, and it is loaded with songs published by the Inspirations (6 songs total) through either Inspirations Quartet Music or Tuckaseigee Publishing. Also, once again, there are no Stamps Quartet or Stamps-Baxter songs either, which sadly, was something they never seemed to gravitate back to including on a consistent basis in the forthcoming years.

Even though “Praise God and Country” has been ranked as one of my least favorite albums by the Inspirations, there are some unique qualities about this album that I highly respect and appreciate…I love the overall upbeat feel of the album, along with the fact that there are some musically different sounding songs presented here. Also, the overall production quality seems to have a bit of a slicker feel to it than some of their previous albums. With all that being said and being totally transparent, I will happily admit that as I have listened to this album consistently, every day for the last 3 to 4 weeks as I prepared for this article, I have come to enjoy “Praise God and Country” quite a bit more than before, and I no longer look at it as unfavorably as I once did, and by the end of this entire writing project on the Inspirations, I may just move my ranking of this album up a few notches!!

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