With Jack’s departure from the Inspirations in early 1986, former/original lead singer, Ronnie Hutchins stepped in to fill the baritone spot. This would be Ronnie’s 3rd tenure with the group, as he first left in Spring 1969, then returned during the summer of 1970, leaving once again in May 1973, but would return 13 years later. During those 13 years, Ronnie sang with the LeFevres, then eventually moved on to sing with Willie Wynn & the Tennesseans, who would transition into the Country Music arena, as they began singing back-up for Billy “Crash” Craddock. The Tennesseans soon parted ways with Craddock, but Ronnie stayed behind, putting together a quartet called the Southern Knights, who would continue performing with Craddock until the mid-80’s. Ronnie would only remain with the Inspirations for about 2 years, as that was the agreement he made when he rejoined, due to his desire to further his education.

Along with a change in their vocal line-up, the Inspirations also changed recording studios. For the last 10 years, the Inspirations have recorded all their mainline studio albums in Greenville, South Carolina at Mark V Studios, but they decided to stay closer to home, traveling over the mountain to Ashville, North Carolina to Dawn Studios. Founded in 1977 by Eddie Swann and Richard McBrayer, Dawn Studios, which eventually added its own record label, Dawn Records, became home for such names as Squire Parsons and the Primitive Quartet, and the studio became a major hubbub for local and regional artists to record as well. By the early 90’s, the label merged with Eldridge Fox’s Hear Here Studios to form Horizon Music Group, which eventually morphed into Crossroads Label Group (which is where the Inspirations call home today). While the Inspirations never became a label group for Dawn Records, they did record at Dawn Studios for a few years, and this was their first album recorded there, with Eddie Swann serving as chief engineer. Despite moving to a different recording studio, “It’s Still the Blood” features the same musicians as their last album, with Otis Forrest playing piano, Bobby All and Mike Riddle on guitars, Tim Compton playing bass, Russell Easter on steel/dobro, and Russell Mauldin playing drums.

“It’s Still the Blood” was produced by Martin Cook, and Andy Tolbird is credited as Executive Producer. Andy had been Executive Producer for all the Inspirations’ albums between 1982-1987, but he was never credited since he was an employee of Word (Canaan’s parent company), and that was how things worked at the label. Andy left Canaan Records in March 1987 (Canaan head, Ken Harding had left as well to start his own label, New Haven Records), and since Martin really liked working with Andy, Martin hired him to finish work on the album. Also, since Andy was no longer an employee of Word, he was officially credited as Executive Producer in the album’s credits.

Archie kicks off the album with the declarative title song, “It’s Still the Blood”, which was written by Lois Gail, and published through the Inspirations’ Tuckaseigee Publishing Company. This anthem was the first single from this album, peaking at #9 in March 1988, and it still remains one of their most popular songs. The story goes that an evangelist was staying at the Inspirations motel in Bryson City, and he gave Mike Holcomb a cassette of the song and told him that the Inspirations needed to record that song. Closing in on almost 40 years since they recorded the song, it’s still highly popular and is one the group still stages pretty often. When I was in Bible College back in the early 90’s, I attended Woodland Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC, and sang in the choir there, and every time the choir would sing this song, that church would come alive! Those services there are precious memories for me!

The upbeat, “When They Send Down the Chariot” follows, featuring some nice steel guitar highlights, and it’s an outstanding bass feature for Mike, and a highlight of the album. Written by Squire Parsons, his own group, Squire Parsons & Redeemed, recorded the song on their 1987 album, “Jesus Will Lead Me”, and did a great job as well with their version of the song.

Slowing the pace down, Ronnie steps up to sing his first feature from the album titled, “Lord I Want To Be A Blessing”, which was another song written by Squire Parsons. This would pretty much become Ronnie’s signature song from this album, as the song really spoke the sentiment of his heart, and really seemed to be a perfect fit for Ronnie, before the tempo picks back up as Archie and Mike both tackle the Sandy Knight penned, “Fourth Man Walkin’”. Featuring some nice piano and steel guitar work, Mike showcases some nice low notes on the song as well. Though not a hit song for the Inspirations, it was a big hit for Sandy’s group, the Roy Knight Singers, charting as high as #4 in late 1986 and early 1987. In fact, the Inspirations would go on to record other songs written by Sandi in later years, and one historical fun fact is that in about 15 years, she would bring them their next #1 song…so stay tuned!

Side one closes out with an Inspirations classic, “The Next Step”. Written by Jack Campbell, the Inspirations originally recorded this song back in 1969, and Ronnie left the Inspirations just as the album was released in the Spring of that year. I always loved Ronnie’s performance on the Inspirations’ original cut of the song, and it ranks as one of my all-time favorite performances, but 18 years had passed since that original recording, and time, along with hard singing, had taken its toll on Ronnie’s voice, and he doesn’t sing with the same cut or quality as he once did (make no mistake, he still had a good vocal sound), but he and the Inspirations do a good job with the updated version of the song, and it’s an appropriate closing for the first side.

Side 2 kicks off with Troy singing the emotionally tinged, “Heaven Wouldn’t Be the Same Without Daddies”. Written by Dennis Bradley (writer of “It’ll Be Alright With Me”, “I Like the Songs Mama Sang the Best” and “In Heaven Mama’s Won’t Cry”) and published by Inspirations Quartet Music, the song mixes sentimental feelings about a dad’s place in the Christian family, along with the urgent need to pray for other daddies to come to Jesus, bringing the family full-circle, thus creating a true Christian home.

With Mike taking the lead step-out lines on the chorus, the Inspirations do a fantastic job on the “Dad” Speer penned classic, “Daniel Prayed”, which was also a hugely popular song for the Speer Family back in the 1950’s and early 60’s. A true highlight of the recording, the Inspirations first recorded the song 20 years earlier, on their 1967 album, “What a Wonderful Time” (with Troy singing the bass), and then recorded it again, almost 20 years after the release of this album, on their 2015 recording, “Pray for Me” (with Joe Brown singing the bass). The song is a unique piece of Inspirations’ history, having been recorded 3 separate times, with 3 different bass singers, all roughly 20 years apart from each other!

Continuing with the sentiment expressed in the song, “Heaven Wouldn’t Be the Same Without Daddies”, the Inspirations sing the much beloved tune, “I Want Us to be Together in Heaven”. Featuring Archie and written by a lady named, Carol Yeje, the song was hugely popular for the bluegrass group, the Principles, who initially charted the song during late 1986 and throughout 1987. The song then saw renewed excitement, as it also charted for about 4 months for the Inspirations during the first half of 1988, peaking at #24 in March 1988. To prove the power of a great song, it was also a popular tune for the Singing Cookes during this same time period as well, and it continues to be a time-honored favorite, nearly 40 years later!

The convention feel of “When All the Family Gets Home”, gets the energy ramped back up and it’s my favorite song on the album. The song was written by Squire Parsons, who recorded it 9 years later, with the Squire Parsons Trio, on the recording, “Out of Step”. I love the inclusion of the banjo on the song, as it gives the song a little different feel than most songs recorded by the Inspirations, and I always felt it had that classic Inspirations feel to it, before the album closes out with the Stamps-Baxter classic, “He’ll Hold My Hand”. The Inspirations originally recorded the song in 1966, on their second album, “Cool Water”, but it originally featured Jack Laws. After Ronnie left the Inspirations in May 1973, he joined the LeFevres and they worked up an exciting arrangement of the song on their “Happiness is Gospel” album, and the song was a huge hit for the LeFevres. While this performance by the Inspirations on this album doesn’t quite have the same punch and energy as the LeFevres version, Ronnie and the boys do a good job on the song, and its deeply comforting message is an appropriate finale for the album.

By the time this album came out in 1987, I had discovered Paul Heil’s “The Gospel Greats” radio show, and I recall this album being featured on his program, but I wouldn’t come to own this album until I saw the Inspirations the following year. Though I feel the cover was very similar to their 1985 album, “Praise God and Country”, I always liked the cover work for the album, and I did love seeing the guys in those light-colored suits!

This was a really great album, and it was one of the Inspirations most popular recordings during this time period. Personally, it’s not one of my top favorite albums by the group, nonetheless, it has some great songs, and the album has a really good feel to it. It’s interesting how different this album sounds compared to “Tell It To A Friend”, because even though both recordings utilized the same musicians, I felt that “It’s Still the Blood” had a more rustic feel to it overall. Also, Ronnie seemed to blend in really well with the guys on this album. Though Ronnie didn’t have the depth or unique timbre to his voice that Jack possessed, Ronnie did add a unique touch to their sound, as well as a bit of a charismatic flare to their live performances. Unfortunately, “It’s Still the Blood” would be Ronnie’s only mainline album during his 2-year stint with the Inspirations, as by early 1988, the baritone position was up for grabs once again. Ronnie’s departure in 1988 actually created a very unique change for the Inspirations, as for the first time since 1972 (when Mike Holcomb joined the group), the Inspirations would have to look outside the group to fill a vocal position. Their search would lead them to a young man who embodied the entire Inspirations image and sound, and they didn’t have to look far or long, as he was already acquainted with the group, filling in on vocals whenever the opportunity arose. His name was Chris Smith, and though he was only with the group for about 3 or 4 years, he definitely made unique and subtle impacts to their music that were indeed positive for the group, and we’ll dive more into that in our next article, so stay tuned!

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