As I have mentioned in previous articles, I sort of lost interest in the Inspirations around this time, and I just wasn’t as “into” their music as I once was. Their music was always playing in the background of my life’s soundtrack, but the music they were making during this time just didn’t seem to appeal to me as much. However, when I did see them in concert somewhere, I always felt a certain connection to them, as their songs still resonated with me. Nonetheless, for the next 8 years or so, I didn’t buy a lot of their recordings, and because of that, for the last 5-10 years or so, I’ve worked to fill in the gaps in my Inspirations collection, and I’m happy to say that gap has been filled!

The Inspirations’ 1992 release, “Jesus is Coming For Me”, was a major transitional recording for the group, as Eddie Dietz had just returned a year earlier (replacing Chris Smith) and this was his first recording since returning to the group. Additionally, right around the time they were working on this recording, Troy had decided it was time to retire from the group. Troy joined the Inspirations in 1966, when he was just 14 years old, and by 1992, Troy was only 40 years old, and he felt it was time to slow down and simply enjoy life. To occupy some of that newly found free time, Troy struck out in a solo ministry, maintaining a slower pace and he enjoyed that season of his life. Troy did encounter some success with a couple of rather comical novelty political tunes such as “Blue Pill Bill” and others. Troy eventually formed the Troy Burns Family with his wife Tammy, and son Trey in 2011, and in fact, former members of the group include such notable names as Roland Kesterson (current lead singer for the Inspirations) and Cole Watson (current lead singer with the Kingsmen).

As an aside, it really would have been cool had Troy stuck around a bit longer and treated us with a full recording of this “reincarnation” of the Inspirations from the glory years (1973-1979), but it wasn’t to be. Nonetheless, there is some discrepancy as to whether or not Troy is actually on the recording, “Jesus is Coming For Me”. Troy was part of the pre-production and early prep work for the recording, but no one can recall if the recording was (at the very least) partially recorded before Troy left, and I’ve not been able to detect his vocals in the mix at all. But with the change in personnel, it did delay the release of the recording. I happened to see the Inspirations sometime before this recording came out, and I do recall that they staged, “Jesus is Coming for Me” that night, and that Mike preached as well…but for the life of me I cannot remember whether Troy was still with the group or not.

After a 4 year absence, Ronnie Hutchins would return for his 4th stint with the group to replace Troy as the lead singer, creating a unique reprise of yet another former incarnation of the Inspirations, with Archie, Ronnie, Eddie and Mike, as this vocal iteration would briefly make up the group for about 8 months, from September 1972 to May 1973, as heard on the “We Shall Rise” album, which came out in late 1972. I would have loved to have heard this version of the Inspirations re-record some of the tunes from that album such as “We Shall Rise”, “I’ve Come Too Far”, “Walk and Talk in the New Jerusalem Way”, “What a Morning” and others, but unfortunately, they never did. Hindsight being what it is, I think that was a missed opportunity for the group, but I digress…

“Jesus is Coming For Me” was produced by Martin and recorded at Dawn Studios in Ashville, NC. This would be the final recording that the group recorded at that studio before it became part of Eldridge Fox’s, Horizon Music Group conglomerate. For this session, musicians included the regulars, Otis Forrest playing piano, Tim Compton on bass, Mike Riddle playing acoustic guitar, along with Greg Galbraith playing lead guitar and Mike Douchette on steel guitar/harmonica.

The recording kicks off with the invigorating, electric guitar driven track of, “Watching the Clouds”, which features Archie. The first of 3 songs on this recording written by Regina Stockdale, the song is a little different for the Inspirations, but it’s a highlight of the recording and one of my favorites, before the pace slows down for another Stockdale penned tune entitled, “Take Me Back to my Birthplace”, which features Ronnie. Featuring some nice harmonica and steel guitar highlights, the song is a heartfelt call to remember one’s salvation experience, and it remains one of my favorite Ronnie features during this particular tenure with the group, and the song leads nicely into another Ronnie feature titled, “Give Me a Harp, Robe and Crown”. Originally published through the Stamps-Baxter organization, the song was written by a gentleman named Videt Polk, who also penned the great gospel classic, “More Precious than Gold”.

Down through the years, the Inspirations have always included sentimental songs about mama and daddy, and Eddie does a really great job with the testimonial song, “Daddy Always Had a Friend”. Featuring some nice steel guitar highlights, the song was written by husband-and-wife team, Colbert & Joyce Croft. Throughout the 70’s and most of the 80’s, the Inspirations recorded a ton of their songs, but it had been a few years since they had recorded any songs they had written. Also, during the 70’s and 80’s, the Crofts were signed writers with Canaanland Music (a subsidiary of Word Music), but by this time they were independent writers, and the Inspirations published this song through their Tuckaseigee Publishing.

Ronnie takes the lead once again on the Adina Bowman penned, “Scars and Stripes Forever”, which musically, was something a little different for the Inspirations, before both Ronnie and Mike take center stage on another Regina Stockdale penned tune entitled, “Saving Business”. With its bouncy tempo and steel and electric guitar highlights, the song is reminiscent to something the Inspirations would have recorded during the mid-70s, and I easily hear this song fitting right in on their “More to Go to Heaven For” or “I’m Taking a Flight” albums.

Next, Archie sings “That Sounds Like the Truth to Me”, which was written by one of my all-time favorite songwriters, Kyla Rowland. It had been a few years since the Inspirations had recorded a Kyla Rowland song, and I first heard this particular song on the Rowland’s 1993 recording, “Where is God”, and they absolutely blew it out of the water. In comparison, the Inspirations’ version is starkly different from the Rowlands emotion filled, power packed performance, and I always felt the Inspirations’ delivery sounded a bit forced.

With Eddie’s return to the group, they brought back one of his early signature songs, “The Unseen Hand”, and though age and years of preaching had weathered Eddie’s singing voice a bit, he still does a fantastic job on the song, providing a very warm and heartfelt performance, before the tempo picks back up for the enjoyable, “Blood Bought, Heartfelt Kind”, which has some fun piano highlights, as well as some bass step-out lines by Mike on the chorus. Written by Troy Burns, the Inspirations arranged the song a little differently than Troy initially intended, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of the recording.

Wrapping things up, we come to the poignant title song, “Jesus is Coming For Me”, which was written by former Statesmen lead singer, Jack Toney and published by the Inspirations. Jack personally pitched this song to the Inspirations, and it was the crowning jewel of the recording. To the best of my knowledge, this was the only song from this recording that was released to radio as a single, but unfortunately, it never charted, which I never really understood, as it is a gem of a song. Seeing them perform the song live back in the day, and re-living it on video on You Tube, I always felt that the song seemed to go over much better live, as it was always such a powerfully dynamic performance in concert. And I think what helped “sell” the song would be when they would sing the second verse, and Archie would break into the hymn, “Amazing Grace”, and it just always brought those chill bumps! It really is a shame that the song never really received the attention that I felt it deserved.

At this point, the Inspirations had been singing for almost 30 years. With all the current members of the group either being original or long-time members of the group, naturally, things like age and living life on the road starts chipping away at each of them to some degree, and I think some of that is starting to show. In fact, when I asked Eddie Dietz what it was like returning to the group 12 years later, he stated that the difference between when he left in 1979 and when he returned in 1991, was that the guys were a little older and a little grayer. Also, he recalled that back in the old days when they’d get to a venue to sing, they would play ball, set up, get a shower, sing for 2 hrs, tear down, play ball until 2 or 3am, go to bed and sleep until 2pm the next day…but 12 years later, Eddie adds, “now, they park the bus in the parking lot of a mall and we go sit inside for entertainment!”

Over the years I have heard a couple of cuts from this recording and have heard songs like “The Unseen Hand” and “Jesus is Coming For Me” sung in concert by the Inspirations during this era, but I did not add this recording to my personal collection until about a year ago, just as I was preparing for this series on the Inspirations. While there are some good songs here, this is not one of my favorite recordings by the group, and I don’t feel it was their best work. I don’t think it sold as well as most of their other recordings, and it’s also one of the harder recordings to find via second hand, which is one reason why it took me so long to find me a copy. The group changes probably played into the recording not being as good as it could have been, but the overall feel and musicality of the recording doesn’t quite compare to the bright and vibrant feel of their previous 2 releases. Even the cover work looks as though not a lot of thought went into it, as it’s very plain, white and ordinary, almost “homemade” looking; and I think that is one reason I never bought it when I’d see the Inspirations in concert somewhere, as it just did not look interesting to listen to. Speaking of the cover, we’ll eventually see a slight variation of the cover picture in a couple of years on another recording.

As I mentioned earlier, this was a transitional time for the Inspirations, and I am sure it may have been a bit of a struggle for them finding a new niche with this vocal iteration. I do think some of their future recordings with this line-up offered some higher caliber music, but it still didn’t “feel” the same as what I grew up hearing during the late 70’s and throughout the 80’s. In closing, I will say that if I could go back and re-live the 90’s again, my 20-something year old self would have paid more attention to the Inspirations during these years, and took in more opportunities to see this particular line-up of the group live, as this was truly a historic vocal iteration of the group!

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