After releasing 2 albums that featured basic instrumentation (piano, bass, acoustic guitar), the Inspirations’ released a second recording in late 1989 called, “What’s That I Hear”, which brought back a more robust music track…and it was glorious! In fact, this recording features some different musicians that had not been utilized before, including former piano player for the Hinsons, Dirk Johnson playing piano/keyboards, along with Weldon Myrick on steel guitar, Greg Galbraith on electric guitar, in addition to veteran Inspirations players Tim Compton and Mike Riddle returning to play bass and acoustic guitar, respectively. It’s neat hearing a different grouping of musicians, all coming together and churning out that classic Inspirations style!

Released independently, “What’s That I Hear” was recorded at Dawn Studios in Ashville, NC and produced by Martin Cook. If my information is correct (stick with me…it gets a little sticky here), the Inspirations originally released “What’s That I Hear” on cassette only in 1989. I don’t think it was ever released on CD until nearly 2 years later when they released their 1991 recording, “My Anchor Still Holds”, and they released both recordings together on one CD, as a dual release. The Inspirations eventually struck up a deal with Canaan Records, and the label picked up both recordings sometime in late 1991 or early 1992 and re-released them separately, re-titling “My Anchor Still Holds” as “The Country Needs the Cross” (more on that in my next article). If you notice, I included the original cassette, dual CD and individual CD in my photo for this article.

“What’s That I Hear” kicks off with the title song, which is one of my all-time favorite Troy features. I remember the first time I heard the song and its opening strains of the steel guitar, a big smile came across my face, because I knew that classic Inspirations sound was back! Interesting side note…that is Martin Cook playing the trumpet on the keyboard, and he always amused himself by telling folks he played the trumpet on the album! Written by Joan Ewing, a wonderful songwriter, whose husband, Murrell, was a powerful singer/pastor/evangelist in the United Pentecostal denomination, and he actually recorded the song on his 1986 album, “Moments”. The song became a big hit for the Inspirations, climbing to the #9 position in the August and September 1990 Singing News chart. I first became familiar with the song a few years earlier, as the Freemans recorded it on their 1986 album, “Always”, and I was so excited about the possibilities of this song for the Inspirations, and I felt it could have been a #1 song for the guys (or at least a Top 5 hit).

The convention feel of “I’ll Understand it Better By and By”, was the perfect follow up song, and it has that classic Inspirations feel to it as well. Written by Loy E. Foust (who wrote one of the Inspirations’ earliest hit songs, “I’ll Wake Up in Glory”) and published through Hartford Music Publishing (a subsidiary of Brumley Music Company), the song is an enjoyable highlight of the recording, before the tempo slows down a bit for the unassuming Johnny Coe penned, “Let Me Tell It Once Again”. As they transition to the second verse, I love the subtle modulation as the melody seamlessly shifts from Troy to Archie, and it too, is a highlight of the recording.

Mike steps up to the microphone as he sings the Ray Vaughn penned tune, “That Same God”, which was published through the Inspirations’ Tuckaseigee Publishing. Interesting fun fact, this song was accidentally sent to radio as the second single from this recording, instead of the intended song, “Eye of the Storm”. The labeling on the single was correct, but the incorrect song was pulled from the recording. Once the mix-up was discovered, they quickly sent out the correct single to the radio stations, but I’ve always wondered how this song could have done at radio, as it’s such a great song.

The first half concludes with an excellent acapella performance of the ageless hymn, “Rock of Ages”. Written in 1762 by Augustus Toplady, after hiding within a rocky gap in a gorge in England during a fierce storm, the song was put to music shortly thereafter by Thomas Hastings, becoming one of the most beloved hymns of the church. With Archie taking the lead, it’s a striking and mesmerizing performance, and a highlight of the recording.

Picking the tempo back up, the guys tear into one of my all-time favorite Inspirations tunes titled, “One Day”. I don’t recall exactly when I bought this recording, but I do know that I didn’t hear this song until it hit radio in 1992, and I remember the first time I heard “Wah-Wah-One Day”, I instantly perked up and was like “wait…what?”! The song appears to have been released to radio by Canaan after they had exhausted the intended single releases for “The Country Needs the Cross”, which was released in 1991. The song spent a couple of months in the top 40 during the last few months of 1992, peaking at #30 in November of that year. I always felt this song was a strong top 10 contender, but it never seemed to fully catch fire at radio, though it was a hugely popular concert favorite for the group, and one I strongly believe the current group could bring back and steal the show with! The song itself is actually quite old and has a pretty storied history. It appears that the lyric was written by Rev. John W. Chapman, who was a minister in the Presbyterian church, and the tune was created by Charles Marsh and was published in 1910. The very first version I remember hearing as a teenager was in the late 80’s from the Statesmen Quartet’s album, “The Happy Sound”, which was released in 1966, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Titled, “Living He Loved Me”, the Statesmen actually mirrored the version by one of the Inspirations’ early influences, the Harmonizing Four, who recorded it in 1959 on their “Sing” album. The song pretty much laid dormant for several years, but then saw a major resurgence during the 90’s and 2000’s, and the song has undergone some major updates to the musical arrangement from the standard “quartet” version, as it took on more of a soulful/Pentecostal feel in the black churches, mostly popularized by Donnie McClurkin. Also, in the Southern Gospel market, the Telestials enjoyed success with the song using a variation of the black gospel arrangement back in the early 2000’s. Then in 2009, Casting Crowns completely overhauled the song, adding some additional lyrics, as well as changing the name of the song to “Glorious Day”, when they recorded it on their “Until the Whole World Hears” CD. Casting Crown’s rendition was a huge success in the CCM market, as they took the song to #1 in 2011, and I absolutely love what Casting Crowns did with the song. Getting back to the Inspiration’s quartet arrangement, when they were working on the song, they played around with the Harmonizing Four’s arrangement from 1959, but they ultimately decided to work up their own unique arrangement, thus becoming one of their more popular concert tunes.

Slowing the pace down, Troy takes the lead on the emotionally tinged, “Take Him Down”, which is another one of my favorites from this recording. Written by William Kenneth and Thomas Wilson, this poignant tune was another song that was published through the Hartford Music Company, before we move on to the song “Did You Tell Someone About Jesus”. Featuring an excellent acoustic track, Chris takes the lead on this song, written by his former high school teacher, Johnny Coe. This became Chris’ signature song while he was with the Inspirations, and in fact, the current group still performs this song from time to time, doing a great job with it.

Featuring a nice steel guitar intro, Archie is featured on the tune, “The Eye of the Storm”. The song was written by a lady named Regina Stockdale of Troy, Tennessee, and published through Inspirations Publishing, and the Inspirations would go on to record a few other of her songs in forthcoming recordings. This was the second single from the recording, spending a couple months in the Top 40 during the middle of 1991, peaking at #27 in the June 1991 Singing News chart.

Rounding out the recording is the classic Stamps-Baxter tune, “Bend A Way Down Low”, which was written by Walter Howell. Arranged with a bit of a Swanee River Boys vibe, the song features Mike’s lowest recorded note, which is the last note on the piano. Funny story about how that transpired…they had laid down the vocals for the song except the last lowest notes at the end of the song, and Mike couldn’t quite hit it. They decided to take a break, and everyone went out to lunch, but Mike stayed behind and took him about a 2-hour nap. When everyone returned from lunch, Mike got up from his nap and was primed and ready, and when they got back into the studio, he nailed the low notes perfectly on the first take!

“What’s That I Hear” ranks as one of my all-time favorite recordings by the Inspirations and it’s also my favorite recording by the group from this time period. This recording completely embodied that classic Inspirations feel, along with a thoughtful glance forward, proving that though the Inspirations were a “legacy” group by this time in their career, they proved they could crank out some great music and were still relevant and exciting. I don’t think any of their recordings for the next 10 years or so lived up to the excitement and potential that I heard in “What’s That I Hear” (“The Country Needs the Cross” is a close second though). The 90’s was a transitional period for the Inspirations, and from a personal perspective, it was a transitional period for me as well…I graduated from high school in 1990, went off to Bible College for a couple of years, ultimately ending up getting a business degree elsewhere, then got married in 1997 and I dealt with some major health issues during the last couple of years of the decade. With a busy life during that decade and being exposed to all the changes occurring within the Southern Gospel industry at the time, sadly, I lost interest in the Inspirations and didn’t follow the group as closely as I once did. I would see them at concerts from time to time, but other groups were more interesting to me during this period. Because I didn’t buy a lot of their music during the 90’s, there were holes in my Inspirations collection, and it wasn’t until the last few years that I started trying to complete my collection of music by the Inspirations from the 90’s. In fact, in a couple of cases, I wouldn’t locate viable copies of some of these recordings until just as I was preparing for this series on the Inspirations.

Nonetheless, “What’s That I Hear” was a spectacular recording and is one I have continued to pull out and listen to quite often over the years. As I alluded to a bit earlier, I think it was an outstanding showcase of what the Inspirations at that time could offer, and it truly was refreshing! This recording has always been a sheer joy to listen to, and I don’t think I realized it at the time I first listened to it years ago (hindsight is always 20/20), but as I purposefully listen to this from a historical perspective, I really think “What’s That I Hear” was perfect in every way, and is one of the most impressive recordings of their entire career!

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