With this latest recording, two words come to mind…Jack’s back! After a 13-year absence from the Inspirations, Jack Laws had returned to the group, and he was a welcome familiar face to Inspirations fans everywhere! Originally, Jack returned to the group to fill in on the upright bass when Myron had to be out for a couple of weeks in 1998. Having Jack back in the group seemed to feel right at the time, and he continued to stick around playing the acoustic guitar, along with singing specialty songs here and there. After Eddie left in October 1998, Jack wanted to try to hold down the baritone part, but his own health issues prevented him from being able to stand and sing for long periods of time. In an effort to accommodate, for a brief period, Ronnie returned to the group on a part-time basis, and he and Jack shared baritone duties. Ronnie wouldn’t travel every weekend, but unfortunately, his health just would not allow him to travel as much as was needed, and the group would eventually hire Melton Campbell to sing baritone full-time in late 1999, thus allowing Jack to sit and focus on playing guitar, and standing only to deliver a couple of special songs each night.

Recorded at Southern Sound in Knoxville, Tennessee, “Sunday’s Coming” was produced by Martin, and it features the same musicians the Inspirations had been using for the last few recordings…Otis Forrest playing piano, Tim Compton on bass, Mike Riddle playing rhythm guitar, Roger Fortner on lead guitar and David Johnson playing steel guitar, mandolin, harmonica and fiddle. The church pictured in the cover shot is Martin’s church, Balsam Grove Baptist Church, and the group is actually super-imposed in front of the church. For those who may own or have seen the cassette version of this recording, it does not feature the group on the cover, only the picture of the church. Also, although Ronnie is pictured with the group on the cover, he does not sing on the recording, as Jack sings the baritone part for all the songs.

The recording kicks off with the title song, “Sunday’s Coming”, which was written by Gene and Val Johnson. Featuring Archie, its Easter themed message and dramatic feel reminds me of the song “The Son Rose” (which was also written by the couple), that the Inspirations recorded a couple of years earlier. Speaking of Gene and Val, they also wrote the next song, “A Basket Lunch”, which features Jack. It was so good hearing Jack’s voice again, and it seems that his voice had not changed a bit over the last 13 years. With some nice embellishments on the dobro, I love the rawness of this performance, as well as the challenge it offers to the listener, “what will you bring to Jesus today…little is much when placed in His hands”, and the song has become one of my all-time favorite Jack features.

With some nice acoustic guitar and fiddle work, Mike is featured on the up-tempo, “I Get Happy”. This classic tune was written by Buford Abner and was a popular song for the Swanee River Boys back in the 1960’s, and it became a popular one for the Inspirations as well, as it’s the only song that charted from this recording, topping out at #15 in the February and March 2000 Singing News chart (personally, I think it should have been a top 10 hit, but I digress…). Mike was familiar with the song, and one day out of the blue, the chorus kept rolling around in his head and it stayed there until he started hunting down the song, because he couldn’t remember the title or where he had heard it. Unable to determine where he had heard the song, Mike eventually called Rex Nelon, and he sang what he knew of the chorus. As fate would have it, the song was published through Gospel Quartet Music Company, which was owned by Rex, and he was all too familiar with the song and sent Mike a cassette of the Swanee River Boys and Blackwood Brothers version of the song, and the rest is history!

With “God Bless America” as a musical backdrop, the Inspirations recorded another song addressing issues affecting the country, as Matt sings, “America’s Only Hope is in the Lord”. This politically driven tune was written by Sydney and Cathy Coble and published by the Inspirations (Sydney wrote “By the Blood of the Lamb”, which the Inspirations recorded on their 1988 album, “I Will Be There”), and was a perfect fit for the Inspirations, before the tempo gets kicked back up for the fun Albert E. Brumley classic, “I’ve Found a Hiding Place”. Featuring some fun guitar work and mandolin embellishments, Mike and Archie share step-out lines on the chorus of this Stamps-Baxter classic, and it’s a highlight of the recording. Over the years, this has remained a highly popular quartet number, having been recorded by such groups as the Cathedral Quartet, Florida Boys, Hovie Lister & the Statesmen, Prophets, Chuck Wagon Gang and others, and the Inspirations do a good job with their version of the song.

Next up, Archie steps up to sing the catchy, up-tempo tune, “Jesus is Hope”, which was written by a lady named Frances Simpson from the state of Missouri. The Inspirations would record a few other songs penned by Simpson over the years, and she always provided songs with uniquely written lyrics that featured some unusual wording and rhyming patterns, but the Inspirations always managed to make the songs work for them!

One of my absolute favorite songs from this recording is the fun, upbeat, “Spirit Filled Choir”, which was another tune that was written by husband-and-wife team, Gene and Val Johnson. With Matt taking the lead on the song, it’s a highlight of the recording, featuring the titles of classic hymns that many of us probably grew up singing in church. Matt particularly loved the demo the songwriters sent when they pitched it to the group, and he was concerned whether the Inspirations could even do the song justice, but the guys did a fantastic job on the song. Personally, I am surprised the song never made it to radio, as it would have been a great follow-up song to “I Get Happy”! Personally, I think the current group could really sink their teeth into this song, and it’d go over exceptionally well live!

Speaking of classic hymns, next we come to the time-honored favorite, “When They Ring Those Golden Bells”. Though it still has that classic “spiritual” feel, this particular rendition is a bit more laid-back and not quite as bluesy as the Inspirations original 1968 version from their “Jesus is Coming Soon” album, but the guys turn in a fantastic performance on this updated version, nonetheless. The song is also a throwback to one of the Inspirations’ earliest musical influences, the Harmonizing Four. The Inspirations recorded several songs in their early days that were originally recorded by the Harmonizing Four during the late 50’s and early 60’s, which was a practice the Inspirations stopped doing by the 1970’s. Written by Dion (Daniel) de Marbelle, and first published in 1887, the song has been recorded by tons of groups over the years including the Blackwood Brothers, JD Sumner & the Stamps, Jordanaires, Sons of Song, Cathedral Quartet, Palmetto State Quartet, and many others, and it’s always remained a highly entertaining song for any group that stages it. Though it’s been sung by numerous groups over the years, I have always felt that the song truly belonged to only 2 groups…the Inspirations and the Florida Boys! Both groups could always bring the house down with their individual performances featuring their respective bass singers, and I always felt both groups totally “owned” the song!

With a nice mellow, acoustic feel, Jack steps up once again to sing the Arlie Petree penned, “Jesus Was Reaching For Me”, which was published through Inspirations Quartet Music, before the recording wraps up with the comforting message of the song, “Jesus Knows What You’re Going Through”. Published by the Inspirations, the song was written by and features Matt, and it was a wonderful reminder that…“Jesus knows what you’re going through, He has promised He’ll never leave you, lean on Him , feel His touch, child He loves you so much, Jesus knows what you’re going through”.

It had been several years since the Inspirations had won any awards during the Singing News Fan Awards (the last award was in 1982, when Archie won “Favorite Tenor), but during the 1999 National Quartet Convention, Archie took home the “Marvin Norcross Award”, recognizing his contributions to the gospel music industry, his church, his family and local community. It was truly a well-deserved honor, highlighting a lifetime of work for Archie!

While “Sunday’s Coming” was a good recording overall, I think it gets overlooked by a lot of people, as the Inspirations were in a transitional period during this time. I also think that is one reason I tend to overlook this recording as well. I bought “Sunday’s Coming” a few years ago as part of my personal goal to fill in the gaps with my Inspiration’s collection from the 90’s, and while I wouldn’t call “Sunday’s Coming” a personal favorite, it’s a good, solid recording. There are some really strong songs found here, but, as I mentioned earlier, I think it’s one that has been easily forgotten. Even the charting song from this recording, “I Get Happy”, isn’t one people automatically mention when they are listing out hit songs and favorites by the Inspirations. Forgotten or not, it’s a good recording overall, even though it may not rank as one of my top favorites.

Before the year was out, more changes would come as Ronnie wasn’t able to travel much, and Jack was not able to stand for a full concert every night, and the group eventually had to make a decision, and by late 1999, the Inspirations hired a young gentleman named Melton Campbell as their full-time baritone singer, allowing Jack to sit and play guitar, standing only to sing a couple of songs each night. This final change in the group’s vocal line-up during a roughly 2-year span of changes of personnel within the group, ushered in an exciting new era, and one that eventually made me fall back in love with the Inspirations!

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