| Tennessee Ernie Ford's warm, commanding baritone lives on most dramatically in his vivid rendition of the Merle Travis-penned coal miner's song "Sixteen Tons," which topped the national charts in 1955. But by the 1960s, Ford, a leading entertainer in his time and host of an NBC-TV variety show that ran from 1956 to 1961, had turned heavily to sacred music. By the time of his death in 1991, he'd recorded no fewer than 81 albums of gospel and spiritual music. Some of Ford's most memorable hymns are collected in this ample set, which includes both the familiar ("How Great Thou Art," "Rock of Ages") and the relatively obscure ("When God Dips His Pen of Love in My Heart," "Blessed Assurance"). Across the years, Ford's voice continues to echo with heartfelt earnestness and warm reassurance that soothes the soul and transcends the test of time as he magnificently makes these gospel masterpieces his own. --Bob Allen |
