Tony's latest newsletter synthesises BOA USA events (in between Paris/UK and New Orleans/Vancouver) with much of the content from his blog (http://tonybackhouse.blogspot.com/) concerning Memphis and Chicago but without the picutres.

USA: Memphis
For the next two weeks I worked with a small contingent from the WA choir Band of Angels on a tour of Black churches. (http://the.bandofangelsgospelchoir.com/blog). 
In Memphis we visited New Philadelphia MBC for their choir rehearsal - which doesn’t seem to be going so well that night - I guess it’s encouraging to know that choirs everywhere have similar issues and vagaries, and that a musical culture to which we look as a model is not immune to musical or organisational problems.
I met up with a bunch of music historians: my good friend Doug Seroff ( producer of the wonderful Gospel Harmonettes of Demopolis recording), Robert Gordon (Can’t Be Satisfied - The Life and Times of Muddy Waters), Bruce Nemerov (co-author with Gordon of Lost Delta Found; engineer of the Gospel Harmonettes of Demopolis recording) and my former professor David Evans (Big Road Blues). I also hooked up with Australian chums now living in the USA: Ruth Sandy, the only white in the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church choir, and my longtime buddy the gorgeous singer/songwriter Audrey Auld Mezera, now living in Nashville (http://www.audreyauldmezera.com/).

The Band of Angels were part of a Saturday evening program organised by my good friend Mae Barnes and  held at Bethlehem MBC, October 6. Among the other groups were two great mixed quartets: the Sensational Clouds of Joy and the Stirling Singers. This was a really sweet program, typical of programs in the South - not showy, but humble and generous. The groups don’t have websites and you don’t see this stuff on YouTube.
The leader of the Stirling Singers turned out to be Virgie Stirling, a lady I hadn’t seen for 15 years, memorable for her soulful version of Talk To The Man Upstairs. (There’s a photo of her and Mae on the cover of my Move On Up book.) The remarkable female baritone Louise Jefferson also turned up to sing solo; she had also sung with Mae and Virgie in the Heavenly Travellers. 13 children and 5 heart-surgeries haven’t slowed her down. To meet up with these ladies again was a treat, I tell you.
The program was wonderful, though as is the case these days, quartets will inevitably get well-intentioned (and sometimes skilful) but generally annoying help from any instrumentalists in the room. Unless a group specifically requests the musicians to “hold the music”, the drummer, organist etc. will ‘help them out’. And typically the instruments are louder than the group. (And due to the traditional layout of the older churches which has the choir in choir stalls beyond the alter, the only place to put the drums is on the floor down the front, where they always drown out the choir).
Sunday was a church marathon, starting with Bethlehem at 11 am. After the service, we were given lunch in the church basement, an opportunity to talk to Mae and the other church folk. Virgie and Louise also turned up and I had a sublime moment or two harmonising over the plates of fried chicken and greens with Virgie and her husband on Talk To The Man Upstairs, and You Got to Move. After Bethlehem, we returned to New Philadelphia MBC for a get-together with the choir, then it was off to Mt Vernon BC (http://www.mt-vernon.org/) to sing on their evening service, broadcast live. A big church with a showy band(these guys could play anything, and frequently did just that), their pastor is the genial Dr James Nettors, a close friend of Martin Luther King, who had been with Dr King when he was assassinated. There to sing two songs, we were asked for two encores. Even though there’s only 13 of us, we made a good sound.
Thanks to Mae Barnes, Pastor Chester Berryhill, Kym Nettors for your help.

USA: Chicago
On our first night in Chicago, we went to a rehearsal of the Voices of Power choir, resident at the Greater True Light BC out on Chicago’s west side. As soon as we walked in we knew we’d arrived somewhere. Talk about intense. Even their junior choir would strip the rust off your soul. 
The next night we were encouraged, nay forced, to sing at the Evangel Assemblies of God prayer meeting, by the very articulate and smart Pastor Ray Berryhill (Chester’s cousin). 
We also took time to visit the Center For Black Music Research at Columbia College where we spent a couple of hours watching footage from the ‘60s-’70s TV show Jubilee Showcase: the Davis Sisters, the Caravans, the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Norfleet Brothers, the Highway QCs and so on - excellent. Marianne and I also found time for a performance by Golosi, the University of Chicago Russian Choir, 4 women, 4 men who sounded fantastic singing Russian folksongs in exquisite 4-6 part harmony.
Saturday Oct 13, we were honoured to attend rehearsals of both the Heavenly King Juniors and the Douglas Singers who work together. This mob don’t just go through the motions when rehearsing, it’s not just about the dots, it’s an opportunity to worship once again, and they sing with as much intensity and committment to 13 visitors as if they were singing to a full house. These guys can sing. There are nine members in the group, so each song has a different vocal line-up, while the rhythm section remains constant.
The rhythm section also backs up the Douglas Singers, a solid female ensemble of eight singers whose members also drop in and out depending on the song. Like the classic ensembles like the Caravans, each member is a strong soloist. 
Sunday we attend the Apostolic Faith Church (http://www.afcserv.org/ ) (great choir, immersion baptism, piercing and headache-inducing yelling from the guest preacher, and some overt self-promotion from the pulpit) and Trinity United Church of Christ, one of the biggest churches in Chicago (and home church for Delois Barrett Campbell, Mavis Staples and Barack Obama) - however this very afrocentric church was without its choir on the day, and instead we had their male chorus (100 guys in evening dress) who were comparatively formal. (And drowned by the three keyboards.)
The final event for the tour was a concert honouring James Baldwin at Northwestern University, and featuring the university’s gospel choir, the Band of Angels and Walt Whitman’s Soul Children of Chicago. The acoustics of the chapel favoured the Band of Angels (a cappella) more than the other choirs (big, with drums, bass and keys), and we performed pretty well. However, in spite of messy sound, the Soul Children were…awe-inspiring. Ridiculously precise, stupendously funky, breath-takingly dynamic, etc etc.
For a finale, director Whitman called the Aussies up to join the Soul Children for Go Tell It On The Mountain (on which he encouraged me to do a solo) and O Happy Day. Soloing (jamming actually) with the sheer force of the Soul Children and antiopodean interlopers grooving behind me was WILD - you don’t get much higher.
At our end-of-tour dinner we were joined by old friends Patrick Johnson and partner radio journalist Stephen Lewis, Janet Nettors-Austin (gospel and country singer, daughter of Dr James Nettors, and COTGOS bass Scot Morris who just happened to be in town en route to Nashville. Way to go, Scomo.
Thanks to Lakeisha Lockett, Jay Grossman, E. Patrick Johnson, Pastor Ray Berryhill, Suzanne Flandreau. And thanks to Rosie and the members of the Band of Angels for their trust and musicality.

I disremember how one gets on his list for distribution but suspect an email to Tony (:tonybackhouse@iprimus.com.au) would do the trick.