Not being of an overly religious persuasion, gospel has never been my go-to musical genre. But this exuberant fusion of gospel with soul and funk is irresistible. Especially on a quintessentially English summer’s day like today (ie. wet).
Especially in the second half of the song, when the happy-clappy call-and-response vocals give way to a freewheeling piano excursion before the exhilarating chorus comes back, giving way to a guitar solo over the top of its relentlessly funky groove.
It’s not just exuberant and exhilarating – it’s positively euphoric. And, for that matter, euphorically positive. Orgasmic, even.
Texas-born Dorothy Combs grew up singing in church with her nine brothers and sisters after her parents – both church ministers – moved to California, and made her recording debut with them when she was 13.
That first single, I Am Free, came out under the name The Combs Family, and the group began to earn a reputation in and around San Francisco and the Bay Area.
In the Sixties she joined the Edwin Hawkins Singers and sang the lead vocal on their Grammy-winning 1969 hit Oh Happy Day, a rearrangement of an 18th century hymn that has gone on to become a standard.
That earned her a record deal with Elektra under her married name of Dorothy Morrison, producing her first solo single, an equally euphoric version of All God’s Children Got Soul (written by Booker T and William Bell) that she had sung at the Big Sur Folk Festival with her sisters – The Combs Sisters.
Her debut album, Brand New Day, followed in 1970, featuring gospel-style versions of Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit In The Sky and Elton John’s Border Song.
Rain was released in 1972 though the full seven-minute version did not come out until 1989 when it appeared on a compilation album called Sanctified Soul – as good a description as any of the genre it fits into.
In the early Seventies Dorothy toured with big names like Van Morrison and Boz Scaggs, and appeared regularly on TV. She sang so regularly with Rita Coolidge and Bonnie Bramlett that there was talk of launching them as a trio.
It’s as well that it never came to fruition – the name mooted for this multi-racial threesome (black, white, Native American) was, most regrettably, Red, White & Black.
Much more recently Dorothy has been given the keys to the city of Oakland, and sang on a cover of Respect Yourself released in 2010 by Huey Lewis & The News. Pre-pandemic, she was still performing and touring in a quartet called The Blues Broads.