Jesus Is Just Alright...

jayfbv · Post by **jayfbv** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 10:25 am

...as you all know is on the Ballad of Easy Rider album. A few months ago, I heard an unfortunate dissing of the song and the Doobie Brothers from the pulpit. As someone who can read, I knew that it was written by A. Reynolds and had been recorded by the Byrds earlier. Does anyone know the story there? Was there a relationship between the Byrds and A.(Alice, Adam...?) Reynolds?

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Wed Oct 06, 2004 9:30 pm

Art Reynolds.No idea who he is/was.

jayfbv · Post by **jayfbv** » Fri Oct 08, 2004 7:22 am

Thanks Don. I was able to glean that Art Reynolds was the leader of a black gospel group called...now wait...The Art Reynolds Singers. Apparently The Staples Singers covered the tune also. It looks like the ARS release was in August '68.

Don Miller · Post by **Don Miller** » Sat Oct 09, 2004 1:28 pm

I had heard that Gene Parsons played on one version of the tune while doing session work...and he brought it to the Byrds...I dont know what version etc he played on...

emswife · Post by **emswife** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:18 am

Gene Parsons? Maybe you mean Gram Parsons?

grsnovi · Post by **grsnovi** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 5:16 am

According to Rogan's "Timeless Flight Revisited" (revised 2001) Gene Parsons introduced Jesus is Just Alright after he had attended its original recording by the Art Reynolds Singers who were produced by Gib Guilbeau (who Parsons has worked with previously). This was during the Gene Parsons, Clarence White, Skip Battin, Roger McGuinn line-up that released Ballad of Easy Rider in 1969/70

rick12dr · Post by **rick12dr** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 7:14 am

change that line up to John York, Not Battin. for the Easy Rider LP.Battin joined After that LP came out.

grsnovi · Post by **grsnovi** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 12:23 pm

I'll defer to your memory Don, I was sure that the York/Battin change was discussed several pages prior to the JIJA paragraph. That variation of the line-up never really did much for me (although I like the Battin line-up possibly because that was the only line-up I ever saw live). The only reason I dragged Rogan out was the verify it was Gene, not Gram...

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:27 pm

I got to know...why was the song being dissed????

jayfbv · Post by **jayfbv** » Tue Oct 19, 2004 8:31 am

To quote, "that Doobie Brothers guy who wrote Jesus Is Just Alright, did't really know Jesus." Sigh.

I kind of didn't want to go there, however, here's my guess. For some evangelical and/or fundamentalist Christians, the appearance of a lyrically acceptable church song on the Pop charts doesn't sit well. I haven't discussed Mindy Smith's "Come To Jesus" with anyone, but it is getting secular airtime where I live.

There has always been the possibility of successful Christian songs in the Pop/Rock world. Who can say why Spririt In The Sky, the DB version of Jesus Is Just Alright, etc. are successful. Who made these decisions? Record company execs or the public? Where I go, U2 was acceptable until The Zoo Tour. That was too arty for most. They didn't see the 'Bono as Satan' thing as a legitimate artistic brushstroke. (If you don't follow me here, there's a long inteview in Musician from that time wherein Bono explained the whole enchilada.) In the operatic world, I don't know if Mephistopheles and Faust cause grief to the artistically challenged, but I digress.

Don Miller · Post by **Don Miller** » Fri Oct 22, 2004 2:04 pm

It wasnt too surprising the that Byrds covered that tune...they had already done "Turn Turn Turn", "I am A Pilgrim" and "I Like the Christian Life" ...and they always had a sense of the spritual about them...From MTM, TTT, into 5D and some of the other, spacier stuff...and the story of the "Jim-Roger" conversion......so ventures into gospel are not surprising...and..McGuinn...and the others who passed thru the band in those days...were students of "american music"...of which "gospel" and religious based folk is a big part...Clarence brought some of that too...the Ky Colonels did alot of bluegrass gospel...and "Oil in My Lamp".....off the Easy Rider album and Clarence's sole vocal on the LP...is an old time church song...

Mcguinn has since been open about his conversion to Christianity...he was on Pat Robertson's TV show at one point in the late 80s...and Chris Hillman has participated in some religious recording projects with the Rice Bros and Al Perkins...

emswife · Post by **emswife** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 11:21 am

Let us not forget that Gram parsons had a strong affinity for the Lord. In fact, most of his rhinestone/sequined outfits featured a cross somewhere. Somewhat in the vein of Sam Kinneson, who was a licensed minister (and not by some Internet agency but a legit church), it was very easy for parsons to reconcile his behaviors and vices with his belief in his Lord.

And I believe it is in or at the least very near the Parsons/Byrds era that this song was recorded...

Don Miller · Post by **Don Miller** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:55 pm

Gram Parsons was "long" gone from the Byrds by the time Gene Parsons and "JIJA" came along...and Gram did not leave under the best of terms...

At one point Gram tried to woo Clarence White and Gene Parsons away from McGuinn into the Flying Burrito Bros...

bluespckr · Post by **bluespckr** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:26 am

I haven't heard the Byrds' version in eons, but I remember having this on an LP long before anyone 'round these parts had ever heard of the Doobies. -- I want to say this had to be late '67 or early '68. As far as "dissing" the Byrds because of whether or not someone was really into Jesus or not -- what a load of ****. Give the Byrds their due, right?

bluespckr · Post by **bluespckr** » Tue Dec 21, 2004 4:29 am

I haven't heard the Byrds' version in eons, but I remember having this on an LP long before anyone 'round these parts had ever heard of the Doobies. -- I want to say this had to be late '67 or early '68. As far as "dissing" the Byrds because of whether or not someone was really into Jesus or not -- what a load of ****. Give the Byrds their due, right?