Stella and the Appalachian Gospel

Stella Parton, my longtime friend, arrived for lunch in Nashville one day with a handful of presents.

This, by the way, is a very Southern woman thing to do. We always bring gifts to a gathering and most certainly will slip one in a visitor’s hand as she’s leaving our home. I, too, had a couple of gifts for her. We hugged, squealed like school girls who haven’t seen each other in a long time then excitedly exchanged our gifts

Stella – yes, she’s one of those Partons from East Tennessee – gave me several of her CDs, including one filled with her hits from the eighties. Stella, one of my all-time favorite singers, is also my favorite vocalist among the Parton sisters.

I believe that Dolly Parton is, undeniably, one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived. She has written over 3,000 songs (all by herself, without a co-writer) and the lyrics are often astounding. But I much prefer Stella’s voice because it is a richer, stronger, gutsier soprano.

Among the country music that Stella brought was a gospel CD she had recorded called “Appalachian Gospel.”

“I arranged every one of these songs myself,” she explained with a smile. “I just sat down with my little guitar and arranged them the way we use to sing them in my granddaddy’s little church back up in the mountains.”

Stella’s grandpa Owens, her mama’s daddy, was a Pentecostal preacher who was the pastor of a tiny church built of cinder blocks and tucked deep into the Smokey Mountains. He was, in fact, the inspiration for one of Dolly’s earlier hits, “Daddy Was An Old-time Preacher Man.”

The Pentecostals, like most rural Southern church-goers, love music so that church became the center of love and entertainment for the 12 Parton children. Dolly and Stella have always credited those early church years as the inspiration that drove them both into the world of music-making.

She gave me six CDs, but the first one I played was the gospel CD. I absolutely loved it from the first note. For years I have searched for an album with standards recorded the way I grew up singing them in church.

Stella, bless her heart, has done that and done it very well. I consider it the most perfectly executed versions of songs like “I’ll Fly Away,” “In The Sweet By and By” and “Power in the Blood” that I have ever heard.

The next day, Stella flew to Los Angeles to film a part in a movie. As soon as she landed, she called my cell phone and left a message.

“Honey, I’ve been reading your book on the plane and I have laughed my way across the country.” She paused for a second then added with that trademark girlish Parton giggle, “I’m so proud to call you my people!”

Ditto here.

We Scotch-Irish – Stella and I are both fiercely proud that we are – take passionate pride in our heritage, particularly in the songs and the stories that celebrate our culture. That’s why it’s no surprise that Stella would record a gospel album as purely Southern and as sweetly simple as a Sunday afternoon spent on a front porch with drop-by company.

While many other music-makers have sought to complicate gospel standards with elaborate orchestrations and tinkering with the rhythm of the songs by speeding them up or slowing them down, Stella kept it pure and true. Down to the note. What resulted is an amazing album that is as welcoming as church doors flung wide open.

I’m so proud to call her my people.