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Rev. Charlie Jackson (1932-2006) was a distinctly powerful guitar evangelist who devoted his life to singing and preaching the gospel, particularly throughout Louisiana and Mississippi. His 45s for the Booker and Jackson labels, with songs such as "God's Got It" and "Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus," are frequently cited as a pinnacle of raw, impassioned, bluesy gospel music.

Beginning sometime around the early 1970s, he often documented the church services at which he participated with a portable cassette recorder. Over the years, he accumulated an extensive archive of recordings that were mostly made by himself, Frances Jackson, or Laura Davis Jackson, with a local professional occasionally hired to record a noteworthy service. These tapes would primarily serve as mementos, as well as tools through which he could evaluate his performances. Selections might have been included on the cassettes that Rev. Jackson sometimes sold, but it seems these were most often keepsakes for casual posterity. 

As one might expect from such informal recordings, idiosyncrasies abound. The recorder gets jostled, members of the congregation boisterously testify, and the microphone sometimes becomes overloaded. A few of the older cassettes needed to be repaired before they would even play.

Sonic quirks notwithstanding, these tapes contain a wealth of outstanding performances. They also provide a valuable opportunity to take a broad survey of Rev. Jackson’s music over roughly a 30-year period and obtain a much more detailed and vivid picture of the vibrant gospel community in which he traveled, something that was only hinted at by his commercial recordings. Listening to these performances, one can hear why Rev. Jackson was so in-demand: no matter the situation or the size of the congregation, he sounds fully engaged, with a sense of sacred duty.

This album is the first in a series of releases that will be drawn from this material. Future volumes will include examples of Rev. Jackson as an accompanist, often in seemingly spontaneous collaborations. Any information regarding singers and musicians who performed with Rev. Jackson is eagerly welcomed by 50 Miles of Elbow Room.

- First pressing of 550 copies on high quality RTI-pressed vinyl
- Beautiful old school "tip-on" Stoughton sleeves
- 8-page 9"x9" insert with extensive biographical notes
- Vol. 1 in a series of at least 3
- CD & digital versions will follow eventually

"Sounds of the South, via Brooklyn", Wall Street Journal, Aug. 1, 2011

Tiny Mix Tapes review

New Orleans Times-Picayune story, March 10, 2012

Praise for "God's Got It! The Legendary Booker and Jackson Singles" (LP & CD are here; see below):

“Like a sanctified version of John Lee Hooker, Reverend Charlie Jackson plays raw, slashing electric guitar and erupts in urgent hallelujahs as occasional backup singers inject call-and-response fervor. Jackson’s gruff, exuberant vocals celebrate salvation, but he doesn’t portray it as a painless process: ‘Wrapped Up Tangled Up in Jesus’ depicts a soul in turmoil. These aren’t polished recordings; befitting their origins in tiny Louisiana studios, the songs boast crackling, distorted sound and are all the more effective for it. The rowdiest rock and roll has nothing on Reverend Jackson.” – Jon Young, Mother Jones

“All it takes is the volatile growl of his singing, the terse twang of his Fender guitar and a lone congregation member clapping and singing responses for the Rev. Charlie Jackson to rock the heavens on ‘God’s Got It’. The songs [here] were collector's-item singles that the White Stripes must wish they owned.” – Jon Pareles, The New York Times

“In the 1970s, this Mississippi-born man of God made a series of holy-blues singles for the tiny Booker and Jackson labels. This set has...heated sermons of need, devotion and joy, blessed by Jackson's thunder-and-Lightnin’ Hopkins voice and crusty-tremelo, railroad-boogie riffing. ‘If you need it, God’s got it,’ goes the opening hymn. But the reverend rocks it.” – David Fricke, Rolling Stone

“Total world-class, hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-yer-neck, jaw-droppingly righteous, beyond-category music of the highest order.” – Rob Cambre, Where Y’at, New Orleans

“It’s rare I hear something that really blows me away, but hearing ‘God’s Got It’ was like hearing Chuck Berry or The Ramones for the first time.” – Jared Swilley, Black Lips

“And then there is the Reverend Charlie Jackson. Once in a great while a record comes along that is so cripplingly amazing that it betrays all common manner of description.” – Michael Hurtt, Offbeat

NPR review by Meredith Ochs

Original copies of this very scarce 45, privately pressed by Rev. Charlie Jackson on his own Jackson Records imprint in the 1970s.

Regular 50 Miles readers/visitors may well have noticed that Rev. Charlie Jackson’s raw, bluesy gospel is a big favorite of mine.  Born in 1932 just outside of McComb, Mississippi, he took up the electric guitar as a young man and started out playing the blues.  Soon afterwards, he gave up the blues to serve the Lord.  He developed a highly potent style and often played on church programs with the legendary Rev. Utah Smith.  He subsequently recorded a string of incredible and legendary 45s for Booker Records out of New Orleans.

After the Booker material went out-of-print, Rev. Jackson took matters into his own hands and started his own private press label, Jackson Records, in the late ‘70s.  This 45 is Jackson 101 and it features a re-recording of “Wrapped Up and Tangled Up in Jesus,” one of his most popular numbers that had been previously released on Booker, backed by the previously unrecorded “Lord You’re So Good,” a deep and measured ballad.

This version of “Wrapped Up…” has not been reissued in any form.  Since Rev. Jackson sold these records exclusively at church services, they never entered the marketplace and therefore didn’t receive any other distribution.

Each side plays with relatively low but steady background crackle as well as the occasional pop which decreases in frequency a bit as the side progresses, probably reflection on the quality of the pressing.  Generally speaking, these are quite clean copies, but there may be occasional minor idiosyncrasies in label and vinyl.  Limited stock. One copy limit per customer.