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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
- 50 Miles of Elbow Room is the sole distributor of this LP; retailers please get in touch to deal direct
- 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 available here):

“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